I will get a blog up soon, the WiFi at my hostel is having some problems.
In the meantime I am off to pack. I am going to the Blackburn's house tomorrow and I am a little nervous for it.
Once I am there I will get everything updated.
Until then, luvs everyone!
Friday, May 30, 2008
My Last Few Days
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
May 26 and 27 – Adventures of the Dynamic Duo
First off I would like to apologize for not updating sooner. I know I freaked a few people out. And especially to you Dad… don’t worry! I have just been super tired, and avoiding a certain red-headed Irish boy named Andrew (remember him?). I will explain later…
I like being in London practically by myself a lot better. Hilary and I have had the independence to go explore parts of the city we haven’t been to. And the thing I love is that I know the tube system so well now I feel the confidence to go out and explore. I know that seems odd considering I don’t understand the streets at home, but don’t be too impressed. It is all color coated and a 3rd grader could figure it out.
On Monday it was Bank Holiday so nothing was really opened, so Hilary and I got on the tube that was running (only the Circle Line and Hammersmith Line and Half of the Piccadilly Line) and saw where it took us. It was also pouring rain outside the entire day. I swear, when it rains here it RAINS and it never stops!
We ended up getting off Liverpool Street Station-which is a little funny. That is the station we need to get off for the markets we are going to Thursday. I need to remember that, I have to lead the girls to Petticoat Lane.
The streets were empty, so I was really able to see the modern-business center of East London. It is quite different from where I am staying. Here in West London it’s full of old buildings. Hilary and I found a little café that happened to be open. I can’t remember what it was called… but I got Eggs Benedict and it was delicious. I don’t like their bacon here, though. It’s more like fatty, half cooked ham. And their restaurants are weird. When you walk in, no one seats you. You have to go sit down by yourself. And you don’t leave a tip. Also, they charge for water and they charge extra for ice. If you don’t ask for still water, they will give you club soda. You have to be very careful.
We stopped at the Theatre District and bought us tickets to Les Miserable. I am sooooo excited!! We are going to see it tomorrow evening. The tickets were 55 pounds, but I think 110 dollars is worth it for sure. The lady at the box office was a snob though and kept commenting on how weird our addresses were. Whatever, I’M GOING TO SEE LE MIS TOMORROW!!!
After that we found our way back home, made us dinner, packed our souvenirs in boxes, and went to bed.
Today we slept in, took our time to get ready, and slowly made our way to the London Zoo. When we got there, however, we found out it was 17 pounds. I was not about to pay 30 something dollars to see lions and giraffes. If it was cheaper I would have. Instead we walked around the zoo, and honestly we saw most of the animals that way.
After that we decided to get back to the hostel and be lazy.
Carma called us and said they were coming home tomorrow maybe. Who knows? I don’t mind the peace and quiet; they can stay there all they want.
Now, about Andrew… he is the boy that smacked me on the head the first day we were here. I thought he was from Scotland originally, but I have come to learn that he is indeed Irish. Now, this boy has taken a liking to me. And he has very outwardly expressed the fact that he is going to “de-mormon-ize” me by the time I leave London. He also likes to ask me questions about my religion, and then try to prove me wrong about it all.
Now don’t you folks at home worry, Ricky (the manager) knows about him, has told him to not talk to me or he will get kicked out, and I haven’t seen him in a few days. But the night Andrew cornered me and started pounding me with questions… that was scary. I was very confident in my answers, and I think he knew I was making sense about the whole “mormon” thing because he then started making fun of me to the rest of the people in the kitchen. Thankfully my three friends from South Africa told him to stop it and stood up for me, and Hilary was there to back me up and get me out of the situation. It’s so different here.
Now we just joke about me staying away from Andrew. When Carma called earlier she asked me if Andrew had kidnapped me yet. We can joke about it because we know he will never bother me again.
Tonight I made my friends from South Africa some PB&J’s. They never had them before! Crazy, huh!?
P.S. Scotland blog is below…
May 23 – 25 – Men In Kilts and Peter Rabbit
My weekend in Scotland was rather exciting. Scottish people are very loud and very hard to understand. We left London for Edinburgh via BritRail around 6am, and we arrived in Scotland at about 12 pm. The train ride there was a breeze, half the time I was sound asleep drooling on the window, the other half I was staring out the window at the beautiful countryside. Everything here is so green, I love it.
The Scottish country side is even more beautiful. There are century’s old stone walls dividing many, many farms. Within the walls are cows (although much smaller than our cows I noticed), sheep, and horses. It’s also more mountainous in Scotland, albeit their mountains are hills compared to the Rockys. The city Edinburgh itself is much darker than London. All the buildings are made of a much darker stone, so it is all dark charcoal grays and browns. Very gothic, and very beautiful.
When we first got there we checked into a hostel. I am getting really sick of hostels. I will not, however, curse the Astor Kensington under my breath again. Compared to that disgusting hostel in Edinburgh, this hostel in London is a Hilton Hotel! I was so grossed out… I walked to the Starbucks down the street to use the bathroom. A guy from Lithuania (who I must admit was pretty dang cute) shared the room with us. We were paranoid about that, but after we talked to him he turned out to be a nice guy. And nothing was stolen from our suitcases…
He did, however, change right in front of us as if it was nothing… Oh man, it was funny. He just walked in, dropped his pants and took of his shirt. When we girls realized what he was doing and gasped, he turned around in his boxer shorts and said, “Vat?” as if it was nothing. (I say “vat” because his accent sounded very similar to a Swedish accent). He had some pretty nice muscles…
My “groupies” Nyki, Janna, Jessica and I headed out on the town. We decided we were hungry and the first place we saw was Pizza Hut. Their Pizza Hut is not like our Pizza Hut… Theirs is a sit down, full on restaurant. It was really weird, but the pasta was good. And cheap. We then went to some shops, and wandered the streets. While wondering we found a “mountain” called King Arthur’s Throne. A local told us it was a really nice hike and when at the top, you saw the entire city. We decided to give it a shot, but we soon discovered the hike was straight uphill, we had no water, and we were already tired. So we basically made it half way up King Arthur’s Throne—but that half-way view was breath taking. From there you could see the castle, some old watch-towers, and, best of all, the ocean in the distance.
It was gorgeous. We sat up there for about an hour talking and taking “vogue, facebook/myspace worthy” pictures of us. While we were taking our pictures a cute boy walked by and laughed at us. We ended up talking to him for a bit, found out he was from Ireland and was here for some different scenery. He was really nice. When we told him what Utah is like he said he was anxious to get out and experience a desert. I hope he visits one day; that would be cool. He walked down the mountain with us, and at the bottom we parted ways.
We were by that time hungry again. There are pubs everywhere, and we thought it would be fun to check one out. The nice thing with any type of restaurant here is they put the menu outside. We wandered the streets looking at menus until we found one that was reasonably priced. It was called Whiski’s.
Before they seated us they asked for I.D. They guy kept asking Janna if she really was 18. Poor girl. She looks really young like I do.
Pubs are noisy and smell like alcohol, but I found the atmosphere exciting. Here I was, sitting in a real Scottish pub, surrounded by drunken Scots! The food was delicious (I didn’t dare try Haggis… I went for a hamburger). Our waiter was a jerk too. Once he learned we would not be drinking anything except water, he left in a huff. We then got death glares from him the rest of the night. I was a little agitated by that. You can be mad we didn’t order alcohol if you really wish, but you don’t have to express it. Oh well, I was still glad for the experience and it all makes for good memories.
After the pub we decided to risk a night in the hostel… Gross.
I pulled down the comforter to the foot of my bed, tucked my pajama bottoms into my socks, but on my sweatshirt and tied the hood around my head, laid my SLCC blanket across me, and curled up in a ball on the middle of my mattress. And trust me; I was not having a freak-out moment. Everyone was doing that, it was that gross.
The next morning I walked down to Starbucks and got ready in their bathroom again.
Since I was already there, I got a Hot Chocolate and a muffin for breakfast. The other girls soon followed, and we enjoyed a cheap breakfast. All four of us girls then ventured around the city some more. Most of the girls in our group went off to find their family’s plaid. I think that whole thing is really neat, and it makes me wish Woodruff was Scottish. It’s all good though, I bought me a wool blanket in a plaid that looks like Burberry’s. We can just pretend.
We finally made our way to Edinburgh Castle. It is amazing! We didn’t do the tour of inside the castle though—it cost 15 pounds. I am getting a little castled-out and I don’t want to pay $30 for another one. Besides, the outside was good enough for me.
We stopped and got lunch at a cheap little café. I got a quesadilla—and they are nothing like our quesadillas!! It was still really good though.
At 3:30 pm we hopped back onto the train and went down to Windermere. For those of you who do not know where this is, it’s really close to Liverpool. The best part of Windermere is… BEATRIX POTTER!! This is where she grew up, lived, and wrote all the Peter Rabbit books. I was so excited to be there. Every corner was something Peter Rabbit, and I had a flood of childhood memories.
We stayed in a little Condo in the middle of a retirement center. We were laughing when all the old folks gave us weird looks, but it was the nicest place we have stayed yet. And the bed… oh man! Since we are small, Jessica, Janna and I got to sleep in the master room’s bed. For the longest time I slept straight through the night on a comfortable bed and a fluffy pillow.
That day we just did the same thing, wander the streets of Windermere. That place sure is gorgeous though. Everything is green and the streets are narrow with little cottages crammed in between. Perhaps the prettiest part about the trip was walking around the lake. I am not sure what lake lays right by Windermere, but just think the Lake District in England and I am sure you can imagine.
I bought me the whole set of Peter Rabbit books. That’s all I wanted from there.
The rest of the group decided to stay in Windermere for a few days. Carma and Diane booked the Condo for the entire week. After much discussion they decided they would do it. They also decided to travel up to Liverpool for a day, and do some other traveling.
Sounded like a good idea to me, but there was one problem. The girls were going to use the remainder of their days on the BritRail pass. They all got one as a group and I guess accidentally got an 8 day one instead of a 4 day one. Well, I got and 8 day one so I could get to and from Huddersfield. I couldn’t travel with them. So I got Carma’s permission to go back down to London. I would rather be in London where I know the area and have the means to do things than sit at a condo alone all day. Hilary ended up coming with me.
So now it is just Hilary and I in London right now, and I like it better this way almost. I honestly needed a break from some of those girls. A few, of course, are causing drama and I don’t want that. Plus I like it here in London.
Hilary and I made the 4 hour train ride (with 4 train changes as well) back down to London on Sunday just fine. But since it was Sunday, the tube close earlier. And since it was Sunday, the britRail was doing construction so a few of our trains were delayed. And because of all that AND because it was Sunday, we got dropped off nowhere near our hostel. So after wandering the streets at 1am for a little, Hilary and I both broke down to getting a taxi. We figured it was much safer than trying to figure out the busses—especially with all the stabbings going on in London right now. So a nice old man stopped for us, we hoped in, and he took us to our hostel. It only cost 10 pounds, which isn’t bad at all.
So we went to bed, and now we are here together in London enjoying the peace and quiet.
The Scottish country side is even more beautiful. There are century’s old stone walls dividing many, many farms. Within the walls are cows (although much smaller than our cows I noticed), sheep, and horses. It’s also more mountainous in Scotland, albeit their mountains are hills compared to the Rockys. The city Edinburgh itself is much darker than London. All the buildings are made of a much darker stone, so it is all dark charcoal grays and browns. Very gothic, and very beautiful.
When we first got there we checked into a hostel. I am getting really sick of hostels. I will not, however, curse the Astor Kensington under my breath again. Compared to that disgusting hostel in Edinburgh, this hostel in London is a Hilton Hotel! I was so grossed out… I walked to the Starbucks down the street to use the bathroom. A guy from Lithuania (who I must admit was pretty dang cute) shared the room with us. We were paranoid about that, but after we talked to him he turned out to be a nice guy. And nothing was stolen from our suitcases…
He did, however, change right in front of us as if it was nothing… Oh man, it was funny. He just walked in, dropped his pants and took of his shirt. When we girls realized what he was doing and gasped, he turned around in his boxer shorts and said, “Vat?” as if it was nothing. (I say “vat” because his accent sounded very similar to a Swedish accent). He had some pretty nice muscles…
My “groupies” Nyki, Janna, Jessica and I headed out on the town. We decided we were hungry and the first place we saw was Pizza Hut. Their Pizza Hut is not like our Pizza Hut… Theirs is a sit down, full on restaurant. It was really weird, but the pasta was good. And cheap. We then went to some shops, and wandered the streets. While wondering we found a “mountain” called King Arthur’s Throne. A local told us it was a really nice hike and when at the top, you saw the entire city. We decided to give it a shot, but we soon discovered the hike was straight uphill, we had no water, and we were already tired. So we basically made it half way up King Arthur’s Throne—but that half-way view was breath taking. From there you could see the castle, some old watch-towers, and, best of all, the ocean in the distance.
It was gorgeous. We sat up there for about an hour talking and taking “vogue, facebook/myspace worthy” pictures of us. While we were taking our pictures a cute boy walked by and laughed at us. We ended up talking to him for a bit, found out he was from Ireland and was here for some different scenery. He was really nice. When we told him what Utah is like he said he was anxious to get out and experience a desert. I hope he visits one day; that would be cool. He walked down the mountain with us, and at the bottom we parted ways.
We were by that time hungry again. There are pubs everywhere, and we thought it would be fun to check one out. The nice thing with any type of restaurant here is they put the menu outside. We wandered the streets looking at menus until we found one that was reasonably priced. It was called Whiski’s.
Before they seated us they asked for I.D. They guy kept asking Janna if she really was 18. Poor girl. She looks really young like I do.
Pubs are noisy and smell like alcohol, but I found the atmosphere exciting. Here I was, sitting in a real Scottish pub, surrounded by drunken Scots! The food was delicious (I didn’t dare try Haggis… I went for a hamburger). Our waiter was a jerk too. Once he learned we would not be drinking anything except water, he left in a huff. We then got death glares from him the rest of the night. I was a little agitated by that. You can be mad we didn’t order alcohol if you really wish, but you don’t have to express it. Oh well, I was still glad for the experience and it all makes for good memories.
After the pub we decided to risk a night in the hostel… Gross.
I pulled down the comforter to the foot of my bed, tucked my pajama bottoms into my socks, but on my sweatshirt and tied the hood around my head, laid my SLCC blanket across me, and curled up in a ball on the middle of my mattress. And trust me; I was not having a freak-out moment. Everyone was doing that, it was that gross.
The next morning I walked down to Starbucks and got ready in their bathroom again.
Since I was already there, I got a Hot Chocolate and a muffin for breakfast. The other girls soon followed, and we enjoyed a cheap breakfast. All four of us girls then ventured around the city some more. Most of the girls in our group went off to find their family’s plaid. I think that whole thing is really neat, and it makes me wish Woodruff was Scottish. It’s all good though, I bought me a wool blanket in a plaid that looks like Burberry’s. We can just pretend.
We finally made our way to Edinburgh Castle. It is amazing! We didn’t do the tour of inside the castle though—it cost 15 pounds. I am getting a little castled-out and I don’t want to pay $30 for another one. Besides, the outside was good enough for me.
We stopped and got lunch at a cheap little café. I got a quesadilla—and they are nothing like our quesadillas!! It was still really good though.
At 3:30 pm we hopped back onto the train and went down to Windermere. For those of you who do not know where this is, it’s really close to Liverpool. The best part of Windermere is… BEATRIX POTTER!! This is where she grew up, lived, and wrote all the Peter Rabbit books. I was so excited to be there. Every corner was something Peter Rabbit, and I had a flood of childhood memories.
We stayed in a little Condo in the middle of a retirement center. We were laughing when all the old folks gave us weird looks, but it was the nicest place we have stayed yet. And the bed… oh man! Since we are small, Jessica, Janna and I got to sleep in the master room’s bed. For the longest time I slept straight through the night on a comfortable bed and a fluffy pillow.
That day we just did the same thing, wander the streets of Windermere. That place sure is gorgeous though. Everything is green and the streets are narrow with little cottages crammed in between. Perhaps the prettiest part about the trip was walking around the lake. I am not sure what lake lays right by Windermere, but just think the Lake District in England and I am sure you can imagine.
I bought me the whole set of Peter Rabbit books. That’s all I wanted from there.
The rest of the group decided to stay in Windermere for a few days. Carma and Diane booked the Condo for the entire week. After much discussion they decided they would do it. They also decided to travel up to Liverpool for a day, and do some other traveling.
Sounded like a good idea to me, but there was one problem. The girls were going to use the remainder of their days on the BritRail pass. They all got one as a group and I guess accidentally got an 8 day one instead of a 4 day one. Well, I got and 8 day one so I could get to and from Huddersfield. I couldn’t travel with them. So I got Carma’s permission to go back down to London. I would rather be in London where I know the area and have the means to do things than sit at a condo alone all day. Hilary ended up coming with me.
So now it is just Hilary and I in London right now, and I like it better this way almost. I honestly needed a break from some of those girls. A few, of course, are causing drama and I don’t want that. Plus I like it here in London.
Hilary and I made the 4 hour train ride (with 4 train changes as well) back down to London on Sunday just fine. But since it was Sunday, the tube close earlier. And since it was Sunday, the britRail was doing construction so a few of our trains were delayed. And because of all that AND because it was Sunday, we got dropped off nowhere near our hostel. So after wandering the streets at 1am for a little, Hilary and I both broke down to getting a taxi. We figured it was much safer than trying to figure out the busses—especially with all the stabbings going on in London right now. So a nice old man stopped for us, we hoped in, and he took us to our hostel. It only cost 10 pounds, which isn’t bad at all.
So we went to bed, and now we are here together in London enjoying the peace and quiet.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
