Just Touched Down in London Town

London Eye with Big Ben and Parliament

I am exhausted. Not only was last week midterms, but I also went to Galway during the middle of the week and then spent the weekend in London. My body is mad at me and making me get rest so I haven't been feeling too well lately. I did have a really great weekend in London though!

I wasn't really looking forward to the trip when the plane took off out of Shannon on Friday night. Firstly, I don't exactly fit in with the program group I came with, API, and it was an API trip. Secondly, I was exhausted and wanted to just rest this weekend. And lastly, I had been to London before and didn't really feel like I missed anything the first time.

Saturday morning began with a tour bus ride to the Tower of London, where many prisoners have been held like Sir Walter Raleigh and also where the crown jewels are. It was really cool to see the crown jewels but we weren't allowed to take pictures! It was mostly crowns (go figure) but there were also swords, plates, bowls, and other random things. They almost looked fake with all the diamonds on them! 

Tower of London

Inside the Tower of London

Guard outside the Crowned Jewels.. he didn't like us very much haha

On the Tower of London with the Tower Bridge in the background

Tower Bridge

After the Tower of London, we went up into the towers of the Tower Bridge. I was hoping we could go on a walkway outside at the top, but there was just a windowed viewing area. There was also a guy randomly up there with old British games. One of them had a row of small archways, with different numbers above them (5, 10, 15, and 25). You had to stand behind a line and were given three balls. The object was to try to get the highest number of points. If you got over 50 points, you got the grand prize! And I won the grand prize! I was all excited about it and the guy came back out with a Tower of Bridge pencil! Saved myself fifty pence in the gift shop haha. It was fun though.

Picadilly Circus

After the Tower Bridge, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe London. I had only been to the one in Orlando, so it was cool to go there. There was a bunch of Beatles decor everywhere. Kasey and I wanted to try to find Gryffindor scarves, and there is a six story toy store near Picadilly Circus that was rumored to have a huge Harry Potter section, which was a good ways away from where we were. Of course it started pouring on our way there! So we finally made it in there and looked like drowned rats. We got to the Harry Potter section, and they were all out of scarves. Plus they were going to be about 45 pounds, which is ridiculous! The dollar is absolutely awful compared to the pound, so every time I would buy something I would think 'oh it's only 10 pounds' but it was more like 16 dollars. So we left empty handed..

Harry Potter!

Wands

Sorting Hat

We made it to Shaftesbury Avenue, where Les Miserables is playing at the Queens Theatre and were led to our seats. Our tickets said stalls, but they were 75 pounds, so we figured they were decent. Oh my god. We were sitting in the fourth row (seat 23 ;) ) of the theatre! They were AMAZING seats. And the second the show opened, I pretty much started crying; either because the show was so powerful and amazing that I couldn't help but be a little emotional freak or because it was said ( I mean, it is called the miserables..). It was definitely one of the best shows I've ever seen. I would've paid 100 GBP for those seats! 

Queen's Theater

The show got out fairly late, so we just went back to the hotel and went to bed. Our hotel was right next to the London Eye, so it was pretty easy to find. Plus, I found London really easy to navigate. The next morning, we were on a mission to find Abbey Road. A few of our friends went the day before, and had said it took them 5 hours, so I was kinda bummed how far it was, but it would be worth it. We got a map and some directions, and it only took us about 30 min from our hotel. So I'm not really sure which way our friends went, but clearly it was the long way haha. So of course we had someone take our picture crossing Abbey Road. It was only me and Kasey, so we were two people short, but that's ok. It was still cool to be there!

After Abbey Road, our next mission was to find Platform 9 3/4, which, for you non-Harry Potter fans, is the Platform in King's Cross Station that goes to Hogwarts. It was actually more difficult to find than we expected. First, we didn't know that King's Cross was as real tube station. We kept asking people about platform 9 3/4 and they had no idea what we were talking about. Finally we found a tour company that had Harry Potter London tours, and they pointed us in the right direction.

After accomplishing our two goals for the day, we headed back to the hotel. The bus was leaving at 4:30, so our group was supposed to be there by 4:20. 4:45 rolled around, and we were still missing 3 group members out of our 8. The bus had to leave without them because we needed to get through security and all that at the airport. We had gotten through security, and were boarding the plane when we saw the missing 3 members! Luckily, another group leader was at the hotel til 6 and was able to give them their passports and boarding passes. 

So we all made it home safe and sound! And we had Monday off because it was a Bank Holiday, so it was nice to have a day to recoup before classes today. I actually had a really good time, despite my initial apprehension. I'm glad we went :)

This weekend I'm going to hike Croagh Patrick in County Mayo. "According to Christian tradition, St. Patrick went up the sacred mountain at festival time in 441 AD. After fasting at the summit for 40 days, he banished all the snakes and demons from Ireland. The site quickly became an important place of Christian pilgrimage. A stone oratory dating to between 430 and 890 AD was recently discovered on the summit." I'm not really into the whole Christian pilgrimage thing, but it is supposed to be a really beautiful hike. I have only gone hiking once since I got here, and it wasn't even in Ireland; It was the Cinque Terre in Italy. So I'm really excited! 

Then, of course, it's Halloween weekend, so there is a Halloween Ball in the Stables Club on campus. I'm sure there will be plenty of costume parties on campus as well! It should be great craic!

Cheers!