Elementary, my dear Watson!

On the 29th of April, we were docked in Southampton, England. Jess, Pedro, Sean and I took an adorable mini taxi, with seats facing two directions, so the boys were turned in towards us and driving backwards. I noticed of course that the driver was on the opposite side of the car! We headed into the city center, where a large castle-like structure sat in the middle of all the shops. It turned out to hold art of various rock stars in the upper floor.
There was also a small carousel ride, randomly plotted in the street. I found the circular red poles that are the British postboxes and a “TK-Maxx”, which because J comes before K in the alphabet, America must have had this store first! I saw a blue double-decker bus, not quite the red ones that I fantasize about riding in London, but definitely still British in my eyes. I took a fast snapshot of a dancing man in a chicken suit, advertising for KFC.
We decided to make a few stops for shopping in the indoor/outdoor mall and get some internet. Jess and I hopped into Boots, a Walmart-style store where I could get some make up I desperately needed. Then we went into PriMark, my now favorite store in the entire world, even over the European chains Bershka or Desigual! We met up with the boys in a coffee shop, where I had the loudest bathroom experience of my life. It sounded like every appliance was on and every pipe was having threatening to explode from pressure.
Our group met up with Dave and Michelle, and Danielle with her family, who were spending the day in a pub to watch the wedding. A pub is very English, for an English breakfast or a pint. We decided we wanted to head to the Royal Wedding Street Party, to catch some of the broadcasted event. There were plenty of British party commodities being sold on the street, like hats and flags with the Royal couples’ picture in the center. We joined the commotion just in time, the Royal family stepped onto the balcony to greet the public, and the newlyweds even shared a few kisses! :D
This poor little girl who was in the ceremony, I’m assuming a flower girl, looked so grumpy as she sunk on the balcony and smushed up her face with fists. I joked that she will regret that image the world now saw when she gets older. It was funny because the commentator for the broadcast announced “and the Queen has decided that it is time to conclude the balcony ceremony” as the Queen just turned and walked back inside. He was so prim and proper with this statement, so British.
We bought some lunch from a quick-y-mart and ate it outside in a park. It was the perfect day for a picnic. I had an onion and cheese baguette, with onion and cheese chips for a side! LOL. I was talking about the souvenirs I had been hoping to find in this port (the typical “London/ England souvenirs) were unlikely to be here because it’s more of a local area. That was when Jessica offered the best thing of all to me, coming to England with her after the end of the contract! At first I didn’t think she was serious, but then she explained that flights are so cheap to get around Europe once you’re already there, so it would be easy to get from Copenhagen to London. I couldn’t let such an opportunity pass me by! Sean and I immediately began looking for flights and I spoke with my parents, who encouraged me to go!!! So I won’t be back home in Colorado until June 9th, after I spend 10 days vacation in England. We are doing two days in London, where I can most certainly buy my souvenirs!!! We are seeing a West End performance of Jersey Boys, which I’m sure will inspire me and get me into the musical theatre mode for Chicago. It will be a dream come true to finally be in the incredible London atmosphere!!!! And hopefully, when I get home, I will get a chance to visit New York too! Two in one year, I would be the luckiest girl in the world!!!!


Amsterdam overnight
Our next port was Amsterdam, where we were having an overnight for Queen’s Day, their biggest celebration. Amsterdam is already a crazy place; just try to imagine it filled with thousands of partying people! The number of people that come for this celebration is said to be similar to the crowds in Rio for Carnaval! It was madness! Everyone was wearing the Royal Family’s color orange, and there were party boats cruising along the canals, music blasting from every bar and club, and lots of great food to snack on! We had some delicious pizza slices that were grilled right in front of us. We wandered the streets, not having a real purpose or direction, just sightseeing and people watching. It was nice to have a port that I had been to, especially because I went to Amsterdam quite a few times last year, so I knew the city and where to go.
In the middle of the city, there was a giant carnival set up, with a ferris wheel and other fun rides high above us. All around us were shops, some less tame than others. At one store, there was a display of artistically decorated “plastic wraps”. We knew which “coffee shops” to avoid but I didn’t even dare ordering a coffee from anywhere, just to be on the safe side! Between all the interesting costumes people styled and the festive gadgets being sold, it was hard to know where to look or go next! I made sure we stopped and got some local cuisine, French Fries in a cone with mayonnaise for dipping. We also had the most amazing chocolate covered waffles!
Unfortunately, Jess and I had to run back to the ship to do not one but TWO shows of Rhythm and Rhyme because our cruise director didn’t really think everything through. Half the ship was doing a booze cruise, but most everyone would be off enjoying the festivities. So our first show had barely 20 people, completely pointless. After the shows, we quickly showered and ran off again, to catch the very end of the party. The Queen’s day celebration actually starts a few days prior, and then this day wraps it all up.
I bought a tasty chocolate cake from a small diner. The guy didn’t give me a fork and when I asked for one he said, “You want just a fork?” I nodded, and he gave me a fork but took away my cake! He continued to mess with me by giving me back my cake but taking the fork. Finally, he let me have both. We stopped at one of the only restaurants open, their owners most likely running around the streets drunk somewhere, and ordered pizza and some wine. Our waiter purposely whistled as he talked to amuse us, which was funny at first, but after the hundredth time it just became really annoying. Exhausted from the excitement of the long day, we went back to the ship and passed out.
After a wonderful lie in, we headed off again to explore Amsterdam on a normal day. The streets were rather clean, which was incredibly impressive considering how trashed they were the previous night. I took our group to the café I had eaten at last year, so we could have some famous Dutch pancakes. Sean and I split a fabulous strawberry pancake and Jess had an apple one.
We found vending machines that distribute hamburgers; that’s so much worse than McDonald’s!!!!! YUCK!!!! We saw Anne Frank’s house and the floating flower market. We made a few stops to test scrumptious cheese samples. Our final stop was in an ice cream shop, where we tried various flavors; Jess had the orange basil, Sean had something fruity, and I, of course, had chocolate. Ice cream is always the best way to end the day.