After spending a few days under the gloomy skies of Paris, we boarded a British Airways plane and embarked on a 40 minute flight to Heathrow. (The flight attendant had the cutest British accent ever even though Hannah said she was a bitch.) We arrived at the airport, which I though was extremely empty compared to what I've always heard about it, and got our rental car. Hannah's mom then showed us exactly how NOT to drive on the left side of the road and rammed into a few curbs.
The next day we headed out onto the M4 and through alfalfa fields and English countrysides. After missing the exit to Windsor Castle, we drove around and around till we finally found my favorite part of the entire trip.......Stonehenge! (Yes, a bunch of rocks were my favorite part of Europe.)
Now as we all know, Stonehenge is in the middle of nowhere, which is right next to a whole lot of nothing (except an obnoxious highway.) As if the highway wasn't obnoxious enough, there were tourists everywhere. My one wish for the trip was that we'd get to Stonehenge and there wouldn't be a soul in sight. What a disappointment. Despite this fact, the whole atmosphere was eerie and soothing which is right up my alley. Imagine being there back when the druids ran rampant, the full moon shining through the slabs, fog slinking across the fields...I left Stonehenge with some more rocks for my dad and we headed to Bath, England, home of the famous Roman Baths where the Romans had their infamous orgies. Not too much happened there so I will skip ahead to...
LONDON! This was by far my favorite city on the whole trip. First, everyone spoke English and second, everyone spoke English in British accents. The first night we arrived, Hannah and I decided to go out and experience an authentic London pub. We ordered beer and proceeded to drink it when two guys (one English, Eddie and one Scottish, Sean) started talking to us about the Royal Army, etc. Before the night was over, we ended up getting more drinks at another bar, leaving a kabob on the street for the "tramps", and ending our night at a gay bar listening to a 58-year old, gay Scottish man named "Mother" talk about his conversations with Tyra Banks. Everybody at the bars said they loved us because we were "American and adorable." I'm still not sure if they meant that as a compliment or an insult.
The next morning we woke up bright and early (argh) and went to see Buckingham Palace. It turns out they were having this huge rehearsal for the Changing of the Colors, which is done for the Queen's b-day. All of the guards and horses and knights (I felt trapped in a giant game of chess) were out parading around and in general, wasting time.
From there, we went through the cabinet war rooms where Churchill held secret meetings and lived in a bunker. It was like stepping right back in time waiting for the bombs to drop on London. Then it was off to Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.
We ended the night by taking the Tube (subway) to Tower Bridge and waited for a dinky sailboat to go underneath it. (Note: the boat in the following picture is not the referenced "dink sailboat.)
The next morning, we got up early and headed to the Tower of London where we saw Henry VIII's armour, the crown jewels, the site of the execution of Anne Boleyn, and the infamous towers, moats, and torture chambers. I ended up losing Hannah and her family so I roamed around the Tower by myself completing it before they even got halfway through. They decided they wanted to go back to Tower Bridge and I needed some space so I decided to split from the group and took the Underground up to Hyde Park, Notting Hill, and Kensington Palace. I saw the Sherlock Holmes museum, bought an awesome hat at a thrift store, and managed to get lost only once. I walked through the park and Kensington and beat the family back to the hotel where we watched The Queen and started packing for our long journey to the good ole' U.S. of A.The following morning we got up before the sun to catch our 7:30 flight to Chicago (longest flight of my life-out of all six I've been on) and I managed to score a window seat (but had to get up to go to the bathroom five times.) At 10:30 Central time, we arrived in O'Hare and said our goodbyes, thankful that we could get some much needed space.
My mom and grandma picked me up and I made them immediately take me to Denny's for American food.
No comments:
Post a Comment