Cadbury World

What can I say about Cadbury World? Well, let's say that it wasn't all I was hoping for and was a bit of a let down. But we did get free chocolate.

The first little bit was kind of interesting. We went through the "Aztec Jungle", which was just a bunch of plastic bushes with plastic people and plaques describing the discovery of cocoa beans. Very educational. Then we were told about John Cadbury's quest for the perfect chocolate. It seemed a bit much of propaganda to me, but I suppose, how else would they have it? A lady hologram was talking and asked if we could imagine a world without Cadbury's, and I figured Nestle would be happy.

The packaging plant area was such a let down as it was not operational. We couldn't even really see the conveyer belts because they blocked the view with boxes of Cadbury chocolates.

The Beanmobile ride was okay. You sat in a little car and it took you around "Beanville" and all the little cocoa beans sang and twirled around. It reminded me of "It's a Small World Afterall" in Disneyland. So what if some of the beans were broken? It was the magic of it all that counted!

There were some cool interactive things near the end that kids (big and small) liked. There was this one screen that you could stand in front of and pose, then it made you into a little chocolate sculpture. You could grow your own cocoa beans and test your green thumb through this video game.

I do have to say though, that the biggest scam of all was the 'make your own chocolate' bit. That's not what happens at all! You have 6-8 different fillings to choose from (popcorn, biscuit pieces, rice crispies, mint crunchies, etc), you can only choose one, and then they put it in a little cup and fill it with liquid chocolate. That's your amazing creation. You can't even mix the fillings. What a swizz.

This place should really have been called "Cadbury Dairy Milk World" because all of the chocolate that they talked about and sold there was made with their Dairy Milk chocolate. I was expecting to see more kinds of chocolate bars than just Dairy Milk, Flake, and Buttons. Although, that being said, I did spend a lot of money in that store. :-)

My First Balti

I have yet again been exposed to something that I've never heard of before and is so popular over here. A balti. It's an Indian dish that resembles a curry but it's cooked in a special bowl and eaten with nan bread. It is said that balti was first derived in Birmingham for the English palate and there seems to be many different ways it came about. More info on the Balti Experience.

I loved it! The balti that Alex and I shared were two mini ones, so we could have a taste of different types. The cute little bowls that they came in I wanted to take home with me. They're like little woks. I'm not a huge fan of curry, simply because it's usually too spicy for me, but this was great!


Check out the size of that nan...

Merry Chirstmas & Happy Boxing Day!

Merry Christmas... from England.

Christmas Pantomimes

Pantomimes are strange things. They're basically interactive plays put on for childern that re-enacte fairy tales or kids stories. Apparently the most famous of "pantos" is Cinderella. This is the panto that we went to see yesterday.

Pantos have been mainly described to me as a quote, "It's behind you!" and that it's a kids Christmas thing. Which made no sense to me as Cinderella has nothing to do with Christmas, and that particular one-liner didn't really paint a good picture. Now that I've been to one of these pantos, that quote is pretty acurate. The actors ask the audience questions, like if their dress is pretty, or if they should eat the apple (eg. Snow White), and, of course, for help finding someone (which apparently is the most popular question). I still don't get the Christmas connection though. :-)

Even though this was supposed to be purely for kids, Alex and I went with his mother and grandmother and we all enjoyed ourselves. Everyone seemed excited for me because this was my first time. The jokes in the play were a bit much for kids I felt though. Tons of adult jokes that I thought (and hoped) little kids wouldn't get. Which I guess made it funnier for us! The two ugly step-sisters were men (Peter and Nigel) in outrageous drag outfits. There was an added character who was the comic relief character of the play, Buttons. He was a standup comic in real life named Brian Conley. This show was by no means polished and the screw-ups and impromtu laughing bouts made it great! Like when one of the sister's wig fell off and one of his/her balloon boob popped. Apparently, these pantos aren't supposed to be smooth, which I guess is half the fun.

Check out http://www.its-behind-you.com/ and you'll start to comprehend what these crazy pantos are all about. Merry Christmas.

Dublin - Land of the Dear

"Dear" is a new word I've learned over here. It means expensive. And Dublin is certainly that. It's a good thing that we only had a day and a half in the city, otherwise I'm sure we would have spent most of our Christmas shopping money over there just getting a bite to eat. Our first night out we thought we'd do it cheapy-style and ordered fish and chips from a place that resembled a food court. The meal for the both of us wound up costing just over $30 CDN dollars! For bloody fish and chips! We each only had one piece as well. By the second night I had done a bit of research and realized that the cheapest restaurants to eat at were Italian and had a huge pizza for the same price as the one piece of fish & chips. But, still... all expensive in my books.

Jet lag is also being tough on us. With only having one full day in Dublin, we actually went to bed early the first night, intending to wake up early and get a head start on the day. Unfortunately, we slept in until past 2pm. So with half the day gone, we decided to just walk around and check out the Temple Bar area, down Grafton Street, and around St. Stephen's Green. I found my very own store too!

Of course we couldn't be in Dublin without going to a couple of different pubs. The first night we went to The Porterhouse Pub, which is supposed to be the best pub in town serving its own beer. Then the second night we went to The Temple Bar, which I believe is where the cobble-stoned area got its name from.

And no one should be in Dublin, be in pubs, and not have a Guinness - or at least a couple sips of someone else's Guinness. Apparently it's an acquired taste.

It's The Little Things...

So posting a few times a week might have been a little over ambitious. But I had to write something when I had a moment, at least just to say hello to everyone! As I have to be off to sleep shortly (catching planes dead-tired has never had a good track record for me), I thought I'd just mention a couple things I've found as odd.

Firstly, English taps are separate. Now I don't know who thought of putting them together in the first place, but I want to share my gratitude for sparing me from this atrocity like they have over here. One tap is freezing cold water. The other is scalding hot. To wash your hands, you have to move your hands from one side of the sink to the other super fast in order to mimic the likeness of lukewarm water. And we all can imagine just how often you come away with a wondrous hand-washing experience. More likely you're either burnt or have numb hands.

Secondly, their bathrooms have tiles on the walls, but carpet on the floors. I don't understand. This makes no sense to me no matter how I try and rationalize it. Can could get tile everywhere... but to have it on the walls and carpet on the floor, well, I'll just leave it at that. :-)