Well the hotel we stayed at was lovely except that it had very limited internet access for thos of us who didn't want to pay several pounds for "unlimited" internet. My Skype and Entourage were the only applications that worked the three days we stayed at the Sherlock Holmes...so I apologize for not keeping up with my tales but here they go!
First Day in London:
It was an absolutely FULL day, to be honest. Nekol, Claire, Ashley, and I all met up at the airport gate and talked until it was time to board. Our flight was delayed due to mechanical issues which was kind of disappointing but really, what can you do? We landed at Heathrow around 7:30 London time and it took us OVER an hour to get through immigration, and that was all standing in line. They didn’t even ask to see our papers of all things, just our passports. Anyways, we get to the train about 9 to get to Paddington station because Heathrow is on the opposite side of London. Oh and yes, Paddington like Paddington the Bear...I never made the connection until now.
We get to the hotel around ten and store our bags because our rooms won’t be ready until two...none of us slept really on the plane like at all so we’re all exhausted and we can’t just sit around waiting for the other half of the group to arrive. We then head off to the nearest Starbucks and then begin walking to just explore. We passed by many things, the Marleybone campus and housing for University of Westminster, Madame Tussauds, and various other fun things.
Finally, we see a sign for Regent Park and decided to walk through and it is MASSIVE. A ton of acres to say the least. I forget the actual number. We were barely able to walk through a tiny portion before we had to come back to meet the group. Anyways, met the group and went and bought mobiles before having lunch then nap time (oh God sleeping for an hour and a half never felt so good). Then we met up around five and walked around the river Thames near Southbank (Parliament and London Eye to name a few of known sights), saw Westminster Abbey, meandered, went through Trafalgar Square, and then ate at a very nice pizza fine dining restaurant. It was absolutely wonderful. My feet hurt like crazy but I took over 180 photos and that was from a very short day.
Second Day of London:
The morning started at 8:20 because Nekol and I snoozed until then. We were then up and getting ready and down to breakfast within an hour. Breakfast is included with the room, wonderfully enough, and so I had English Breakfast tea with my continental breakfast, which mainly subsisted of fruit, cheese, and yogurt. I honestly don’t know how people don’t die of dehydration; all “refills” are charged and water is not free, whether it be still or sparkling.
Today was a hop on and off bus tour where we road on a double decker, with an open top. We saw all sorts of sights! Big Ben, Parliament, the Eye of London, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, The Marble Arch, The London Bridge, The Tower Bridge, The Tower of London, London Tower (we saw both), Hard Rock Café (which started in London when Eric Clapton placed his guitar on the wall above where he sat), St Paul’s Cathedral (when building St Paul’s Cathedral they took money from St Peter and Westminster Church (Westminster abbey) to pay for the Cathedral...thus where we get Robbing Peter to pay Paul), the bridge and building used in the beginning of Harry Potter VI (the ones where the Dementors tear them up...no I did not go into the building or onto the bridge, mom), Buckingham Palace, Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, Regent Campus of UofW, several awesome theatres, The Texas Embassy (which was put there when Texas was a country and is now a cantina and bbq restaurant), The Ritz Hotel, St Thomas’ Hospital (which was originally called Nightingale Hospital because that’s where Florence Nightingale did most of her work), and a few other places.
We ate lunch in Harrods. I thought it was going to be a Macy’s with both high and low end merchandise but none of this stuff could even be closely called low end. The lowest price would possibly be DKNY and that was next to Marc Jacobs...yeah, I know. I had a chicken tikka wrap; tikka is a type of Indian sauce that is rather spicy, I had to trade food with someone because I couldn’t stand it...Indian Spicy is a whole other kind of spicy.
After lunch a separate group of us went on the River Thames boat tour which wasn’t all that grand...we had seen everything before already. It was just nice to sit on a boat and just go along the river at sunset.
We had dinner at a place called Giraffe which is a fun little restaurant where I had cheddar and bbq chicken quesadillas; they were absolutely wonderful! I have been drinking a lot of coke recently because I can’t stand sparkling water and I won’t be able to afford coke once our Study Abroad coordinator isn’t having the school front the bill anymore. After that, the students hit up a pub in Picadilly Circus just to go out for a bit. We weren’t even there that long because someone said the tube closed at 11 so we left soon before then except when we got back to Baker St it was after 11 and there were still people heading down into the tube. Oh well.
So that was it for my day. Tomorrow we are heading to Bath bright and early!
Third Day of London:
Today started even earlier than yesterday; Nicole and I were out of bed by 7:05 to be down to breakfast by eight. Again I had my English Breakfast tea, I think I’ll miss having hot tea every morning out of a proper tea pot and cup. I’d buy my own but I think that’d be a tad bit difficult to bring it back to the states. Susan Layne paid for a van/tour guide to take us all the way to Bath and since it’s a two plus hour drive, we left around nine in the morning. Traffic in London is absolutely ridiculous, I have yet to see anything like this –ever.- I would never own a car in London proper if I could help it.
We drove into Bath, all of the group (save the driver) fell asleep on the way there. The rolling country side was beautiful yet lulled us into a sleep that had us energetic for Bath. We went into the Roman Bath and meandered around for two hours taking photos. I am pretty sure over half of my 200+ photos today were from the Roman Bath. Nicole, Harrison, and I went through the crypt of the Bath Abbey, which wasn’t all that extensive, and I got one or two good shots from there. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to go to the Fashion Museum but what was awesome is we were able to go to Avesbury. Avesbury is a henge of stone just like Stone Henge but it’s not fenced off like Stone Henge and there aren’t a bajillion people swarming the area. We walked amongst the stones and there were sheep and I got some fantastic photos.
For dinner we ate at Pret a Manger, well technically we grabbed sandwiches and came back to our rooms because we were so absolutely tired from being on the van for a long time. Right now Nicole and I are sitting in bed watching the videos she took and looking at the photos I took.
Moving In:
Today we moved into our housing for the semester! Yaaay! However, there were a few other things that happened.
The group walked to see the Regent and Cavendish campuses because that's where most people are taking their classes and orientation is at Cavendish. After all this we head over to Edgeware to go shop at Argos. Well, when the car arrived in the tube, the group assumed everyone had gotten on and were just talking. All of a sudden a girl gasps and says if our study abroad coordinator and another girl, who are looking at the tube map, are going to get on. I yell both of their names and the girl HOPS onto the car like you wouldn't believe. The door of the car closed in the face of the study abroad coordinator. We road the tube all the way to Edgeware and just waited for our SAC to arrive. When she had arrived, we gathered ourselves and headed on to Argos to shop for bedding.
Now, I'm used to being able to see what you're about to buy and walking amongst aisles of things. This is not so for Argos. Not knowing what you're looking at, while looking into the store face one would think they were looking into a very tiny electronics store. However, upon entering the shop, we realized that you walk over to catalogues and write down the serial number of the things you want to buy. Well, Nekol and I head over to the books and settle on a pair of plain dyed sheets. If we're only sleeping on them for three months, why waste a pretty pence?
When I got up to the register the man kindly told me they were out of black plain dyed sheets. I literally said, quite loudly, "Oh crap!" And looked at him to kindly ask what other colors were available. Cherry (red) was still available so I look at Nekol, who had put down wanting Cherry sheets, and then to the man and told him I would take Cherry. I hear Nekol from behind me, "If those are the only Cherry sheets left I am going to beat you to death."
Well apparently as I walked away and Nekol walked up to the counter, the man behind the register nervously told Nekol that I had bought the last red sheets. I hear from across the store, "Dre, I'm going to beat you!" I come back and tell Nekol to just get me the Chocolate (dark brown) sheets and I'll suck it up. Turns out they don't look too terribly bad with my duvet cover...then again that's just putting sheets against each other...they aren't on my bed yet.
Anyways, we all go out to lunch and then head back to the hotel where we await our cars to take us to our residence halls. Nekol and I head on out around two and get to Lambeth soon after. Since then it has been absolutely smooth sailing: we met our floor mates (floors 2 and 3), gotten mostly settled in, gone out to dinner in Picadilly Circus at Garfunkels, gone out to a pub (did not drink, watched others do so), and then come home to just relax...It was an eventful long day that is quickly coming to a close.
Tomorrow, Nekol and I will meet up with the US school group to go to Kensington Palace and then Nekol, Harrison, and I are heading to London Dungeon! Fun!
Love,
Dre
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