Rain at the beach

Brighton beach with the amusement park pier in the back

While this week the weather warms up in southern England, we weren't so lucky last week. Most of our days were spent in windy rain, especially on the coast. After picking up a rental car Thursday, we headed south to Brighton. Going south didn't help the weather much and as we arrived at the Brighton beach, a light rain started and a cold wind picked up. The first place we stopped was a coffee shop for a warm drink. It didn't warm up, but we took a walk down to the beach anyway. We ended up eating our picnic lunch huddled behind a boat (on land) to protect us from the wind with our hoods up to protect us from the misty rain. 

The beach could be a nice enough place to visit in the sun, with beach chairs for rent, many sea food shops to choose from and an amusement park on the pier. However, it depends on the vibe you are looking for. It is a nice beach and I can also imagine it being party destination. Scattered among the sea food shops and fishing museums, there are dance clubs and bars. So far, I have only visited Brighton during cool, overcast days and for some reason... (who knows why!) the beach has been fairly empty. I can't really give a fair suggestion of what Brighton would be like on a bright, sunny day, but my impression is that it would be bustling with people and loud with music, especially in the evening. Their website boasts that Brighton "is famed for its nightlife." So I'm not going to recommend going there or not - it just really depends on what you are looking for. I will say that it is not a place to go if you want a QUIET beach getaway.

Wildlife (read seagulls) in Brighton

A good part of our afternoon was spent exploring the narrow 'Lanes' in downtown Brighton. The Lanes are an area of boutiques and unique stores selling clothing, jewelry, home decor and appliances, as well as little tea and cake shops. Since I have not yet experienced Brighton's nightlife, the Lanes are probably my favourite part of Brighton - the narrow cobblestone streets are pretty enchanting. 

The Lanes in Brighton

A little bit about Brighton: There seems to be a large art community in Brighton, though I have not personally experienced it. Brighton hosts a huge arts festival in May, the Brighton Festival, so that might be the time of year to look at Brighton if you are interested in the arts. The Brighton Fringe is the second largest Fringe Festival in the world, after Edinburgh, and also runs in May. In fact, after doing a small amount of research, you will find that there are many, many festivals hosted in Brighton, big and small. 

I have no pictures of festivals in Brighton, so here is a picture of some seagulls having a party ;)

The LGBT community is the most active in the UK and is known as the Gay Capital of the UK. Brighton Pride attracts thousands of visitors every year in early August. Maybe I'll take a trip down and finally experience the proper night life of Brighton. 

The Royal Pavilion

History: there has been a settlement in the Brighton area for over 2000 years. There is evidence of ancient sites near Brighton from thousands of years B.C. as well as a Roman villa from the Roman period (though no evidence left of an actual settlement). In the fifth century, Saxons took over the Brighton area. It was used as a port, but without an actual town until 1086. One important building that I did walk around (though I didn't go inside) is the Royal Pavilion. It was founded by the Prince Regent in 1783 and overhauled in 1815. This palace is beautiful and extravagant, marking an interest in Brighton by the royalty and the beginning of Brighton as a party town. 

Cookies and Cream cupcake at Angel Food Bakery

Good food:

Café Coho: This was the coffee shop we stopped at when we first arrived in Brighton. The coffee was delicious and the food smelled divine. We didn't try the food, as we had brought a picnic lunch with us, but we were definitely tempted. http://www.cafecoho.co.uk/ 

Angel Food Bakery: A cake shop in The Lanes. We each tried a different cupcake and they were all scrumptious. I regret not buying a dozen to take home with me. It's a small cake shop with limited seating but the cakes are worth it. http://www.angelfoodbakery.co.uk/

Angel Food Bakery

Though we were on the coast, weirdly, we didn't try any of the sea food, but theoretically it should be fresh and tasty. 

For more about what to do in Brighton, here is the link to its tourism site:  http://www.visitbrighton.com/ 

Follow me to Stratford, Warwick and Coventry tomorrow!

Hugs & kisses from England.

London Calling (again)

Well, last week was a busy week! My parents came to visit, so, of course, we had to do some exploring.  Anyway, since we were so busy last week, I didn't get a chance to post, so it'll have to be this week instead!

Since London is just a quick train ride from Slough, that is where we started our week. We would have a car the rest of the week, and we definitely did not want to drive in London - there's really no point, the tube goes everywhere... Besides, traffic is crowded and unpredictable, drivers are impatient - not a good environment for a tourist used to driving on the OTHER side of the road!

Quick tip: if you are going to be traveling around London, get a travelcard or an oyster card (the contactless payment card for London transport) onto which you can load a travelcard. You get unlimited travel in London. If you are traveling from outside of London, for instance from Slough, you can get a combined return train ticket and travelcard. It is a great deal and costs only a few pounds more than the return ticket itself. One or two rides on the underground is DEFINITELY worth it, more than that and it's a total bargain. 

Trafalgar Square

Our first priority, thanks to my artist mom, was the National Portrait Gallery, which is behind the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square (http://www.npg.org.uk/). It's a pretty cool place to visit if you are interested in portraiture - there's so many different styles from across the centuries for you to absorb. It's also interesting if you are fascinated by the stories about people. There are a lot of portraits of celebrities, historical as well as contemporary, and each one includes a brief story about the subject of the painting. It's a smallish gallery - compared to the National Gallery - but there's a lot to see and read. We spent a couple hours there. If you're not so interested in portraiture or people, but you do like art, I recommend the National Gallery (http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/).

National Gallery - Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the National Portrait Gallery, but it's right behind this one. Take the tube to Charing Cross and you will see this gallery on exiting. Walk down the street to the right of the National Gallery and you will find a door to the NPG.

We had planned on taking a boat to Kew Gardens, but once we had finished at the gallery and eaten, we had missed the last boat. So, instead of going to Kew, we headed on a boat tour down the Thames with a different company. The tour was probably about an hour and a half altogether, which seemed pretty short. However, there is an option to "hop-on, hop-off" which we didn't take, since we had already visited most of the sights on a previous trip to England, but I imagine it's a pretty good option. We did that with one of the City Tour buses last trip and it really is pretty convenient - especially if you don't know London very well. Of course, the advantage of the boat tour is that you don't run into traffic and you get great views! (Link for both the bus and boat tours:  http://www.citycruises.com/sightseeing.aspx)

One of the many wonderful views from the boat

Victoria and Albert Museum

Because we hadn't made it to Kew, we didn't have a plan for after the boat tour, so I suggested the Victoria and Albert Museum (http://www.vam.ac.uk/), which I had loved when I visited a few months ago. It was only open for another hour and a half but we decided to go for a quick visit. The V&A Museum was founded in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. It's a design and art based museum, showcasing all different types of design, from ceramics to ironwork, furniture, architecture, fashion and any other design-related subjects you can think of. Since the opening of the museum, it seems as if the collections have just grown like crazy. There are millions of objects and artifacts, spanning continents and millennia, all spread through about 145 different galleries. It is now the world's largest museum of its kind. Though it is huge and impossible to see everything in one full day, never mind a mere hour, it was definitely worth the short visit and my parents enjoyed what little they saw.

Quick tip: the wonderful thing about London is that all the galleries and museums are free. If you're not sure about one or you're running low on time, just pop in and check it out. If you leave after a couple minutes, there's really no loss to you... or you might find a new favourite to return to another day. 

After a pint and pub food, we headed home for the night.

Good food in London:

Waiting in line at Leon

• Poppies Fish and Chips - delicious, though a bit on the greasy side. Portions were huge and we ate two regular size Haddock & Chips between the three of us. We visited the Spitalfields location, but there is another one in Camden. http://poppiesfishandchips.co.uk/
• Leon - Before visiting a Leon restaurant, my mom and I owned 3 of their cookbooks between the two of us. Their cookbooks are sold at Homesense in Canada, but, as far as I know, there aren't any Leon restaurants in Canada. The recipes in their cookbooks always turn out well, so we thought we should probably give the restaurant itself a try. It's a chain of restaurants with the logo "Naturally Fast Food." There are about 20 locations throughout London, so chances are you can find one nearby, especially in Central London. It was excellent and healthy, but some of the recipes I had tried at home tasted very different. Both tasted delicious just... different. It is worth giving Leon a try if you would like a quick, delicious lunch or dinner in London http://leonrestaurants.co.uk/

Until next time,

xx from London

Believe It or Not

Before I move on, I just wanted to do a quick post about the hostels we stayed at in Austria. In Salzburg, it was the Yoho International Youth Hostel (http://www.yoho.at/). It was a nice hostel - clean, friendly, good price and right downtown. They have an in-hostel bar plus they play The Sound of Music every night. It had been awhile since I had seen the movie, so it was a good refresher and I was able to recognise all the standout locations the next day :)

The hostel in Vienna was call Believe It or Not Hostel. It was definitely one of the best hostels I've ever stayed at. It was more like an apartment with two rooms, a living room and a kitchen. With only two rooms, there are limited options - I think it was one room with 8 beds and the other with 12. However, it's set up so it's like you have your own private little alcove with a locker and bar to hang your towel. It was clean and extremely friendly, making it feel very comfy and homey. The owner (I'm so sorry, I don't remember her name) came in every morning and made breakfast while chatting with the visitors. For some reason, the link for the website isn't working, so I hope nothing has happened to the hostel since October, but here is the Trip Adviser link http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g190454-d2477848-Reviews-Believe_It_Or_Not_Hostel-Vienna.html. If you go to Vienna, I recommend taking the time to research this hostel. Quick tip: if you arrive at night, the building seems a bit uninviting. We were quite apprehensive when we arrived, it seemed almost like an abandoned building in the entrance. But, never fear, climb the stairs, find the door that says Believe It or Not, ring the bell - once you're inside, you will not regret it.

Anyway, that's it for Austria for now. There's so much more I could talk about - we had some great adventures on our day trips from Salzburg - but perhaps in the future if there's a lull in my traveling. This week I'm hoping to write about the England day trips I made last week :) Starting with a post later tonight!

Until later...
<3

Wien

I know it's been awhile, but let me continue from where I left off - Austria. Vienna, City of Music.

Vienna is so rich in a history and culture I had never really considered before. I didn't know much about Austria before going there; I hadn't realised that so many types of food, art and music had originated there - food, art and music that I'm actually really familiar with.

Viennese sausage

For instance, while I was in Austria, I learned at some point that Wien is the German name for Vienna (which is pronounce Vi-en). And that the German word for Viennese is Wiener. I had never thought about it before, but back in Canada we called those special rolls of meat reserved for hot dogs wieners. Well actually, it's just a Viennese sausage - found sold by street vendors all over the cities in Austria. 

Sachertorte

Sachertorte is another Viennese specialty. It is a dense, rich chocolate cake created by Franz Sacher in 1832. I had seen this cake in cookbooks and menus before, but didn't realise it originated in Austria. Cindy and I tried the sachertorte from the world famous Sacher Hotel. I had to make a journey specifically for the cake the morning we were leaving. It was about half an hour from our hostel, but it was definitely worth it. If you are in Vienna, don't miss out on it. In fact, the baked goods and pastries all over Austria were to die for. 

Death and Life, Gustav Klimt

Setting Sun, Egon Schiele

Another thing I didn't know about Austria was that one of my favourite artists, Gustav Klimt, was Austrian! I had seen his paintings in an exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto and fell in love with them. But I didn't really look into his background much further than admiring his paintings. Much to my delight, there were a few galleries strongly featuring Klimt paintings in Vienna. One is called Leopold Museum. This one features a collection by Rudolf Leopold, who had focused on Egon Schiele, who was heavily influenced by Klimt. When Leopold began collecting Schiele paintings, they were unknown and inexpensive. In fact, I believe Leopold may have had a hand in bringing Schiele to recognition. The museum features the largest collection of Schiele paintings in the world, as well as many Klimt and a few other artists. I absolutely loved it. 

The Leopold Museum is in an area called the MuseumsQuartier. It is full of museums, each showcasing a distinct genre or artist. There were options to buy tickets to visit a single museum, or multiple ones. Unfortunately, we didn't get there until the evening so we only had time to visit one museum. Cindy went off to the MUMOK (Museum of Modern Art) while I was at the Leopold Museum. If you have a full afternoon, definitely invest in the combined ticket and see as much as you can!

If you like Klimt, another must-see is the Oberes Belvedere. This gallery is part of a Baroque palace called Schloss Belvedere and features art from the late 19th- and early 20th-centuries. Klimt's most famous painting, The Kiss, is showcased at this gallery, which was the highlight for me. There's also a garden outside of the palace, which is probably really nice in the summer, but was pretty bare at the end of October. 

Oberes Belvedere

The Kunsthistorisches Museum has a wide range of art from various eras and areas. These art pieces were collected by the Habsburgs (an important royal family that ruled the Holy Roman Empire between 1438 and 1740 - thank you Wikipedia). Some of my favourite artists presented there were Rubens and Caravaggio, but the collection is so large there is definitely something for everyone. Besides which, the architecture, both on the outside and in, was stunning.

Kunsthistorisches Museum

There are SO many museums, galleries, palaces and gardens to choose from in Vienna. It was hard to choose what to prioritise in only 3 days, but I think we did a pretty decent job. Aside from the museums I mentioned above, we also went to the Hofburg (Imperial Palace - home the Habsburgs from 1273-1918) and Stephansdom (a Cathedral).

View from the Stephansdom

I would like to tell you about the hostel I stayed in, because it was fantastic, but I will leave that for my next post. For now, I hope you enjoyed reading a bit about Vienna!

Austria

Well, it's been a busy month and a half! October was full of planning and marking and filling out reports. Luckily, this last week was a much need week off. What better way to spend a week off in England than by traveling to Europe with my roomie??

Another day, I hope I'll have time to write more about England, but for now, a little bit about... Austria!

After landing in Vienna, we immediately took a train 2.5 hours through the picturesque Austrian countryside to Salzburg, birthplace of Mozart and setting for The Sound of Music. Thanks to some touring around Salzburg, I learned that the name means Fortress of Salt, due to all the salt available in the region.

We easily found our hostel, a Yoho International Youth Hostel, about 10 minutes from the train station. Just as a side note: I would definitely recommend this hostel. It was clean and friendly with reasonably-priced food offered in the morning and evening. Plus they played The Sound of Music every evening.

Once we had dropped our luggage off, we took a walk around the Old Town (also a 10 minute walk from the hostel). Old Town Salzburg is full of Baroque buildings and has remained fairly unchanged in the last few hundred years. A majestic castle overlooks the beautiful city.

Besides exploring the collection of churches, shops, and otherwise beautiful buildings of Salzburg, we also wanted to explore the area around the area. There are so many day trips to go on near Salzburg, hiking in the mountains and visiting smaller towns.

Well, I won't get into all the details now, but hopefully I can post in the next few weeks. I'm trying to get a good routine down so that I can find a balance between my work and personal goals. Wish me luck!

Exploring London

So, I know it's been two weeks, unfortunately. It has been a busy two weeks with a lot of work and touring :)

Last weekend I spent Saturday and Sunday in London checking it out. There's so much to do, I won't even get to everything in the next year I'm sure.

I walked around the Brick Lane Market awhile, and picked up lunch at a street vendor around there. It's a really cool area, with vendors and boutiques selling everything from delicious food to antiques to clothing to vinyl albums. Basically anything you could imagine with lots of hidden gems. In and around an old brewery called the Truman Brewery, there's a loads of little markets.

Apparently, according to my good friend Wikipedia, the Truman Markets (in the Brick Lane area) started as a single farmer's market, set up once a week, way back in the 1600s. Through the 19th century, a huge movement of Bangladeshi immigrants to this area changed the market. It's famous for its curry houses, which I actually didn't know before. I didn't get any curry last time, so I guess I'll have to go back!

Instead of going to a curry house, I got food from a street vendor. It was hard to choose which one and the one I went to ended up not having the meal I actually wanted. I ended up with fried chicken somehow, which unfortunately is not one of my favourite meals. However, it was quite good for fried chicken, and very flavorful. Another time, though, I would probably go for one of the vendors with a more Asian influence (of which there were many).

I did a lot of walking around after the Brick Lane Market and eventually ended up at the Tate Modern. However, I should warn you not to walk around too much BEFORE going to an art gallery or museum. I ended up walking around one floor then leaving to go see a movie. Luckily, the Tate Modern is free (as are many of the museums and galleries around London), so I will go back. I'll write a little blurb about it when I have seen more.

Just as a side note, I went to see Sin City 2. The movie was fantastic, but my advice to you is not to bother going to see a move in one of the cinemas at Leicester Square. Not sure if it was just that cinema or all of them, but it was £15... and I thought $12 was expensive in Toronto.

Anyway, that's it for now! But hopefully I'll have time to write another post this weekend about my daily experiences and things I notice or encounter.

Bye for now!

P.S. photos to come.

A whirlwind

Hi!

So a little bit of background... I was teaching grade 4 French Immersion in Saskatchewan last year. It was a great experience, but I definitely missed the business of life in and around Toronto. I decided to get my qualification for teaching high school English. Literature has always been my passion and I wanted a chance to work with higher level material and students. 

Considering the job market for teachers in Ontario, you might know that there aren't many jobs for English teachers there. I had a teacher friend going over to the UK and I've ALWAYS wanted to take a year abroad. So.... I applied and after a Skype interview, was offered a job in Slough, UK about 20 minutes outside of London. I decided, on the spot, to accept and thus began a summer of gathering documents, applying for passports/visas and waiting for everything to fall into place. 

Well, everything did fall into place! I am currently in Slough and I have just finished a week of training and a week of PD/teaching. It's been a fantastic, if busy, two weeks though. If anyone is wondering, I went with the recruiting agency UTeach. I feel that they have a lot of pros and a lot of cons, just like any agency probably does. Message me if you'd like to know more about my experience :) 

There's a lot of differences in the culture and the teaching that I've come across, so that's mainly what this blog will be about. I'll hopefully include a bit of history mixed in with my own day-to-day experiences. 

Hope you enjoy! Talk to you soon.

CG

Update: Okay...I quit my secondary job at the end of December and decided to start supply teaching. Redbox Teaching Agency has been great in providing me with steady work and I have so much more free time to travel or relax - definitely a good choice. I was beginning to resent spending my year abroad planning and marking without cease.
My blog has turned more into a travel blog and it is definitely less about England and teaching than I had originally planned. Things never really do go as planned, do they? ;)