My mom and aunt arrived on Monday the 10th at about nine in the morning. They were pretty exhausted but went out on a hop on-hop off bus tour while I studied and took my theatre final. Later that night, I tried to help them beat the jet lag by taking them out to a dinner at The Monk for some traditional food and drink with a few of my friends. After their meals, they both left, and I stayed with the girls to hang out on one of our last nights in London.
Tuesday was my last day of internship, so my mom and aunt kept themselves busy by going on a tour all day of the Tower of London, Bath, and Stonehenge. My last day was basically like every other except we went to the farm for lunch! Who knew there was a farm in the middle of London?!? It smelled like cows and pigs, but the food was pretty good. Later that day, I had to say good-bye to all of the people at my work which was sad, but I was glad to be done for a little while. That night, the program got us tickets to see Billy Elliot. I was a little skeptical because coal mining and ballet just don't seem to mesh into a storyline, but it was a lot of fun. The boy who played Billy was so talented it actually made me feel inadequate. He sang and danced...how do you get to be so talented at that young of an age?! But, the show was funny and extremely entertaining.
That Wednesday, I walked around London with my relatives. I'm not really sure how long we went out walking, but it was a perfect day for it! We were blessed with amazing weather almost the entire two weeks my mom and aunt were in Europe. Well, we saw the basic touristy stuff, and after we were done, I got them on the tube towards Covent Garden for their dinner with Mark and Beth. I left them at the tube stop and walked home to get in a little bit of London before leaving for good. That night, we celebrated Michelle and Rachel's last night with a night out at the pub.
We took our finals on Thursd
ay, and then we were free (not like we really weren't anyway)! Michelle and Rachel had to catch a flight after the final, so they couldn't make it to the good-bye party, but they did make it home safely (and then enjoyed some time in Florida)! We said our farewells to Mark and Beth with some English garden party flair! We had Pimm's and lemonade as well as strawberries and cream. Delicious! That night, a big group of us went out to ISH (International Student House) and got our karaoke on! A group of us ladies sang some Spice Girls...fun last night with some great people.
On Friday, a lot of the people were gone from the program, but I still had two mor
e days in England. My mom, aunt, and I went down to the Millennium Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral. I had never been in before, but I wanted to see the inside of the church that survived the blitz. It was definitely one of my favorite churches that I visited. I climbed the 590-odd steps to the top to get an spectacular view of London. It wasn't too hard to climb because it wasn't all at once, but still a little claustrophobic towards the top. The Cathedral was massive with gorgeous architecture. I don't know much about it, but it's beauty really speaks for itself.
That night, we went to see Phantom of the Opera. I bought the tickets online about a week prior to the show, so there were not a lot of options. Eventually, I decided to buy two tickets that were closer to the stage and one a bit farther back because I had already seen it in New York. Well, when we got to the theatre, I didn't buy two tickets in the Stalls that were closer; I accidentally bought two tickets in the Royal Circle...two balconies up! I felt really bad, but I think they actually saw more than I did because my seat had a restricted view from the balcony above. But, it all worked out well; the musical was fantastic! Although, I enjoyed the one I saw in New York more, but London's was still pretty darn amazing.
Saturday, well, I was excited about Saturday. We went to Hampton Court Palace! AHH! I know most you probably have no idea why I was so excited, but it was Henry VIII's favorite palace. I am a huge Tudor Hi
story buff, so it was really amazing that I saw it! The palace was in great shape because it is such a big tourist attraction. We got audio guides, and I wandered off by myself, taking pictures and soaking it all in. I went through the kitchens first, and I cannot imagine how hot it would have been in those buildings! Cooking for hundreds of people was no easy feat in those times...even today! One thing that I did learn was that instead of making beef stew in a pot, they would bake it in a pie shell (it would look like a pot pie), cut the top off when it was done, eat the meat out of the middle, and then throw the shell away. I was sad to learn this because the crust is basically the best part. Their diet was somewhere around 80 percent meat, so breads were not as big a staple in their diet.
When I went back out to the main courtyard area, there were two people dressed in costume, one claiming to be a servant and the other Kathryn Parr's aunt (Henry's six
th wife). That day at the palace, Henry was going to be celebrating his sixth marriage! The young man said he would take those who were servants to the kitchens where he would be giving a tour so they could perform their duties for the day. Since I had just come from there, I decided to go with the other group to Henry's apartments, but the group ended up being very large, so I went to William and Mary's apartments instead. All of it was very well furnished, but I went through that area very quickly because I wanted to see Henry's apartments. So, I went that way and found Henry, Kathryn, and her aunt in a "scene." There were a lot of people gathered around, so I stood on the edge listening to their squabble. It was actually a hoot to watch, and as the "King" was leaving, we had to part to make room for him and his fiance to leave. I was in the front when the rows parted, and I was laughing and smiling. "Henry" looked me up and down and then winked!! Henry VIII hit on me! It was way too in character, if you ask me.
story buff, so it was really amazing that I saw it! The palace was in great shape because it is such a big tourist attraction. We got audio guides, and I wandered off by myself, taking pictures and soaking it all in. I went through the kitchens first, and I cannot imagine how hot it would have been in those buildings! Cooking for hundreds of people was no easy feat in those times...even today! One thing that I did learn was that instead of making beef stew in a pot, they would bake it in a pie shell (it would look like a pot pie), cut the top off when it was done, eat the meat out of the middle, and then throw the shell away. I was sad to learn this because the crust is basically the best part. Their diet was somewhere around 80 percent meat, so breads were not as big a staple in their diet.When I went back out to the main courtyard area, there were two people dressed in costume, one claiming to be a servant and the other Kathryn Parr's aunt (Henry's six
th wife). That day at the palace, Henry was going to be celebrating his sixth marriage! The young man said he would take those who were servants to the kitchens where he would be giving a tour so they could perform their duties for the day. Since I had just come from there, I decided to go with the other group to Henry's apartments, but the group ended up being very large, so I went to William and Mary's apartments instead. All of it was very well furnished, but I went through that area very quickly because I wanted to see Henry's apartments. So, I went that way and found Henry, Kathryn, and her aunt in a "scene." There were a lot of people gathered around, so I stood on the edge listening to their squabble. It was actually a hoot to watch, and as the "King" was leaving, we had to part to make room for him and his fiance to leave. I was in the front when the rows parted, and I was laughing and smiling. "Henry" looked me up and down and then winked!! Henry VIII hit on me! It was way too in character, if you ask me.
We went out to the gardens and walked around for a bit. I went through the hedge maze and found the center in about five minutes. It had some gorgeous gardens. Not as big as Versailles by any means, but I liked Hampton Court more than Versailles by far. The French were much more grand in their styles--gold, silver, massive. The English were a little more reserved, but still with excellent taste. Unfortunately, we had to leave to catch a plane. I definitely would have stayed longer if I could have.That night, we headed to Gatwick for a plane to Edinburgh. It was a quick flight, and we arrived in our little apartment decently early. We were all pretty tired from the day, but we walked a bit to a little Italian restaurant. It had really authentic Italian cuisine, and it 
was absolutely delicious! We went back and crashed for the night. That Sunday, we took a taxi to the top of the Royal Mile and started with Edinburgh Castle. I didn't get to go in last time, but I'm glad I did. It had some amazing history rolled up into that castle. I took an audio guide, and walked around while I listened to the history of almost everything in the structure (too bad I don't remember it, huh?). I did get to see the Honours of Scotland: the crown jewels of Scotland. When I saw England's crown jewels, it was great, so I was expecting it to be something like that. It wasn't. There were about three separate things, and that was it. I did get to see the Stone of Destiny which is an important symbol of Scottish nationhood and still plays a central role in all British coronations. There is an interesting history to the stone; check it out here.
After the castle, we went to a really nice place to eat because it was close, we were hungry, and it had haggis on the menu which my mom wanted to try. It was great place (really expensive), but the portions were made for a cat or something. The haggis was amazing, once again, but it would have been better to try and find some place else probably. Oh well, it was yummy all the same. We strolled down the Royal Mile looking at souvenirs and kilts. By the time we reached the bottom to see Holyroodhouse, it was closed. We didn't get to see the Queen's palace on the inside, but we did see the inside of the gift shop!
We walked back towards where we were staying and stopped by a Sainsbury's to pick up a pizza and snacks for dinner. We cooked and watched a show about girls competing to be Dorothy in Andrew Lloyd Weber's new Wizard of Oz. We got a text from my dad telling us our flight had been cancelled in the morning for Dublin because of volcano ash. My mom and aunt figured it out, and got us on a flight in the afternoon. We went to bed, and later in the afternoon we headed to the airport.
Our second flight wasn't cancelled, but we got in too late to see anything in Dublin, and it was our only day to explore the city. We did the American thing and went to Hard Rock for dinner, and I got really excited because they had Ranch! It isn't sold in the UK, and I didn't see it anywhere while traveling, and I missed it terribly.
The next day, we went on a day tour of a neolithic site called New Grange. It was built around 3200 B.C. and was possibly a burial site. We went inside the gigantic mound, and it was extremely tiny. There were
about 15 of us in the small room, and it was cramped. It had a lot of original art (mostly spirals) on the walls as well as very old graffiti, some dating back hundreds of years. The roof looked like slate rock stacked on top of one another to create a pyramidal shape. In the 5000 years that it has stood, the roof has never leaked. During the winter solstice, the chamber is lit up by the sunlight through a roof box at the entrance. It was pretty interesting, and the theories behind it are fun to speculate. The next stop on the tour was the Valley of the Kings. It is a cemetery with impressive Celtic crosses that stand amidst ruins of a 16th century friary. It is situated in the Boyne Valley, home to the Battle of the Boyne. The gravestone were very old in many cases, and it was more than a little eerie.
The next morning, we left our hotel and went to the train station to begin a two day tour of southern Ireland. The first day was a tour of Cork and Cobh. There isn't a lot to tell, but there are some beautiful landscapes. I don't really remember a lot of the
city of Cork because I don't think we ever got off the bus! The first stop was Blarney Castle where the Blarney Stone is held. According to legend, if you kiss the stone, it will make you eloquent. I'm not sure if that's true because I kissed it, and look what happened to me! Not that much more eloquent than before...but it was a little scary to kiss because I had to lay on my back, hold on to bars behind my head, stretch out over a gap between the stone and the castle wall, and then kiss it. They had guys there to hold people so they wouldn't fall. (If you look closely at the picture, above the topmost window is a gap in the wall. That's where I stretched out to kiss the stone. There are bars on the wall, if you can see them.)
I do remember driving to Cob
h (pronounced Cove). The name changed to Queenstown when Queen Victoria was on the throne, but then when the Irish Free State was created, it was changed back to its original Irish name. Cobh is home to the second largest natural harbor in the world behind Sydney. It is known as an unlucky port because it was the last port of call for both the Titanic and Lusitania (the Lusitania sunk about 30 miles off shore).
We visited the graves of the Lusitania victims which had flowers on them because the week before was the 95th anniversary of the attack. The bodies that were recovered from the attack were lined up on Cobh's harbor and buried in three mass graves in the Old Church Cemetery up the road. To learn more about World War I, we had entrance into a museum about the boats during the time period. It was really boring (probably because I was museum'ed out by the end of the trip!), and I went through it pretty quickly.
We got on a train to Killarney which is the place we stayed over night. When we arrived, we were picked up by a woman from the tour office that took us to our bed and breakfast for the night. I had never stayed in one before, but it was actually really nice! We stayed at a place called Beauty's Home, and the breakfast was delicious! Bacon, sausage, eggs, and nutella! One southern American saw me spreading nutella on my toast and said, "Oh honey, you don't wanna eat that. It's basically chocolate!" I turned to her, spread on some more Nutella, and replied, "Oh, I'm pretty sure I do want to be eating it." That stuff is basically amazing! Wish it was as common in the States as it is in Europe....
Anyway, the tour the second day was around the Ring of Kerry. Basically, it was a lot of sitting on the bus, looking at amazing scenery, and then getting off to take a few
pictures. We stopped a few times, tried some coffee with Bailey's, watched a sheep dog demonstration (those dogs are pretty much the best dogs ever!), held a baby deer, and almost fell in the water while taking some pictures on a rocky beach. Good day I would say. The Ring of Kerry was gorgeous, and it is so disappointing that pictures really can't do the scenes justice. But, nevertheless, there are pictures below of the sites we saw that day since that is the best way to describe it.
When our day ended, we took a train back to Dublin. On the last leg of the journey, there weren't a lot of seats open, so I ended up sitting next to two elderly sisters and the tour guide. Let me tell you, it was a long trip back. They wanted to know everything about me, and then they would interrupt and start talking about themselves, and then they would bicker or try to talk to the tour guide about the differences between Ireland and the States. All I wanted to do was play my iPod and go to sleep, but I thought that would be a little rude. They were really nice, just chatty I suppose.
We spent out last night in Dublin packing to leave for London in the morning. The flight was fine, besides the fact that it was delayed. When we got back to Vandon House, we were tired and hungry, so we got something to eat before we headed out to our hotel by the airport. Once we got back, we asked the receptionist to call a cab for three people with four large suitcases. It took about a half hour, but our cab showed up, but all we saw was a car. He put two of the suitcases in the front seat, and we all stuffed in the back seat. Then, when we finally can leave, a truck was on Vandon Street which was really narrow. So, the driver tried to go around by getting up on the sidewalk, and he popped the tire. We waited for him to change it because getting another cab during rush hour was impossible.
When we got to the hotel, I had to repack my smaller suitcase to get everything in which took a bit to work through. I wasn't feeling well, but my mom and aunt went down to get a few drinks before bed. But, we had to get up early for the flight, so I went to bed early on my last night in London.
We got up at 4:30AM to catch the shuttle. The man at reception told us it was Shuttle 1 that would take us to our terminal. Two different buses went to different terminals. We got to the terminal and found out the guy was wrong, and we had to walk to the correct terminal. I had about one hundred pounds worth of suitcases, and we were dragging our stuff around the airport. It was quite a trek, but we made it to the American Airlines check-in and had to wait in a really long line.
But, we made it through the line and security quickly. We waited for our gate (another difference from the States, airports in Europe don't tell you the gate until about a half hour before boarding, so you sit in a waiting area). We boarded our flight which had more random security checks at the gate, and waited for the plane to take off. As we went down the runway, I started to tear up. I was looking at London for the last time, and I realized that I don't get to come back like my other trips. That was it. It was a horrible feeling.
I didn't sleep well on the plane, so I just watched movies or read the entire time. It was about 8 hours back, and when we landed, it felt good. I walked off the plane knowing I was in my home country. And I was greeted warmly by Border Control with a lovely eight mile long line to get back in the States! What a homecomeing! That was the longest line I had ever seen to get into a country. It was absolutely ridiculous, and they need a different line for US born citizens and naturalized citizens/green card holders. That would have made it a lot easier. My aunt had to catch another flight, so we were worried about getting through on time. But, we got through and grabbed our bags. Customs was a breeze. They just asked if we had anything to declare, and then we walked straight through.
We said good-bye to my aunt (and she made her plane), but I got to say hello to my dad! I hadn't seen him in four months, so it was good. We drove home the six hours, and then I got to see my brothers. They all but tackled me to the ground when I got out of the car. Who knew they would miss me so much! ;)
I'm glad to be home, but I really miss living in London. It was a home away from home, and I miss it so much. But, I have already decided that I will be back in London. I don't care how long it takes me to get back, but I know that I will get there somehow. And when I do, it will be a great homecoming.
was absolutely delicious! We went back and crashed for the night. That Sunday, we took a taxi to the top of the Royal Mile and started with Edinburgh Castle. I didn't get to go in last time, but I'm glad I did. It had some amazing history rolled up into that castle. I took an audio guide, and walked around while I listened to the history of almost everything in the structure (too bad I don't remember it, huh?). I did get to see the Honours of Scotland: the crown jewels of Scotland. When I saw England's crown jewels, it was great, so I was expecting it to be something like that. It wasn't. There were about three separate things, and that was it. I did get to see the Stone of Destiny which is an important symbol of Scottish nationhood and still plays a central role in all British coronations. There is an interesting history to the stone; check it out here.After the castle, we went to a really nice place to eat because it was close, we were hungry, and it had haggis on the menu which my mom wanted to try. It was great place (really expensive), but the portions were made for a cat or something. The haggis was amazing, once again, but it would have been better to try and find some place else probably. Oh well, it was yummy all the same. We strolled down the Royal Mile looking at souvenirs and kilts. By the time we reached the bottom to see Holyroodhouse, it was closed. We didn't get to see the Queen's palace on the inside, but we did see the inside of the gift shop!
We walked back towards where we were staying and stopped by a Sainsbury's to pick up a pizza and snacks for dinner. We cooked and watched a show about girls competing to be Dorothy in Andrew Lloyd Weber's new Wizard of Oz. We got a text from my dad telling us our flight had been cancelled in the morning for Dublin because of volcano ash. My mom and aunt figured it out, and got us on a flight in the afternoon. We went to bed, and later in the afternoon we headed to the airport.
Our second flight wasn't cancelled, but we got in too late to see anything in Dublin, and it was our only day to explore the city. We did the American thing and went to Hard Rock for dinner, and I got really excited because they had Ranch! It isn't sold in the UK, and I didn't see it anywhere while traveling, and I missed it terribly.
The next day, we went on a day tour of a neolithic site called New Grange. It was built around 3200 B.C. and was possibly a burial site. We went inside the gigantic mound, and it was extremely tiny. There were
about 15 of us in the small room, and it was cramped. It had a lot of original art (mostly spirals) on the walls as well as very old graffiti, some dating back hundreds of years. The roof looked like slate rock stacked on top of one another to create a pyramidal shape. In the 5000 years that it has stood, the roof has never leaked. During the winter solstice, the chamber is lit up by the sunlight through a roof box at the entrance. It was pretty interesting, and the theories behind it are fun to speculate. The next stop on the tour was the Valley of the Kings. It is a cemetery with impressive Celtic crosses that stand amidst ruins of a 16th century friary. It is situated in the Boyne Valley, home to the Battle of the Boyne. The gravestone were very old in many cases, and it was more than a little eerie.The next morning, we left our hotel and went to the train station to begin a two day tour of southern Ireland. The first day was a tour of Cork and Cobh. There isn't a lot to tell, but there are some beautiful landscapes. I don't really remember a lot of the
city of Cork because I don't think we ever got off the bus! The first stop was Blarney Castle where the Blarney Stone is held. According to legend, if you kiss the stone, it will make you eloquent. I'm not sure if that's true because I kissed it, and look what happened to me! Not that much more eloquent than before...but it was a little scary to kiss because I had to lay on my back, hold on to bars behind my head, stretch out over a gap between the stone and the castle wall, and then kiss it. They had guys there to hold people so they wouldn't fall. (If you look closely at the picture, above the topmost window is a gap in the wall. That's where I stretched out to kiss the stone. There are bars on the wall, if you can see them.)I do remember driving to Cob
h (pronounced Cove). The name changed to Queenstown when Queen Victoria was on the throne, but then when the Irish Free State was created, it was changed back to its original Irish name. Cobh is home to the second largest natural harbor in the world behind Sydney. It is known as an unlucky port because it was the last port of call for both the Titanic and Lusitania (the Lusitania sunk about 30 miles off shore).We visited the graves of the Lusitania victims which had flowers on them because the week before was the 95th anniversary of the attack. The bodies that were recovered from the attack were lined up on Cobh's harbor and buried in three mass graves in the Old Church Cemetery up the road. To learn more about World War I, we had entrance into a museum about the boats during the time period. It was really boring (probably because I was museum'ed out by the end of the trip!), and I went through it pretty quickly.
We got on a train to Killarney which is the place we stayed over night. When we arrived, we were picked up by a woman from the tour office that took us to our bed and breakfast for the night. I had never stayed in one before, but it was actually really nice! We stayed at a place called Beauty's Home, and the breakfast was delicious! Bacon, sausage, eggs, and nutella! One southern American saw me spreading nutella on my toast and said, "Oh honey, you don't wanna eat that. It's basically chocolate!" I turned to her, spread on some more Nutella, and replied, "Oh, I'm pretty sure I do want to be eating it." That stuff is basically amazing! Wish it was as common in the States as it is in Europe....
Anyway, the tour the second day was around the Ring of Kerry. Basically, it was a lot of sitting on the bus, looking at amazing scenery, and then getting off to take a few
pictures. We stopped a few times, tried some coffee with Bailey's, watched a sheep dog demonstration (those dogs are pretty much the best dogs ever!), held a baby deer, and almost fell in the water while taking some pictures on a rocky beach. Good day I would say. The Ring of Kerry was gorgeous, and it is so disappointing that pictures really can't do the scenes justice. But, nevertheless, there are pictures below of the sites we saw that day since that is the best way to describe it.When our day ended, we took a train back to Dublin. On the last leg of the journey, there weren't a lot of seats open, so I ended up sitting next to two elderly sisters and the tour guide. Let me tell you, it was a long trip back. They wanted to know everything about me, and then they would interrupt and start talking about themselves, and then they would bicker or try to talk to the tour guide about the differences between Ireland and the States. All I wanted to do was play my iPod and go to sleep, but I thought that would be a little rude. They were really nice, just chatty I suppose.
We spent out last night in Dublin packing to leave for London in the morning. The flight was fine, besides the fact that it was delayed. When we got back to Vandon House, we were tired and hungry, so we got something to eat before we headed out to our hotel by the airport. Once we got back, we asked the receptionist to call a cab for three people with four large suitcases. It took about a half hour, but our cab showed up, but all we saw was a car. He put two of the suitcases in the front seat, and we all stuffed in the back seat. Then, when we finally can leave, a truck was on Vandon Street which was really narrow. So, the driver tried to go around by getting up on the sidewalk, and he popped the tire. We waited for him to change it because getting another cab during rush hour was impossible.
When we got to the hotel, I had to repack my smaller suitcase to get everything in which took a bit to work through. I wasn't feeling well, but my mom and aunt went down to get a few drinks before bed. But, we had to get up early for the flight, so I went to bed early on my last night in London.
We got up at 4:30AM to catch the shuttle. The man at reception told us it was Shuttle 1 that would take us to our terminal. Two different buses went to different terminals. We got to the terminal and found out the guy was wrong, and we had to walk to the correct terminal. I had about one hundred pounds worth of suitcases, and we were dragging our stuff around the airport. It was quite a trek, but we made it to the American Airlines check-in and had to wait in a really long line.
But, we made it through the line and security quickly. We waited for our gate (another difference from the States, airports in Europe don't tell you the gate until about a half hour before boarding, so you sit in a waiting area). We boarded our flight which had more random security checks at the gate, and waited for the plane to take off. As we went down the runway, I started to tear up. I was looking at London for the last time, and I realized that I don't get to come back like my other trips. That was it. It was a horrible feeling.
I didn't sleep well on the plane, so I just watched movies or read the entire time. It was about 8 hours back, and when we landed, it felt good. I walked off the plane knowing I was in my home country. And I was greeted warmly by Border Control with a lovely eight mile long line to get back in the States! What a homecomeing! That was the longest line I had ever seen to get into a country. It was absolutely ridiculous, and they need a different line for US born citizens and naturalized citizens/green card holders. That would have made it a lot easier. My aunt had to catch another flight, so we were worried about getting through on time. But, we got through and grabbed our bags. Customs was a breeze. They just asked if we had anything to declare, and then we walked straight through.
We said good-bye to my aunt (and she made her plane), but I got to say hello to my dad! I hadn't seen him in four months, so it was good. We drove home the six hours, and then I got to see my brothers. They all but tackled me to the ground when I got out of the car. Who knew they would miss me so much! ;)
I'm glad to be home, but I really miss living in London. It was a home away from home, and I miss it so much. But, I have already decided that I will be back in London. I don't care how long it takes me to get back, but I know that I will get there somehow. And when I do, it will be a great homecoming.
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