May: Funky London Town (among others)

Maybe it was the character red urban theme -- reddouble deck public buses, red steel telephone booths,red "Underground" signs. Or the chic urban madness --the hustle of city life, dapper gentlemen in whateverage in suits crossing streets, lunch on the go, takeout coffee. Or the mix of the old and the new -- ofmysteries, monarchies, drama, and fashion statements.How could not the spirit of the city not inpire thefunk of acid jazz or the mohawk punk the 80s? Though London can be an urban nightmare -- with anineffecient Underground, pollution and exorbitantprices -- it suited the tourist in me to look beyondthat and have some funky fun. Right.

My trip to London was en route to a student conferenceat the University of Kent, Canterbury, the "motheruniversity" of my school in Brussels. We arrived on aunusually hot day, making the pollution morepronounced. Our hotel was by Notting Hill Gate, whosemost apartment doors are painted a certain "Hugh" ofblue. Funny. We scratched the dust off our eyes and took the top deck of the Hop-on-Hop-off tourist bus tosurvey London Town. I would not consider London as an urban jungle, despite the many new buildings, the dirtand grime of the city because of classic structures asthe London Bridge, Big Ben, the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace, and because of the greenery among the grime, Kensington Palace and Hyde Park. Despite its modernity, they managed to preserve suchstructures, which is characteristic of any city or town in Europe anyway. We capped the dayphantastically enthralled by the music of the night,by getting student rate tickets to The Phantom of theOpera at West End. Lovely, indeed.

We started our second day with the changing of theguard at Buckingham then later taking the cruise fromWestminster to the Tower of London. This was my favorite part of the trip -- the Yeoman Warder tour ofthe Tower of London. Yeomans, or Beefeaters, are retired British military men who are special guards ofthe Queen and of the tower. Among other duties, they are the official tour guides of the tower, making tours more interesting because of their enthusiasm and knack for story telling. I heard stories of executions, prisoners, betrayal in the monarchy. Do you know that there are 7 official ravens living atthe tower, as it is believed that if they leave, thetower will crumble? Oddly chilling, ain't it? Walking through the cobblestoned fortress sent chills up myspine as well -- but not as much as we later on tookthe Jack the Ripper tour. After a dinner of fish andchips, we joined the group led by another Beefeater through the scenes of the crimes of 1888. The weatherwonderfully cooperated -- it was rainy, chilly andcloudy. We saw a different London -- gone are the modern city lights, the posh houses, the manicuredlawns -- enter the "Bollywood" or the Indian Town,century old school buildings, eerie houses. East London was the dodgiest part of the city in 1888, where poverty was at its height, despite London beingone of the richest cities at that time.

Canterbury is a lovely, lovely town as well, with quaint places to eat, relax and study in the main partof town. Too bad that part of the cathedral was closedfor renovation, we didn't think that 8pounds was worth paying for seeing just part of it. The university is atop a hill and it reminded me of UP, for some reason-- fields, lots of greenery and old buildings. After losing to a football match against Kent, we chilled in the school pub and reminisced about our University days with beer and tequila in tow. Our last 2 days in the UK were spent as Londonerswould spend it, as we were hosted by our classmateswho hail from there. We went to St. Alban's, anothercathedral town north of the city then checked outfunky clothes and booths at the huge Camden market.

CROSSING BORDERS -- LUXEMBOURG, GERMANY, FRANCE
Last Saturday, we rented a car to drive down toLuxembourg, a tiny country in the map of Western Europe. It was very picturesque, postcard scenes come alive with deep green forests, hidden castles. Wedrove along the river Mosel and crossed Lux's borders to France and Germany, then stopping by quaint townsof Echternach and Trier on the way to Schengen, thetown where the Treaty was signed on European visas. In12 hours, we can say we went to 4 countries in one trip! Thank you, Schengen!

See photos at:http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/alexieferreria/album?.tok=phwEZMBBl1K8Rtnu&.dir=/9c08&.src=phMANILA,

MANILA, I'M COMING HOME...Some of you know already, but here's the official press release -- I'll be missing summer in Europe andspending the rainy season in Manille! All 3 months of it... Goodbye laba, luto, linis, pasta, pizza,microwave food... Hello, inihaw, pinakbet, politics,friends, family! Goodbye, effecient trains, cleanstreets, expensive food... Hello ... Hope to see you in my hiatus back home... I'm looking forward to catching up and sharing stories from my dream come true!