Cheers! York and London!
Trip Start
Jan 07, 2008
1
11
Trip End
Apr 21, 2008
London, United Kingdom
Thursday, March 13, 2008
The next morning we woke up early and went to the school's cafeteria for a typical English breakfast which consisted of eggs, bacon, sausage, fried bread, and probably some other things I'm forgetting. I also got tea, of course. First we walked around his campus, because it is so adorable. There is a large lake with tons of ducks and water birds, a mansion, and a lot of greenery. It seemed like a really fun place for school. We then made our way into the city of York. First we just wandered around a bit through those typical English streets that are very narrow and have crooked houses. There were a lot of shops and cute things to see. We went to the Minster next. As we went in they were in the middle of the Stations of the Cross, so we listened to the end of that before going on our own to explore the Anglican church. It was really large and beautiful, but my favorite part was the Chapter Room. It was very unique and had tons of "hidden" sculptures in it including animals and faces. After taking a bunch of pictures there, we found a pub for lunch. We got fish and chips...very yummy. To walk off our lunch we wandered through the streets again and I bought a little tea thing as a souvenir. The Abbey was our next stop. It is basically a bunch of ruins that was once a church. Whats left is very picturesque and surrounded by a little park. There is also a museum, but we didn't have time for that. Andrew Ketchum took us to a little tea place where we got tea and scones. Not only was it really delicious and made me feel like a British person, but we had the most adorable little old waitress. It was a tiny place and at first we were the only people there. Everytime she came over she would say, "Lovely, thank you very much" in her cute accent. We decided her name was Elizabeth, just because it sounded cute and British! We loved her and she made the tea and scone experience even better. Instead of walking on the streets to get to the train station we walked on the Norman city walls. It was really cool that you could actually walk on the wall, and not just next to it like in Rome. We had to catch our train to London then, so my time in York was over, but I am so glad I decided to visit there. Considering it is a pretty small city, there was so much to see and it was such a contrast to the big city of London. The best word to describe York is quaint, and I love areas that are quaint, so it was great!
Our train to London was a few hours so we first planned out everything we needed to do that weekend so that we didn't miss anything important. When we arrived we made our way to the hostel where our friend Rachel was waiting for us. As we walked up to the street we heard, "Yeah FORDHAM!" Rachel had been looking out the window for us! So now I need to explain this hostel. It was so ridiculous and a little scary at the time, but now has just made for great stories. First of all, it was called Hostel 639 and it was located basically in the middle on nowhere or as Rachel liked to call it "the Bronx of London" which I would say was pretty accurate. Luckily there was a tube stop right at the corner so we could get to everywhere very easily. So when we first arrived it was dark out and we couldn't figure out how to turn on the lights in the hallway. But, the hallway wasn't totally dark because it was illuminated by the giant, glowing, ancient, terrifying CEMETARY that was behind the hostel. All I can say is, thank goodness I wasn't staying here alone. Rachel and I were sharing a room with a German girl who had 2 of her friends in the room when I got there. Within 30 seconds they offered me tons of alcohol and asked us to play drinking games with them. It was crazy! We decided instead to go to dinner so we headed toward Trafalgar Square. There were tons of people and already I could tell it was fun. We found China Town in London and had a good meal. Then we decided to walk along the river where I got my first sights of Parliament and Big Ben. Like in Spain though, they turned off all the lights at midnight which I find disappointing. We ended up walking and talking for way longer than we even realized, but I guess that's what happens when you haven't seen your friends in so long.
That night in the hostel was interesting. Rachel and I were woken up around 5 am to the Germans returning from a club. Although they told us that only the one girl would be staying in the room, we woke up to find one boy on the open bunk bed and the other sprawled out on the floor. It was very strange, but we woke up before them and left early to start our day. First we walked all around the Parliament and Big Ben area to see it during the day. We went to Westminster Abbey next. It was so different than churches in Italy because it seemed like most of the space was just dedicated to tombs. There were tombs of kings and queens, other royal family members, musicians, writers, and even scientists. It was really interesting, but we couldn't take pictures, so I don't have any to share. After Westminster Abbey we walked in a park towards Buckingham Palace (the queen wasn't there that day). We tried to get there for the changing of the guard, but apparently we were there on one of the days they don't do it. It was still very cool though because as we were standing there taking pictures, a big group of the guards came through on horses, so I felt satisfied with my experience there. We walked towards Covent Garden to find lunch and ended up in a Canadian pub! I was pretty excited because not only were they showing hockey, but there were pictures of some of the Flyers from the Canadian team! Also, our waiter was Canadian, and I was kind of in love =). We had a good time and I got to try bangers and mash, which is basically the sausage of the day with mashed potatoes and gravy...delicious. After lunch we walked around Covent Garden which isn't actually a garden but an area with a lot of shops and stuff. At arts and crafts fair I was able to buy by England ring! Next we found one of my favorite parts of London, which was the National Gallery. I knew that out of the four of us I was the only one who really cared about the art so I didn't spend as much time there as I would have liked, but I made sure to see all the important things like Caravaggio, Van Gogh, Manet, Monet, etc. I loved it there, but Rachel and Andrew Ketchum weren't as impressed. Neither was Anthony, but he pretended to be, which was nice. We had talked about taking a ride on the London Eye (basically a huge ferris wheel that moves very slowly), but Andrew Ketchum had already done it and Rachel is afraid of heights, so just Anthony and I decided to do it while the other two found coffee. I'm so glad I did it too! We happened to choose the perfect time to go because when we got on it was still light out and while we went around, it got dark so all the lights of the city including Parliament and Big Ben turned on. It was an amazing view of the city and I got some really great pictures! After reuniting with Rachel and Andrew Ketchum, we went to Notting Hill for dinner. We got Italian food (unfortunately) and then went to a bar to meet some of Andrew Ketchum's friends who are studying in London. It was a fun, relaxed bar where we just hung out for a while. We were exhausted from the long day so we headed back to the hostel after that.
We had another interesting night in the hostel. When we got to our room there were 2 girls sleeping already so we quietly slipped into bed. Unfortunately they did not have the same courtesy and made tons of noise when they woke up early in the morning. Before leaving the hostel for the last time, we took some pictures so that we would never forget the cemetery, 5-star accommodations (not!), and Moroccan-style 'lounge' that was downstairs. What a place! When we took the tube, we said goodbye to Rachel who needed to catch a flight back to Ireland in the morning. The other 3 of us went to see London Bridge and Tower Bridge. Its so weird because everyone always hears about London Bridge, but really it is just a basic and actually ugly bridge. We joked by saying that all the English people want London Bridge to fall down like the in the song. Really, the one worth seeing is Tower Bridge. We walked across it and took a bunch of pictures. Then we got Greek food for lunch (if you haven't noticed, I've been trying to fit in a bunch of different kinds of foods since I knew I would be stuck with all Italian food when I was back in Rome). We walked past the Globe Theater on the way to The Tower of London. The Tower of London is actually a walled in area of the city with many different castles inside. When we entered the area, we got a tour by a "Beaneater." It was really interesting. He told us about many torture stories, beheadings, and love stories from Britain's history. The tour ended and we could wander around ourselves so we went into the castle with the Crown of Jewels first. It was unbelievable. These crowns were just amazing and really over the top, obviously. We also went into the castle with weapons and armory. As the Beaneater put it, the Crown of Jewels castle was for the women and the one with weapons was for the men. I don't know about that, but it was all really cool. We also saw a bunch of ravens, because as the story goes, if all the ravens leave the Tower of London, that means the city will fall. Apparently now they keep them in cages or clip their wings to ensure that this doesn't happen. After the spending a lot of time at the Tower of London, we went to St. Paul's Cathedral for a service. In the U.K. it was "Mothering Day" so all the readings, which were from the Bible and other sources, focused on mothers and especially Mary. It was a beautiful church and the best part was the amazing choir that came in to sing. It was a great experience and I'm glad I've been able to go to masses and services in so many different cities. After our service we headed back to the train station for Andrew Ketchum to catch his train home to York. We said our goodbyes and Anthony and I both went to the airport. We had early morning flights so we got a room near the airport for some sleep since we would both be heading straight to class in the morning. Again, it was really sad for me to say goodbye to all my friends and especially Anthony. So I had a tough plane ride back to Rome. But I knew that my friend Sam from Paris would be visiting soon, followed by an excursion to Northern Italy with my class and then visits from my friends Kate and Kate, and then Venice with Anthony!
This whole spring break was so amazing and such a wonderful experience. I know that I will have great memories from all of this and it has inspired me to see even more. I love traveling and I know I will be returning to these places since a whirlwind tour just isn't good enough. I have realized how grateful I am after this spring break because I was able to be in 3 different countries in a matter of only a week. It is an amazing thing, and no matter how hard it is for me to be away from home sometimes, I know that it's totally worth it and I would never give it up. Plus, I'll be home so soon anyway! Thanks for reading everyone - I know this was a long one! I'll be updating with more pictures of class trips and Venice soon! Can't wait to see everyone...I'll be back in the states in only 38 days!! Love and miss you all!
