Guess who's back, back again...
Vacation is over. *sigh*
It was a nice vacay. Not quite what I expected it to be, actually.
Started by hopping over to London to see Buckingham and ~THE DRESS~. The palace is the definition of gaudy and overkill. I really don't think it is possible to put any more gilded shit on the walls. The dress was very nice. Much more intricate than I thought it was.
While in London we had the obligatory hit-up of the British Museum (nice Catholicism in the Middle Ages exhibit) and finally saw the Petrie Museum (a lot of Egyptian stuff in small dark spaces).
Dragged my mom to Harrods, just for the hell of it. I keep calling it "Hagrid's," LOL. But holy shit, that place is expensive! O.o;; There's a while section that's decorated "Egyptian style," which is rather cute. Would totally do the same to my house if I had that kind of money.
Next was to Berlin. Saw Nefertiti again but in her new home in the Neues Museum. I'm actually sorry it moved from the Altes because going up the steps of the Altes (Neues is behind the Altes) I get to gape as I go in at my 2 favorite statues ever: the Löwenkämpfer and the Kämpfende Amazone.
Also went to the Bode, which I actually like a lot more than Buckingham. The light purple marble won me over, LOL.
The next day we were off to Schloss Sanssouci. We were there just days before those royals got married (and that was one unfortunate dress, sry2say). This place is so beautiful. And the gardens? *dies* It gets compared to Château de Versailles, but I prefer Sanssouci. Smaller, simpler, yet beautiful and elegant. Versailles like a combo of Palais du Louvre's huge building and Sanssouci's huge gardens.
After eating ice cream at almost every shop in Berlin, we headed to Pirmasens to bury Harald with his parents. It was lovely to see his family again and my God, graveyards there are more like parks, but holy hera, that visit was depression central. It was a lovely goodbye and I hope he is resting in peace.
Too many funerals this last year...
After that, we headed back to London to go home, only to find out, we couldn't go home! Hurricane Irene was making a nuisance of herself. Our Sat flight was cancelled (even though she wasn't hitting us until Sun) and first flight back was a tentative Wednesday. First an earthquake and now a hurricane, how nice that for once it was when we were gone! So we took the train down to Paris in the meantime.
Gosh, I love Paris. Food wasn't as great as I remembered (to my dismay) but I still love the place. I never thought I would love a bridge but Pont d'Alexandre III still has my heart. Notre Dame is as graceful as ever. It has a big anniversary coming up in 2013, I think. I have to remember to go.
Of course, being in France, I had to go to Disney! There was a disturbing lack of Aladdin/Jasmine shit - not even the standard doll (although, they have different dolls of the other princesses at the parks and they seemed to be of rather poor quality). I did find various glass junk of Jasmine to bring home and another musical Jasmine! Yay! I swear they only sell these in Disneyland Paris. I'm obviously going to have to go more regularly so I don't miss them. XD
OMG, these 2 were so nice! At Cali they all seemed to be "smile and nod," but the character actors here are really engaging. And the Jack Sparrow I met was SO HOT. It was hilarious to see how he interacted with the kids. Kind of aloof and giving them funny looks like "why are you grinning like an idiot at a smelly pirate, kid?" Listening to him speak French was music to my ears. I told him that and he kissed my hand! *DED* I was about to jump his bones, but there were too many witnesses. XD
And... finally home. Need to unpack all my shit and see if it survived the trip.
As of yesterday, grades are in. I've officially passed all my classes. Masters Diploma will be mailed in October. Praise da Lawd.
Time to study for boards, I guess........