Judy's gittin' confirmed

I am finally home from spring break! Using the word "finally" makes it sound like I've been waiting to get home, which I haven't. Although it was quite a long day of travel, I thoroughly enjoyed my break and am now just 10 days away from the beginning of my backpacking through Europe adventures.

The Beginning:
Kendra and I took off for Madrid on Friday afternoon (the 3rd) on a bus and we got off at the 2nd and last stop where I quickly realized someone had mistaken their backpack for mine. I still don't quite understand how they mistook my bag for theirs and they really didn't look much alike nor did they weigh anywhere close to the same. However, I peaked into the backpack to discover a laptop and therefor knew that they would be coming back. Kendra and I only had to wait about 30 minutes to see a frantic girl about our age come running up to the desk. What a great way to start our trip.

Next, the airport on Saturday morning. Kendra and I have yet to have a good experience with Ryanair. We had our big suitcases with us because we were sending them home with my dad and his friend from London and we knew they were heavy and would be over the weight limit and were willing to pay. In the U.S. I always look at the signs when I'm checking in to see how much it would cost to have a bag over the weight limit and I've never seen more than a 50 or 75 dollar charge, so that's what we were expecting. NOPE. Ryanair charges you 15 euros per kilogram your suitcase is over and their limit is 15 kilograms (about 30 lbs.) Between the 2 of us we paid 315 euros and we were not happy campers but we had no other choice.

London
We arrived in London around 8:30 am, caught the Stansted Express into the city and then attempted to take the tube to meet up with my dad and our friend Javen who is studying in London. The main line was closed for the weekend and we didn't figure that out until an hour later. Which meant about 4 stations and 5 trains with our way over the weight limit luggage.

The trip got better when we finally found my dad and his friend Daryl and then we went to Javen's flat and the 5 of us went out and walked around London enjoying the beautiful day. I spent close to 3 weeks in London in May of 2007 for a mayterm trip and in that short of a time felt like I barely got to see the city. Now I had to show it to Kendra, Daryl and my dad in only 3 1/2 days. We made it a marathon but saw quite a bit for such a short time. We did the London Eye, Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Cabinet War Rooms, a bus and boat tour, Hampton Court Palace (minus Kendra), changing of the guards (only Kendra), the British Museum, Kensington Garden's, Hyde Park (including Speaker's Corner on Sunday), Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. PLUS, I got to see a show... Spring Awakening :)

Spring Awakening:
Of all the shows I've seen (about 7, so not a ton) this by far takes the cake as my favorite. It was incredible. The show is based off a novel written in the 1890's by a German author about the problems faced by teens (depression, authority, sexual repression, etc) but all of the music was written for a contemporary audience. It was amazing to see how much the material and themes of this story from over a century ago still apply to adolescents today. The author, composer(s?), director, all people involved, made the show real. I think that's what I liked the most, it was real. The cast was made up of 11 kids (15 to 18 or 19 years old) and 2 adults who played the role of the teachers, parents, doctor, etc. and it only hit the west end theater district about 3 weeks ago. Basically... I highly recommend it (just maybe not for any youngsters). I was in tears by the end.

France
I loved France. We took the chunnel and then another train into the city of Bayeux where we stayed 4 nights. We toured the beaches of Normandy, stopped in a few museums, went to Mont Saint Michel, walked through the market in Honfleur, and ended our trip Saturday night with an incredible French meal.

We went to a fancy restaurant and did the 4 (or 5?) course meal with fancy wine and everything. We started with a creamy asparagus soup, then I had beef cheek terrine (?) which, had I seen it before I ordered it would NOT have gotten it. However, it was actually really good! For my main course I had salmon, cod, and fishmonk in a cream sauch over potatoes and fine carrot slices. That was amazing. Next we had our cheese plate where I tried different Normandy cheeses and only liked some of them. Then came dessert. 3 small scoops of different berry-flavored sorbet and cream on the side sprinkled with a toffee-like candy. MMMMMMM. The best part is that they were all modest portions so by the end my stomach felt pleasantly full. It was nice.

So as not to bore you or overwhelm you with too many words right now, I'll post in a day or two on my thoughts, reflections, etc. from the trip. HAPPY EASTER (a day late).. which reminds me, I almost forgot to explain my title...

Yesterday we went to Easter mass in the cathedral at Bayeux. We stayed for 1 1/2 hours before finally leaving after the collection. What took so long? 5 baptisms and 1 confirmation. We were towards the back and coulnd't see nor understand anything, but since we had programs (in French) we could somewhat follow along. About 10 or 15 minutes after the baptisms started Daryl turns to Kendra and says (in a not so quiet voice) "Oh, looks like they're doing baptisms today!" Kendra and I giggle. A bit later they pour the baptismal water on one of the baby's heads and it cries, at which point Daryl says, again in his not so quiet voice, "She sure didn't like that much." Kendra and I giggle a bit more. One of the people being baptized was named Judith, and after the part about the baptisms in the program it said, "Confirmation de Judith" which, even for someone who speaks no foreign languages, is easy to figure out. However, it took Daryl about another 10 minutes in to figure this out and when he does he said, "Oh, Judy's gittin' confirmed!" By this time Kendra and I are dying trying to keep our giggles in and I was almost in tears. There's nothing like trying to keep from laughing when you know you can't laugh.