Mind The Gap- London Day 3

Today we woke up early once again to get out on the town before we had to head back to Harlaxton.  Before leaving we found where the hotels advertised free breakfast was and enjoyed an assorment of cereal, toast, and croissants.  We even were able to sneak some cheese and apples to add to our packed lunches for the day.  While eating we watched the news (on BBC lol) and we got to see a Grantham local who was being interviewed because he has created the hottest chile peppers in the world.  It made us feel famous!  I also began wondering if it is easier to get onto tv in the UK because since there are less people there should be a much bigger chance that anything cool you do is actually recognized--food for thought.  So we left and caught the tube to Trafalgar Square.  Another interesting tidbit of info is that just 3 days before we came to this part of the city there were gang fights there!  Luckily we found it to be pretty civil and lovely early in the morning before most of the tourists were out.  The Nelson monument is in the center and this is dedicated to Horatio Nelson who defeated Napolean in a naval battle at Trafalgar off the coast of Spain (which i learned in British Studies).  We waited and toured the National Gallery which housed many famous paintings by various well known artists.  Furthermore this was especially neat because we got to see some of the artwork that we have been studying in class.  Next we rode the tube to Picadilly Circus (likened to the Times Square of London) and picked up a few cheap souvenirs.  We started to get really hungry so we decided to head back to Buckingham Palace to eat our packed lunches.  We sat up on the Victoria Monument and watched everyone come and go to take their pictures.  It was funny and I'm pretty sure some kids thought we were homeless lol.  From here we went back to St. Jame's Park to feed the birds our left over crackers.  Amanda fed them and I took pictures (I'm not a huge fan of birds up close to me!).  She let me feed the swan the last of our leftover food and I decided to keep my gloves on because I wanted to protect my hand from actually touching it.  Well bad idea because the swan snatched it right off with the food and it fell into the pond (see the video evidence above!).  It was hilarious!  Of course everyone around started laughing at me and we couldn't reach my glove because it started floating away.  A little english girl's dad used a stick and fished it out for me though!  Once again my gloves were saved from being lost!  I swear these gloves must be magic because I almost lost them in Scotland too!  During this whole ordeal we met a guy from Pittsburgh (he heard us talking with our American accents).  He was cool and told us that he was stationed there in the military.  It was nice to see someone else from America!  Now we headed off to Camden Town (yet another part of London!).  Here we looked in souvenir shops and Amanda and I both got our ears pierced.  We then headed back to the train station to wait for ours to Grantham.  At this point we were beat and just ready to make it back for Sunday Roast (mainly we just wanted the ice cream!)

Double Decker Bus--Day 2 London

Today we woke up early and headed out to the tube to ride up to the Tower of London.  We got a little lost which was frustrating ( and it was raining) but finally we made it.  This landmark is full of cool things to see and we spent the greater part of the morning exploring the different towers and artifacts.  We got to see the crown  jewels--very cool!-- and even the bloody tower that held many famous people captive.  At the tower they keep these famous giant ravens that are literally the size of like cats which were kind of scary.  From here we grabbed some lunch and then walked along the Thames to view the London Eye (World's largest ferris wheel) and then we caught sight of Big Ben.  Absolutly magnificant and just as I pictured it!  We even got to hear it toll on the hour :)  We saw the house of parliament and Westminster Abbey (the place of the royal wedding coming up in April).  On our way out to Buckingham Palace we walked through the beautiful St. Jame's Park.  They had tons of cool birds hanging out by the water (swans, pelicans, pigeons, ducks, etc.).  We saw an older man feeding the birds some bread and was a sight!  Every time he threw a piece of bread in birds from everywhere in sight flocked to him!  They even had a type of duck-like bird that looked as though it ran on top of the water.  We finally headed out to Buckingham Palace which was absolutely beautiful.  Afterwards we visited the Wellington Arch (dedicated to the Duke of Ellington which is the person Amanda has to write a paper for in our British Studies Class).  To end a nice day of touring the city we headed over to Harrod's.  Harrod's is a famously huge superstore right in the city that sells everything!  They have clothing, food, souvenirs, sports gear, furniture, carpets, etc.--and all quite expensive!  It was a tiring experience just to explore all of their floors!  We headed back to the hotel again and enjoyed some more Chicken Palace Pizza and BBC.

Londinium

Last Friday Amanda and I set off at 11:11am on the train into Kings Cross for a weekend in London.  Ironically, we have been in England for about a month and a half and still hadn't seen the lovely capital.  We immediately got our tickets for the tube all weekend and then headed to southwest London where our hostel was located (actually quite close to Heathrow).  When we finally arrived we found out that we were being transfered to the Belgravia Hotel that is closer to the city centre because the hostel's hot water was broken.  We hopped back on the train and it took another hour or so to ride all the way to the hotel.  We checked in and were pleasantly suprised with the upgrade.  We now had our own room and our own bathroom, plus we were closer to all of the touristy spots.  We even got to pay 1/4 of the cost for the two nights at the nice hotel because they had to charge us the same price as we were getting at the hostel.  Unfortunately it was a little late in the day by the time we accomplished all of that so we were limited on what we could go do.  We rode the tube out to the Tower of London and walked around outside.  We also photographed and even touched the Thames River (pronounced Tems) and walked across the London Bridge (luckily it didn't fall down!).  We then decided to get on the tube and ride out to Greenwich Village.  Here we had fun perusing a bookstore sale (all books one pound!) and we ran to Greenwich Park to see the Prime Meridian.  I sort of thought that they might close the gate when we ran in, but we were determined to get to the National Maritime Museum to experience standing in the East and West Hemispheres simultaneously.  We made it and it was cool to see the green laser pointing out from the museum.  Now as we came back down the hill and through the park we noticed how dark it was getting and we got kind off nervous because the park was not lit at all on the inside (luckily there was some light pollution from London!).  As we approached the gate to exit we saw people having to climb the fence.  We were locked in to the Greenwich Park!  Luckily though, by the time we approached the gate a security guard drove up and let us out of the gate.  We happily headed back to the tube and went back to our hotel.  We stopped at the Chicken Palace for cheap pizza and spent the rest of the evening watching the BBC.

Discoving the Bronte Sisters

"From the well-known names of these towns I learn in what county I have lighted; a north-midland shire, dusk with moorland, ridged with mountain: this I see. There are great moors behind and on each hand of me; there are waves of mountains far beyond that deep valley at my feet. The population here must be thin, and I see no passengers on these roads: they stretch out east, west, north, and south—white, broad, lonely; they are all cut in the moor, and the heather grows deep and wild to their very verge. Yet a chance traveller might pass by; and I wish no eye to see me now: strangers would wonder what I am doing, lingering here at the sign-post, evidently objectless and lost. I might be questioned: I could give no answer but what would sound incredible and excite suspicion. Not a tie holds me to human society at this moment—not a charm or hope calls me where my fellow-creatures are—none that saw me would have a kind thought or a good wish for me. I have no relative but the universal mother, Nature: I will seek her breast and ask repose." -Jane Eyre
Tuesday my English Novel class took a trip to Haworth, England which is the town in which the Bronte sisters (Emily and Charlotte) grew up and based different aspects of their famous works such as Wuthering Heights and Jane Grey.  We have read both of these novels for our class so it was really neat to see the home in which they grew up in.  It is now converted into a museum where you can view their clothing, writing desks, and different things that have lasted since the 18th century when they lived.  Following this we headed out to the moors, a unique landscape that is uncomparable to anything in the US.  They are characterized by hills full of a plant called heather.  Technically moors are considered dry marshes, although while traisping across them on a rainy day we found ourselves quite wet and muddy.  It was an intense walk and I wish that we wouldn't have had to hurry so much because the view was beautiful.  Due to the wetness/muddiness we had to be extra careful to not slip and fall around all the rocks and hills.  We made it to Bronte Falls and took a picture on a bridge.  It was a long and tiring walk and when we got back we had to freeze the entire two hour ride home but it was really fun.  I also technically have been to the Sherwood Forest (Home of Robinhood) because we drove through it on the way there and back.  It was a great but very very tiring day!

And, Until We Meet Again, May God Hold You in the Hollow of His Hand :)

Sunday was bittersweet because we knew the fun would come to an end soon.  We left Killarney for the Blarney Castle and Blarney Stone and when we arrived we headed straight up to the top to kiss the famous stone.  I have been waiting to do this almost my entire life!  I remember my brothers and I looking it up in our ancient encyclopedias and and thinking that it must be really really scary.  The stairs you had to climb were beyond steep (like maybe 4 inches in width!) and they were so vertical that the handrail literally was a rope tied down.  Once at the top, we got really jittery and nervous because of the way you have to go about kissing the stone ( they couldn't have made it easy of course!)  In order to kiss the stone, you sit down backwards and grab the two bars while being held onto by some random irish guy and essentially hang your head off the side of this castle so that you can kiss the famous blarney stone.  If you happened to slip, you would essentially fall to your death!  I went first and luckily I'm still here to tell about it :)  The story is that when you kiss the stone you get the gift of gab (which I already had lol).  Afterwards we were able to walk around and explore the castle, grounds, and village of Blarney.  We picked up a couple loaves of bread, cheese, a 2 liter bottle of sprite, and cadbury chocolate bars to form an impromptu picnic before loading up the bus to head back to Dublin.  On the way back we passed by the field where they filmed the fight scenes from Braveheart.  We got a little nervous on the way back because our flight was due to leave at 8pm (gate closed at 730pm) and we didn't get back to Dublin until about 6:15 (you are supposed to arrive for international flights 2 hours early).  Luckily Amanda, Christina, Marie, and I were able to split a cab straight to the airport and arrive just in time to board the plane.  After arriving back in London we were once again stuck spending the night there because the trains don't run after 930pm (that's when we arrived).  So we spent the evening working on homework, writing postcards, taking pictures, watching a hot dog stand be built (randomly during the night the airport set up a new hotdog vendor right by where we were camped out), and being silly.  At 4:30 am we were able to catch the train out to Grantham and then a taxi to Harlaxton.  I showered, went to breakfast, and then arrived at my first class at 8:30 am.  What a busy weekend!

May the Rains Fall Softly Upon Your Fields

It was very difficult to wake up Saturday after having such a busy past few days but the thought of seeing more of Ireland pulled me out of bed.  We left at about 9am and headed down many more curvy, hilly, country Irish roads.  We made our first stop at another film village where they filmed "The Field".  I have yet to see this movie but I am really excited to now.  We started heading up in elevation to a land called the Burren.  This area was full of flat rocks and their was even a ancient burial ground we saw that was around the same age as Stonehenge.  As we drove we started down the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.  Here we saw the most beautiful (and biggest!) waves I have ever seen.  They were sooo cool!  The sound of the ocean was just so powerful and the way the waves came up and hit the rocks just below the cliff was just amazing.  It was one of those scary/breathtaking moments.  The waves here in Ireland are actually really famous for surfing and here you can see the Aileen's.  We left and then ate in Doolin and I had an amazing bowl of Tomato soup.  From here we headed up to my favorite part of my trip-The Cliffs of Moher (pronounced More).  I can't even describe them, but they are absolutely beautiful (see the picture!).  A panoramic shot of them was actually used for the Harry Potter 6 movie.  Saturday was super windy, especially up on the cliffs so we were having fun trying to hold our hair down :)  Afterwards, we headed to Killarney for the night.  The hostel was nice and that night we went out to a restaurant where I enjoyed some fresh mussels (they were really good!).  We didn't stay out to late though because at this point we were all absolutely exhausted and we needed our rest for day 3 of the tour! 

May the Sun Shine Warm Upon Your Face :)

We woke up today (Friday) in order to get onto our coach by 8:00 am.  We scheduled a 3-day Paddywagon tour of Southern Ireland (pretty much the only chance we had at seeing all the cool stuff outside of Dublin).  It was a little frustrating to see that like 30 other people from Harlaxton had the same idea so our bus was full of Americans.  We left and headed onto the motorway.  As we drove the beautiful countryside became more and more and we finally made a stop in Cong.  Cong is a quaint little village that has a little stream that flows through it and it is also famous because it was the site that they filmed "The Quiet Man" with John Wayne.  I've seen this movie so it was really cool to get to see some of the famous sites of the film.  While in Cong, we followed the river around had fun exploring and then we went out to the ruins of the Cong Abbey.  This was absolutely gorgeous and everything was sooo green :)  It was just like you would picture Ireland to be!  Christina, Amanda, and I even picked out houses there so we can live by each other ;) We loaded back up and then headed towards Galway and into the Connemara are of Ireland.  Here we saw many lakes, rivers, and mountains.  We even stopped at a waterfall where the Erriff river flows into the Atlantic Ocean.  It was really cool.  The next stop on our tour was at Kylemore Abbey.  This was a beautiful building that looked like a castle and it was nestled perfectly at the base of a mountain.  It was neat because if you looked closely, up the side of the mountain there was a statue of Jesus.  Here we ate lunch (I had a Limmerick Ham and Brie Sandwich which was great).  From this point we loaded back up and followed the fjord all the way to Galway, Ireland (Song Galway Girl from P.S. I Love You).  This town was unique and really fun.  We checked into our hostel and then headed to eat.  I ate a wonderful seafood chowder and then we walked around and experienced some of the unique nightlife in Galway.  Live music was awesome there and we had a good time hanging out in the city.  We even met some people from our home away from home (England)!

May the Wind Be Always At Your Back

Upon arrival at the Dublin Airport we now had to find our way by bus into the city centre and find our hostel-Paddy's Palace.  We talked to the tourism office and they pointed us in the right direction and we found ourselves headed into the city.  Unfortunately, we didn't have a map of the bus stops and the bus driver wasn't being very helpful so we had to ask someone where exactly O'Connell street was and how we would know when we arrived there (none of the bus stops were marked either).  We eventually arrived at the hostel and checked in.  This hostel was okay, but our building you had to go outside to get to and you also had to be let in by a person at their front desk (they called it VIP service but really they are just too cheap to fix the door so we can get in!).  We picked our beds and headed out to find a bite to eat before we had to meet Brian and Rita (relatives of Amanda's cousin and also locals of Dublin) at the front gate of Trinity College.  We ate at O'Briens and my sandwich bread was shaped like a shamrock (which was awesome!).  We then left to meet them and we quickly found that they were super friendly and nice.  Rita got us into The Book of Kells (the Gospel in Latin written by Celtic monks around 800 a.d.) for free because she works at Trinity College.  We were amazed by this and also the library at Trinity College.  We spent the rest of the day walking around the city to see the castle, Christ Church Cathedral, Beatty Library (where we saw ancient pages of the bible and other religious documents as well), and even stopped at The Brazen Head Pub (which is where Brian and Rita had their first date!).  It was a really neat day.  We even got to meet Rita's elderly mother who was a character, she told us, "What you can't cure, you must endure".  Finally, Brian and Rita welcomed us into their home and fed us a delicious three course dinner!  It was soo good and I haven't been that full in forever (we didn't realize they would be giving us so much food!).  I wish I could describe what Brian cooked for us, but honestly I didn't know what most of it was!  We had a great time talking to them about our lives, school, and our ancestry from Ireland.  They took us back to the hostel at about 10pm because Amanda and I were exhausted from traveling and staying up pretty much all of the previous night.  It was a great experience though and I am so happy we got to spend time with real Irish folk.  When we got to the hostel we found it just as sketchy as ever.  They let us in and they had no lights on in the hallways so that it was difficult to find our room.  Then we both experienced a sound of scratching while showering (we were like 10 feet from each other) that was creepy as well.  Nevertheless, we got in bed to get ready for our early morning on Friday.

May the Road Rise to Meet You

I'll begin my Ireland trip on Wednesday.  Unfortunately, we had a short week but the entire school had to stay on Wednesday afternoon from 2-4pm for our British Studies test.  I don't understand why, but you would have thought we were taking the ACT or final exams or something because the whole school made a huge deal about this test.  We even got to look at questions from the past exams to study and I felt like although it wasn't easy, it was just as I expected it should be.  I was so relieved to have it over with because everyone studying was stressing me out!  Afterwards, we ate and packed for Ireland.  We had to take a train into London Gatwick Airport on Wednesday night for our 9:40am flight on Thursday because unfortunately, there aren't trains that go early enough in the morning to get us there on time.  Minor detail that was rather annoying but we figured it out and we just had to deal with sleeping in the airport all night (from arriving at 1am until our plane left at 9).  In the train station we met up with another girl from harlaxton headed to France via the same airport so we formed a group and made our way there to camp out.  Unfortunately, we picked a clean spot to sit on the main floor of the terminal that just happened to be by the door to the underground train.  The door kept opening all night and letting in cold air and then they were also doing construction so we really didn't get any sleep.  After a while, we decided to take a walk to warm up and we realized that if you walked upstairs, it was like a sauna compared to downstairs and we were able to snag some bench space to get a couple hours of sleep before checking in.  We checked in and got through security okay (I was randomly searched but it was no big deal).  We eventually boarded the airplane and took another nap as we flew to Dublin.  It was a beautiful sunshining day an it was really cool to see that outside of the airplane window rather than the dark and rain that we typically have experienced.  We even arrived early which was a plus!

"An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day."-Henry David Thoreau

Okay, so maybe Saturday's walk wasn't really that early, but we were up and going before pretty much everyone else on campus.  We woke up really early with the plan to just walk in whatever direction away from our manor that we found ourselves drawn to.  This turned out to be a success!  We left around 10:45am with our packed lunches and off we went.  We walked down the lane, out to Harlaxton village and then climbed up a hill going away from town and the other direction from Grantham (the only city we have visited in the immediate area other than Harlaxton).  The hill was intense, but it finally plateaued and we walked along that road until finally we came to the fork in the road.  It was super windy that day and pretty cloudy but we were fortunate enough not to get rained on.  We decided to take the country road into Grantham (sign posted it as another 3.5 miles).  This road was much busier so we had to walk in the muddy grass to avoid being run over by the cars zooming past us.  A guy even stopped and asked if we needed a lift (you do not ask for a ride here).  I'm guessing that means that not very many pedestrians use that route for leisure walking lol.  It was neat to see the country houses as we progressed towards Grantham.  We even passed by another field of sheep, and also saw a game of football (soccer) being played.  We arrived in Grantham and set out to find a place to sit and eat our lunches.  We ended up eating them at the bus stop for lack of any benches or picnic tables in the city.  Afterwards, we stopped in at Morrison's (a grocery store) to pick up a few items.  I purchased some biscuits (actually cookies), and also a bag of crisps (chips in the US) for traveling snacks.  We then left the store and were able to catch the shuttle back to school (which was awesome because our feet were sore after walking like 3 hours)!

Peterborough & a Long Walk

This has been a pretty average school week.  Unfortunately we have classes today (Friday) to make up for the Ireland trip next weekend.  Anyway, I did get to take a pretty fun trip on Wednesday afternoon to Peterborough.  We rode in a double decker coach which was fun except the wind was intense and so it was swaying pretty bad on the top level as we made are way down the A1 (interstate).  When we arrived, we walked around the city centre for a bit which was nice.  It was very similar to the shopping centers at all of the other cities in the UK we have previously visited.  We made sure to stop in at Poundland to pick up a few essentials.  I got a cool UK flag passport holder which was nice because the paper envelope that I previously have been using is on it's last leg!  We then went to the main attraction of the city that truly was impossible to miss, the cathedral.  It was magnificant and unfortunately I do not have any photos of the inside because you weren't able to take any :(  It is a significant point of interest though because the tomb of Katharine of Aragon is housed within the majestic walls.  Furthermore, the tomb of Mary Queen of Scots formerly was in the same cathedral.  It is so cool to get to see first hand things that we are learning about in our British Studies class!  Yesterday (Thursday) my English Novel class took a walking trip while we discussed the novel Jane Eyre.  We took one break at The Gregory pub and cafe to talk about the reading and then some of us went with our professor on a walk about the town of Harlaxton.  It was beautiful.  We walked through a residential are, along the canal, and also through hilly and green pastures.  One really neat thing about England is that their are footpaths leading through their fields so it is possible to walk about the farmland.  It was neat because we got to use a "stile" like Mr. Rochester and Jane do in the book.  All in all, the walk was 7 1/2 miles-->quite a trek!  It was very nice though.  Okay, well I need to get ready to go to my final class for the week so until next time :)