After a 45 minute flight, we landed in the UK! But to our surprise and great travel planning abilities, we were over a 3 hours drive to actual London, we flew into Manchester... oops. And another surprise! London's train system is not cheap like Italy's, and we had no idea how we were going to get to London. After talking to the information guy, the car rental man (yes, we debated on driving ourselves to London because it was cheaper than the train. Manual 8 person van, driving on the opposite side of the road with only Emma and I knowing how to drive manual... that was quickly nixed), we were able to get ahold of a bus company that got us on the very last bus into London around midnight. Luckily our hostel was only a 10 minute walk from the train station, and without any time to stop for dinner, we got crackers at a bus station.
We arrived at the White Ferry House hostel and found it to be the cutest place! Well, on the outside. The entire first floor was a bar, and as we walked up the 3 flights of stairs (we were tired, crabby, hungry, and exhausted. 8 girls in this state is NOT pretty), we opened our room door and only heard snoring. A few manly snores. And we were in a huge room of 6 triple-bunk beds. We found ourselves to be in a co-ed, 18 person stuffy bunker, and thanks to delirium, Emma, Ashley, Caroline and I started laughing so hard we were crying. Could our day have gotten any worse? haha nope, but thanks to luggage locks, ear plugs, and a bed, I had no problem getting to sleep. Another full day of walking around was in the plan, along with a 7:30AM wake up call! London already has been an adventure.
Monday, March 20th
London is my new favorite city. Why? Because they have peanut butter of course! Our hostel had a breakfast, and the only thing I ate was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and was tempted to take one for the road! 2 cups of coffee were a must, and after such a delicious breakfast we were on our way to see everything we could in one day! The group split up because some wanted to do a double decker bus tour, while Emma and I wanted to walk and see everything. So, with my buddy Emma and camera in hand, we started south of Hyde Park and went straight to Buckingham Palace to find Prince Harry so he could marry me. Or maybe one of the crossing guards? Sadly, they do not stand outside anymore, and we couldn't try to make one laugh because they were way behind the gate. There were redcoats on horse, grey coats on foot, the horsies had really pretty gold harnesses it gave me goosebumps!
In front of Buckingham Palace there is a GIANT Queen Elizabeth statue that is facing towards the city and her back is towards the palace. Must be some reason for that, but before I had time to find out we were walking through St. James Park and found the squirrels you could feed. Sadly, I didn't have any food on me but we did see another girl feeding them. Caroline fed them when she went on her bus tour (they could hop off and get back on, so they did some walking around, too). In St. James Park theres a cute little pond with tons and tons of ducks, swans, and other water birds. On the bridge that crossed over the pond we could see little glimpses of the London Eye and Westminister Abbey. So naturally, that was the next area we wanted to go!
Walking along the streets, there were sooo many double decker red buses! Even though they were very, very common since we were in an actual city and that was their form of public transportation, I got excited every time I saw one (like a 4 year old in Disney World), and it was our goal to ride one. We stopped at a red telephone booth and took a few pictures.
There was a group of 5 older ladies on a trip: hope that can be us someday! And then a block further down was Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminister Abbey. We wanted to go into Westminister Abbey, but the line wrapped around the 2-block long church and we went into the small, neighboring church called Saint Margarets. Can cross off going into a London church from our list!
Parliament and Big Ben were right along the river, so we walked along that for a while, and then made our way towards the royal Horse Stables where they began the changing of the guards. Everyday at 11:30 all guards on horse and foot rotate spots throughout the city in a very fancy way. At the horse stables, they had the horses stand in a straight row, walk backwards, slowly turn around, and change spots. Then the ones who were bumped out made their way towards the Palace to rotate with the ones there (I think). We only saw the rotation part and then bee-lined it through St. James Park (the guards had to go around on the streets) to the Palace to find a good spot. Which we did!
Right on the steps of the statue, we got to see the little bands lead in the guards with their drums and trumpets, then go through the gates, do a greeting, and rotate through. The royal band played a few royal tunes inside the gates, and by now it was getting close to lunch time and we wanted to eat some real food! We went to Piccadilly Circus (Which is just a big intersection with 8 streets, the traffic made it a circus), and then to the Oxford Circus on Oxfor Street (same deal, but with big big ad screens like in Time Square, and a cool fountain). My friend Chloe from ISU studied abroad in London a year ago and lived on Oxford Street, so it was fun being where she had been! And so many shops, holy cow it was like Mall of America on a street.
After walking for 4 or so hours, we were hungry, and for some reason China Town's food wasn't too appealing. Zig zagging through that nice diverse area, we found ourselves in SoHo and at "The Spice of Life" cafe. How could you not want to have lunch there? So we did, and had pepperjack/whole wheat quesadillas with some chips (that's british for french fries). Cutest saloon-ish bar/pub yet I felt like I was in Uptown. Emma and I sat for about an hour letting our legs rest and mapping out where to go to next. My camera had died at this point, and luckily I brought my charger. Whew, I'm almost as bad as my mom when it comes to taking pictures. Ask all the girls on the trip, it's the main thing I do. Oh well!
Made our way to the Queen's Garden and Regents Park, which is in the north-western corner of London. We were obviously in the nicer part of London because all the homes had big white pillars, perfectly trimmed shrubs, and lots of black and gold accents. Too fancy for my liking, so getting into the park was enjoyable. Still, lots of people running/biking everywhere, but the Queen's Garden had everything perfectly planted in rows, giant trellis' covered in vines, large marble fountains and planters everywhere. Even statues! Fit for a queen no doubt, and something new to look at everywhere you turned. Even though I worked at Cals, still could have used a little help from Aunt Jackie identifying all the flowers!
Next we made way passed the 3-block long London School of Business (more like a royal palace.... all white, white pillars, massive domes, giant windows... Iowa State has some catching up to do!), through a quiet neighborhood and arrived to ABBEY ROAD!! One of the main things I wanted to go to, and it was under construction (most of London was because of the Olympics), but Emma and I still did the walk! Whoo we look so famous!
Stayed north and went to Kings Cross Train Station where the famous Harry Potter platform 9 3/4 is, pretended to run through the wall but since I am a muggle, they would not let me cross over into the wizarding world. Bummer. We then took a double decker bus to the Tower Bridge (top level, front row of the bus!), and then walked along the river for about 3 miles to enjoy the sunset. By this time, our feet were sore, starting to get hungry again for dinner, and found ourselves to be very satisfying walking the entire city of London in one day. But, our day was no where near being over.
We arrived back at our hostel and my friend Jake from high school was studying abroad there. He met me at my hostel and had a pint of Czech beer (Prague was one of his favorite places, too), and we talked for over an hour. In the mean time, were were waiting for my other friends Ali and Ashley to meet us and go out for dinner together (Ali was my freshman year roommate and Ashley is in my sorority). Jake had to go do homework because he just came back from Barcelona, wish I had more time to catch up with him! So Ali and Ash arrived and we went to O'Neils pub back near the Picadilly circus. Had my first plate of fish and chips! So yummy, and after catching up with them, we made our way back to the hostel and went to bed. Waking up at 6AM for the flight off to Ireland! Another city that wore me out, and spring break wasn't even halfway through. And back to the snorers... oh well! Much love, AF
We arrived at the White Ferry House hostel and found it to be the cutest place! Well, on the outside. The entire first floor was a bar, and as we walked up the 3 flights of stairs (we were tired, crabby, hungry, and exhausted. 8 girls in this state is NOT pretty), we opened our room door and only heard snoring. A few manly snores. And we were in a huge room of 6 triple-bunk beds. We found ourselves to be in a co-ed, 18 person stuffy bunker, and thanks to delirium, Emma, Ashley, Caroline and I started laughing so hard we were crying. Could our day have gotten any worse? haha nope, but thanks to luggage locks, ear plugs, and a bed, I had no problem getting to sleep. Another full day of walking around was in the plan, along with a 7:30AM wake up call! London already has been an adventure.
Monday, March 20thLondon is my new favorite city. Why? Because they have peanut butter of course! Our hostel had a breakfast, and the only thing I ate was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and was tempted to take one for the road! 2 cups of coffee were a must, and after such a delicious breakfast we were on our way to see everything we could in one day! The group split up because some wanted to do a double decker bus tour, while Emma and I wanted to walk and see everything. So, with my buddy Emma and camera in hand, we started south of Hyde Park and went straight to Buckingham Palace to find Prince Harry so he could marry me. Or maybe one of the crossing guards? Sadly, they do not stand outside anymore, and we couldn't try to make one laugh because they were way behind the gate. There were redcoats on horse, grey coats on foot, the horsies had really pretty gold harnesses it gave me goosebumps!
There was a group of 5 older ladies on a trip: hope that can be us someday! And then a block further down was Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminister Abbey. We wanted to go into Westminister Abbey, but the line wrapped around the 2-block long church and we went into the small, neighboring church called Saint Margarets. Can cross off going into a London church from our list!
Parliament and Big Ben were right along the river, so we walked along that for a while, and then made our way towards the royal Horse Stables where they began the changing of the guards. Everyday at 11:30 all guards on horse and foot rotate spots throughout the city in a very fancy way. At the horse stables, they had the horses stand in a straight row, walk backwards, slowly turn around, and change spots. Then the ones who were bumped out made their way towards the Palace to rotate with the ones there (I think). We only saw the rotation part and then bee-lined it through St. James Park (the guards had to go around on the streets) to the Palace to find a good spot. Which we did!
Right on the steps of the statue, we got to see the little bands lead in the guards with their drums and trumpets, then go through the gates, do a greeting, and rotate through. The royal band played a few royal tunes inside the gates, and by now it was getting close to lunch time and we wanted to eat some real food! We went to Piccadilly Circus (Which is just a big intersection with 8 streets, the traffic made it a circus), and then to the Oxford Circus on Oxfor Street (same deal, but with big big ad screens like in Time Square, and a cool fountain). My friend Chloe from ISU studied abroad in London a year ago and lived on Oxford Street, so it was fun being where she had been! And so many shops, holy cow it was like Mall of America on a street.
Made our way to the Queen's Garden and Regents Park, which is in the north-western corner of London. We were obviously in the nicer part of London because all the homes had big white pillars, perfectly trimmed shrubs, and lots of black and gold accents. Too fancy for my liking, so getting into the park was enjoyable. Still, lots of people running/biking everywhere, but the Queen's Garden had everything perfectly planted in rows, giant trellis' covered in vines, large marble fountains and planters everywhere. Even statues! Fit for a queen no doubt, and something new to look at everywhere you turned. Even though I worked at Cals, still could have used a little help from Aunt Jackie identifying all the flowers!
Next we made way passed the 3-block long London School of Business (more like a royal palace.... all white, white pillars, massive domes, giant windows... Iowa State has some catching up to do!), through a quiet neighborhood and arrived to ABBEY ROAD!! One of the main things I wanted to go to, and it was under construction (most of London was because of the Olympics), but Emma and I still did the walk! Whoo we look so famous!
Stayed north and went to Kings Cross Train Station where the famous Harry Potter platform 9 3/4 is, pretended to run through the wall but since I am a muggle, they would not let me cross over into the wizarding world. Bummer. We then took a double decker bus to the Tower Bridge (top level, front row of the bus!), and then walked along the river for about 3 miles to enjoy the sunset. By this time, our feet were sore, starting to get hungry again for dinner, and found ourselves to be very satisfying walking the entire city of London in one day. But, our day was no where near being over.
We arrived back at our hostel and my friend Jake from high school was studying abroad there. He met me at my hostel and had a pint of Czech beer (Prague was one of his favorite places, too), and we talked for over an hour. In the mean time, were were waiting for my other friends Ali and Ashley to meet us and go out for dinner together (Ali was my freshman year roommate and Ashley is in my sorority). Jake had to go do homework because he just came back from Barcelona, wish I had more time to catch up with him! So Ali and Ash arrived and we went to O'Neils pub back near the Picadilly circus. Had my first plate of fish and chips! So yummy, and after catching up with them, we made our way back to the hostel and went to bed. Waking up at 6AM for the flight off to Ireland! Another city that wore me out, and spring break wasn't even halfway through. And back to the snorers... oh well! Much love, AF
What a riot. Villas and Abbey Road. Did you see Jim Morrison?
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