Stonehenge Rocks, Harrods Costs a lot, and Relationships require Work

1/12/11

Stonehenge. A mass of rocks. Ok it was cooler than that, but somehow I expected it to be...bigger. We had a blast walking around but it would've been even greater to walk closer to them too. The drive up was nice, started off with watching a video and me illegally falling asleep during the video - my real crime was not buckling up in the bus. It was a wonderful nap. The countryside this time felt more alive than last time. Fog and cloud blended together in the distance, the silhouettes of grand trees off in the distance. The ground looked greener and the little growth looked taller. No longer was there a biting cold, only the damp fall of rain as the sheep sat peacefully twenty feet from our path. I even saw a sheep dog. The return ended up being the grandest time ever...yay for Cahill. It really was interesting, the stories of philosophers, stories, plays, and the lives of those in Greece. Coming back through the city though I dropped my book and looked around as we traveled the streets past small duplex houses, past businesses and schools, and finally past the streets filled with shopping.

Arriving back at one thirty we dropped off our stuff and then went back to Piccadilly Square. Here Justin, Will and I broke off with the two Carpenter sisters to eat. I have discovered that the British have mastered the art form of making on food into a ton of different versions. I had a Beef Stout pudding, which basically was a stake and ale pie. I also had mashed potatoes, peas, and sliced cooked carrots. It was a wonderful meal and as hardy as everything else we have had. We ended up at a huge sports store, five stories tall. Once again I was tempted to get some really neat looking shoes, this time several shades of brown with just a touch of blue. I decided not to get these shoes because I wasn't sure they would be that good. Maybe I should be more willing to just take a chance. I also passed up on some really cheap Under Armor type shirts...I am pretty sure that I have the lightest bag in the group so weight won't be a problem when coming back from Europe so I should've got them but I didn't really want to spend the money. Only now am I realizing that I will only get this chance once, or at least for a really long time, so I think I am going to be a little less frugal when it comes to things besides food.

You would also understand my frugalness if you had ever been in Harrods. Following behind the girls we, the guys, broke off to look at something more masculine than purses and bags. Ending up in the clothing area one of the first signs I was greeted with was "Items now all under 189 pounds." I looked at a jacket that was 300 pounds ($480)! I didn't even find a pair of jeans for less than $100. I even passed underwear that was $45! It was interesting to look around at all of these nice clothes, but it was unrealistic to even consider buying anything that wasn't in the discount gift store. The trip back to the hotel was uneventful. I started working on my blog posts once back in my room. Starting to fall asleep I heard a nock on my door. Everyone at the hotel was gathering to go out. We left and ended up walking around the Soho district, which had a ton of restaurants. Two of the places that were too full to eat at we discovered were gay pubs after we noticed the giant rainbow flag stories above the locations. We settled down in an Italian restaurant, waiting for the first time ever to be seated. It was absolutely worthy it. I had Penne Zorandetti, or something to that effect. I didn't have my moleskine to write it down. It was a cream sauce with saffron, shrimp, and salmon. It was amazing, but it left me wishing that I had more of the sauce. I also had a Fruitizer, which is supposedly a pomegranate and raspberry fruit juice drink. LIE! It is 100% fruit juice with a bit of carbonation but it is mostly apple juice (90%). It was good and sweet, but it didn't have the same kick of flavor I was expecting from the title. Instead I got that kick from desert, Sorbetti. The two flavors I got were lemon and blood-orange. These had such a strong flavor that they were hard to take. The lemon's kick made the blood-orange seem bitter. I ended up taking a small spoonful of each at the same time to counteract the strong flavors from making the other unbearable.

Random story - back in my room I blew nose. The amount of dirt in my snot was ridiculous! Thank you tube and smokers. That adds to the second thing I don't like about cities, the dirtiness that is in everything, even the air. Will came back to the room. We ended up talking about his night which involved some drinking and a lot of talking - about six hours worth. He had actually come on this trip planning to do some soul searching about what to do with a relationship he had just left. He found the answer. Relationships are about working through hard things in our lives to see if we can work with that person despite our flaws to overcome them and make the best relationship possible. After all, if we don't work through things, how can we not be afraid of committing to a relationship when we haven't practiced facing difficulty in a relationship without just bailing and leaving that person behind? No wonder so many marriages fail. It is not that there are a ton of people with bad ethics, people just haven't learned how to maintain a relationship for an extended period of time. This is what shows you if a relationship can work - time. Along the way you learn how to better maintain the relationship that you have and how to work though the difficulties of maintaining a relationship.