London, Destination London!

Wednesday May 28

That was the shortest flight ever. I read the entire time. Very good. We arrived in London roughly on time. We got our bags and then had to figure out how to get to our hostel.

We went to the info desks but they were all closed. We had to go to the south terminal and we were at the north. We took the shuttle and we were at the south terminal in no time. We went to the help desk. We asked the quickest way to our hostel. Apparently it was a train and then the tube. 

We had to go to a different place to purchase our tickets. The line took a while but not as bad as the louvre. Ha. While in line we heard that one line was closed because someone jumped in front of it. Not good. We got our tickets and then looked for when the next train would be departing. I heard over the loud speaker that the train approaching platform 4 was heading toward london bridge. That is what we needed. 

I grabbed the suitcase and headed toward the platform. Everyone else was not sure, but they followed me anyway. We hopped on the train right before the doors closed. Then we sat on the train for 30 min before we hit London bridge. 

We found the metro no problem. We rode it and got off without any problem. We asked for directions once we got off the metro. We headed toward her directions. About 10 minutes into our walk we realize we are in a residential area and completely lost. We see a lady across the street and flag her down. We ask her if she knows where it is. She whips out her iPhone and gets directions for us.  Yay for iPhones and people who actually have wifi!

We follow these new directions and they lead us in the opposite direction.  15 minutes later we are yet again lost. We decide to turn around because it was dark outside. Slightly sketchy. Scratch that a lot sketchy. On our way back we find the road that we should have taken. We try to reorient ourselves. A couple came up to us and asked if we were looking for the hostel. They pointed us in the direction. We head that way. After another 5 minutes we find the hostel. 

Not the sketchiest place we have stayed, free breakfast and a restaurant inside.  We will take it.  I had some sort of chicken parmesan minus spaghetti, plus ham.  I liked it.  

After dinner, we decided to go buy some towels and take a shower, yes buy towels 3 pounds each.  Jen, Lindsey, and I all hopped in the showers.  There were 4 stalls right next to each other.  Right in the middle of showering, the fire alarm goes off.  We all start freaking out and yelling.  We had no idea what to do.  The only thing that crossed my mind was a conversation I would have with my mother 'So mom, I am in a foreign country, standing outside my hostel in just a towel'  We all reach for our towels and clothes trying to get out the door.  Luckily it turned off-- it was just a false alarm. 

Thursday May 29

We start off the day by sleeping in.  How nice it was.  We woke up at 9:00.  At 9:30 I was partially ready when we went down for breakfast.  I had cereal, a croissant, and toast with some yummy jam.

We went back to the room, finished packing, and checked out.  I had the address for the next hostel and it said that it was an 11 minute walk away.  Not too bad.  We head out.  We arrive at our "destination".  It is a house in a residential area.  We are not sure what to do because there are no markings on the house or anything.  So we walk back to Palmer's Lodge (our first hostel)  to get wifi. 

There we ask the staff to look up the hostel for us so we could get directions.  The staff pull up the exact same place we arrived at earlier.  Karli calls and asks them if the hostel looks like a house.  We head back to where we just came from, but this time we go to the door.  A man walks out and starts talking to us.  He is staying at the hostel too.  No one is at the hostel to check us in.  No one answers the door or anything.  It is sooooo sketchy.  We sit outside for a long time.  No one can call because none of our phones have service, including the man.  The man walks up to someone on the street and asks them to help us.  They call, but don't get an answer.  Then another man walks up.  He tries calling the people and gets through.  They say that they are sending someone over.  Two more people show up.  Someone pulls up.  She ask for the person that called the asian guy says that it was him.  The lady picking him up asks if we have called to tell someone we were here.  No, we don't have phones that work!!!  She calls it in for us.  She says wait here until someone comes to get you.  What the heck?!?!  We wait some more.  A white creeper van pulls up.  We all look at each other with a look that says there is no way that we are getting in the van.  We ask them if they are part of the hostel and they said yes, but someone else was picking us up.  A few minutes later, a guy in his late 20's comes and asks for Karli X4.  Thats us.  He tells us to follow him.  We follow him to his car.  I know this all sounds really bad but we needed to get somewhere.

As he drives, he explains that there are several properties associated with this hostel chain.  They all just have that one address to meet and we get shipped off into our actual hostel later.  We arrive at our hostel.  It is literally a home.  It is huge and really nice.  There is a locked gate, a huge kitchen, living room, and many more things.  We fill out some paper work and we are on our way.  

We walk to Kilborn tube station and board the Jubilee line toward town.  We have this thing mastered now.  It takes no time to get there.  Once there, we had to find somewhere to eat.  We crossed the bridge and found a cute little tavern.  We walk in and order.  I had macaroni and cheese.  It was delicious.  

After our delicious and cheap meal, we head toward the london dungeon and london eye.  We find the dungeon but it is packed and the only tickets we could get were for really late.  We decide not to get them and walk around instead.  We walk all over.  We walked to Buckingham Palace and then it started pouring.  

We ran for cover in some trees, but after a few minutes we decided that we had to keep walking.  I wore my TOMS and they were soaked by the time we reach where we needed to be.  

We stop at a little waffle and ice cream shop to get out of the rain.  It was really nice.  I got a waffle with ice cream and chocolate on top.  So delicious.  I ate really slow to prevent me going outside.  We walked outside and saw a street performer.  He was sort of entertaining.  He dragged on the performance though.  He just needed to get to the point.  When we finish watching him, we head toward the london eye.  

The line doesn't take long at all.  Eventually we make it into our pod with 20 other people.  Gross.  We got to see the city.  I liked it a lot.  I got many good pictures.  

London eye done, we head for some souvenir shops.  We visit several and purchase things at most of them.  We then decide to go for dinner.  After walking around and not finding anything really good, we go back to the same place we had lunch at.  It was really good.  I had bangers and mash.  It is basically sausage and mashed potatoes.  I ate a lot today.  Probably not a good thing.

After dinner we head back for Waterloo station and back to our hostel.

Friday May 30

We decided to sleep in a little bit and head to the changing of the guard first thing in the morning. 

We woke up and are free breakfast at the hostel. I just has jam and toast. Not too bad. Then we headed toward the tube station bound for buckingham palace. We got there around 10. We thought just 30 min early. 

As 10:30 nears, the crowd began to grow. Two people who didn't speak English butted up against me. 10:30 comes and goes and nothing happens. Maybe it is at 11:00 we thought. Not a problem. We waited and more and more people showed up. It was getting crowded around us. 11 comes and goes   Then Jen speaks up and says that she thought the hangs happened at 11:30. Really?!? We have waited this long so we decided to wait some more. It was so crowded now. The people behind me kept saying excuse me. I grumpily answered back that I couldn't move. People were pushing trying to get up to the front. We tried to keep our ground.  At 11:30 finally things start to happen. I stick my arm with the camera through the fence to get some better pictures because our spot was kinda crappy. Then the people behind me scooted up and trapped my arm in the fence. I was really ticked at this point. My feet hurt and I had had enough human contact to last me a lifetime. We watched part of the ceremony but we left early because we got sick of everyone pushing on us. 

From there we headed to the bus tour. We had a rough guess of where it was, but the maps weren't that great. We wandered around for a long time before we found the information center. There we got our tickets validated and we were on our way. We sat down and looked for where our first stop would be. We decided St. James Cathedral. It was enormous and really pretty. We walk inside and take a few pictures. We then realize that it costs 16 pounds to go in. We leave. Next was food. We window shopped at some menus outside wverything was really expensive. Then we see a fish and chip place. 

We walk in and like the prices. We walk up to the counter to order. The guy asked if it was to go. We said no. So he said find a seat. We walk upstairs and find a table. We see the prices for sittig down to eat and they are double the take away prices. We head back downstairs to order take out. We all get cod and chips to go. We walk around with our boxes trying to find a place to sit and eat. We end up sittig at the cathedral outside. 

The tour takes us around to the tower bridge. We get off there to take some pictures. It is extremely crowded there too. We get back on the bus and ride until Westminster abbey. We get off no where near te abbey so we have to figue out which way to go. We finally figure it out and arrive at parliament. Take more pictures. We walk around parliament and realize we were here yesterday. We take more pictures at a phone booth and head to a different stop. 

Next was the pool!  I could hardly contain my joy on the ride. Others were falling asleep. This station is huge. We follow the signs and arrive at Olympic park. Oh my goodness!!! It is beautiful! There is a very nice shopping center and of course the bean! My pool.

Look at how beautiful it is!

We had Mexican food for dinner. I got a quesadilla. I has to eat it really fast so I could make my swim time. I finish and leave the others at the table. I basically run toward the pool. I was so stinking excited. They let me in and I am on my way. I get into the locker rooms. They are nothing like I have seen before. 

I walk into the pool area and I am in awe. It is beautiful. A lovely 50 meter pool and I had it for 1 hour. I brought my phone in to take pictures. I snap one and then get yelled at by the lifeguard. Then another one comes around and tells me I shouldn't have my phone on deck. I went back to my locker and put my phone away. 

Back into the pool, I hop into lane 4. A guy is in there, but I don't care. The water feels nice.  Not too hot, not too cold.  I notice a sign on the block.  It said to swim clockwise.  Well, that answers a question I have had since I was little--You swim in lanes like you drive on a road, no matter what country you are in.  It honestly took me a while to actually stay on the left side without swerving into the other side and hitting the lane line.  Also, it was a 50 meter pool.  This was my first time swimming in a 50 meter pool.  I liked it but I was thrown off a little bit, especially on my backstroke.  The guy in my lane was not too fast, even though the lane was reserved for fast people.  I didn't mind.  I was just trying to soak it all in.  

We had an uneventful ride back to our hostel, but I was still so happy, for not only being able to swim, but swim in the 2012 Olympic pool! 

Saturday May 31

We decided to sleep in again today.  We woke up at 9:10.  That was really nice.  After breakfast, we headed toward the Tower of London. The tower is huge and it is more like a castle than a tower.  

We made our way through several parts of the castle including the torture room, the crown jewels, and the beasts.  The torture room was really interesting.  I liked seeing the actual torture instruments.  There were two different locations for two different crown jewels.  I wasn't allowed to take pictures at either.  The room with the beasts was interesting.  They held so man different animals, like lions, tigers, polar bears, grizzly bears, monkeys, and many other animals.

 The Tower of London

Torture Room 

Pictures of the actual jewels are frowned upon

Then came the part I looked forward to the most, the actual crown jewels.  There was obviously a line to see this.  It took awhile, but it was beautiful outside so I didn't care.  Once inside we wound around corridors with images, quotes, and movies about the jewels.  They were really interesting.  I got to see Queen Elizabeth II coronation.  Then came the jewels.  Oh my goodness!!  They were beautiful and shinny!  

We left soon after that.  Food was on our mind.  We found Subway.  Something familiar and cheap.  This was the first time I had actually seen Ranch since I got here.  They don't use it here.  I don't think they understand what 6" is either.  My sandwich looked rather small.  

Back on the tube headed toward Madame Tussaud's.  We arrive an hour early.  Since we were right at Baker Street, I thought I would take advantage.  My inner nerd was geeking out again.  Hello Sherlock!  I went to 221B Baker street and took several pictures.  

The name is Sherlock Holmes and the address is 221B Baker Street

Madame Tussaud's was next.  I was really excited for some great photo opportunities.  Once we got inside there were so many fricken people.  We would get in line to take pictures with a 'person' and then people would cut in line.  Not cool robert frost!  We had a lot of fun exploring and taking pictures.  

Dinner time!  We went to Pret something.  We had seen them at almost every corner in London, so we decided to stop.  They had sandwiches and stuff like that.  All prepackaged stuff.  It cost more to dine in than carry out.  That made me mad, but we stayed anyways.  I had a ham, cheese, and tomato croissant.  It was good and then I had a fruit bowl consisting of oranges, kiwi, blueberries, and pomegranate.  I was so happy to get some fresh fruit!

With some daylight left, we decide to head to Kings Cross station.  Specifically, Platform 9 3/4.  Lindsey and I stood in line for our pictures.  The guy running the pictures was really funny and entertaining.  I told Lindsey to jump in her picture.  She did and I captured the most amazing shot ever!  Once done with that, we see that Karli and Jen found the others group of Ball State students that were in London.  We talked for a while and then decided it was late and we should probably leave.  We made it back to our hostel and crashed.

Sunday June 1

We woke up a little earlier than we had been, in order to make our train.  We gather up all of our things and head toward the tube.  We are fine getting to Waterloo station, but once there, we couldn't find the train we needed to be on.  We went around asking people where we needed to be.  Apparently, we got off at the wrong station and we needed to get back on the tube and get on at a different station.

At the new station, we wait for 20 minutes to see what platform we had to get on.  An announcement came on saying that the train we wanted to take now had less seating, so not everyone would get on board.  As soon as we knew what platform we were departing from, we booked it to the train.  As we run up, the doors close, so we had to use a different one.  The doors shut on me twice.  Literally shut on me.  I was squished in the door.  Despite some set backs, we made it back to Liverpool, retrieved our large suitcases, and drug them up that awful spiral staircase again.  

After visiting 3 countries, it was time to head back to Liverpool.  It was a great week, but I am now exhausted!  Ta and Cheers!