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Wooooo....back from Europe!!!! Hello all you people!!! Here's a journal I kept while I was over there...hope you enjoy it!
Sunday, June 26, 2005
'Ello! Here I am in jolly old England. Actually I arrived yesterday. I was planning on journaling then but I suppose now will suffice. Yesterday was LONG. I got up at about 6-by that time my roomate had left-and she was kind enough to leave the window open. *rolls eyes* (It had been pouring the night before) but it was ok cause none of my stuff was wet. Well, the bus left at about 9:45 for Minneopolis Airport International. The trip was, well, long...but it was ok cause I sat by Michelle on the bus ride and we talked. Few memorible things on the bus ride REMEMBER Gaylord...the town with the weird names for its buildings. "Gaylord Insurance company" *chuckles* Anyway, we got to the airport which was confusing, we got our baggage checked, went through a bunch of lines-much waiting. Finally the flight. I didn't sleep at first- read Eragon ((now comment- GREAT book!! I finished it on the trip and reccomend it to ALL of you)). Then I tried to sleep, but the people behind me were chattering away so I couldn't. The movie started and it was interesting so I kept watching- and then all the lights went off and everyone went to sleep....EVIL!!!!! But as soon as the movie was over (when I was going to try sleeping again) everyone turned their light on and woke up....grrr! So then I stayed awake and finally 2 hours later arrived in London. Once there, we had to pick up luggage. That took awhile, most of which I spent marveling over the English accents and grabbing instrument cases. Then we went through passport check. It was odd...the lady was like drillihng me with questions about where I was from, the group I was with, why we were here...I didn't know if they were official or not so I just answered them. Once I was out of there, our group waited like 3 hours for our final group to arrive. Then we headed off to Windsor castle. Our bus, the green bus, is ACTUALLY green!!! And our bus driver is from Austria and has trouble speaking english- its fun!! While we were on our way, I was watching the cars driving the opposite way then they do in America and the steering wheels on the wrong side. Eventually I fell asleep. My bus partner, Michelle, worke me up at Windsor. I took a picture and then we got to Windsor. Windsor had some cool shops. I stayed by Michelle. We walked to this train station with all these stores in it. We were eating there...Michelle, Molly, this guy, and I ate ata a place called E.A.T. There was like nothing I liked there, all the sandwhiches either had lettuce or fish. Finally I got a diet coke or coca-cola light and a ham and bacon sanwhich, I just picked all the lettuce and tomatoes off. It was actually quite good. Then we headed back to the buses, but Michelle forgot her bag, so we had to run back. What was amazing was that a brtish guy had sat beside it to make sure it didn't get stolen. When Michelle thanked him he said "It was a pleasure"-LOVE British people. Anyway, after Windsor we headed to our hotel. There, we were in room 2423 which was only a little bigger then my room with 3 individual beds. After getting settled in our room, groups of us headed to Picadily Circus, which, despite its name, is a place with lots of shops. T'was entertaining, cept I was half asleep so I don't remember much. I was with Laura and Katherine (my roomates) and Michelle. I do remember a burger king with shiny walls, a store with weird British rap. This store is where we spent most of our time. Laura and Kathering were looking for new outfits cause the really like Britains style. People over here do have a unique sense of style. Then we got back on the tubes which is like a subway system that stretches throughout London and went home-or back to the hotel at least. Once there I found out the interestingness of my roomates when they tried to climb out the incredibly small window and onto the roof. Needless to say, it didn't work. Today was-interesting. We had a concert this morning at wesely chapel. It was fun. It was actually a church service we were performing in. The hymns were fun to sing, but I didn't understand a word of the message because of the English accent. ((it was something about "learning to serve" wink ). Next we had a tour through England with a very interesting tour guide. She called us "loves" "angels" "kiddy winks" "lady babes" and if we were late "sausages" ((learned a bit about brit lingo from her "gigis" are horses "mews" are stables)) She was an enthusiastic character. THe most interesting part of the day was the evening when we had freetime. I decided to go to the London Eye and Globe theatre with Cathy Britton in the lead. We brought tickets for the wheel and decided to go on it about 8. So, we walked down the walkway with all the street performers (knife jugglers, dancers, guitarists, statue posers) and took the 30 min walk to Globe theatre. Needless to say our feet were tired after this. So, next we found out the Globe was closed for a play. We spent abotu 5 min. there taking pics and resting our feet, before heading to a nearby restraunt called "Pizza Express." By the way, EXPRESS doesn't mean fast in London. We waited for them to set up tables together even though we said we'd eat seperately. THen we spent an hour there- 5 minutes of that time eating. WHen we got the check it was all together an they wouldn't seperate it so we did that manually. At that time it was 15 min to 8:30 (the time someone told us the wheel closed) so we ran as fast as we could to the tube stop-which was about 10 min away by running. Then we got on it and it took us 3 minutes to get to the station near a bridge which we ran across to get to the wheel, when we got there, it was 8:32, but we were told that the wheel didn't close until 9:00. GRR! At this time, my feet were pounding, and my heart was in my throat, I had a headache and felt like killing someone-so we waited for the 5 people out of our group who were walking back on the path we took to get to the Globe (they payed with credid cards)and then got in line for the wheel. Turns out all that running was worth it cause the view from the wheel was BEAUTIFUL!!! The sun was setting when we were on it and I REALLY hope my pics turn out. That night after getting off the wheel we headed through a path of trees that we filled with blue lights. On our way to the tube station I almost got run over by a motercycle (they drive like maniacs here) I was lucky he honked. That night I stayed up with my roomates talking about stuff, it was fun. They really like tea, but I hate it *sticks tongue out* I did try it though.
P.S. We also went to the queens castle. And I got my picture tooken with the queens guard. What was great is he actually laughed in front of us!! ((the queens guard is that guy you see in all the movies that can't smile or laugh))This girl who was getting her pic tooken with him struck this ridiculus pose. And he smiled, so he had to cover it up with this drill mover where he stomps his foot, switches his gun to his other shoulder, and marches back and forth...but the girl thought he was attacking her and screamed-so he actually burst out laughing ((but but on a serious face right after..don't worry mr guard...we won't tell anyone wink )) It was fun! By the way..if you ever go to the queens garden..don't sit in the chairs-they cost 2 pounds-I sat in one for a while, cause I was eating lunch and some guy yelled at me. O.O
THis was an interesting day. I got up late this morning so I was late for breakfast and dead tired. First thing we did was go to the Towere of London. It was interesting. Saw the crown jewels..my favorite thing was the sword used in coranation. There were these HUGE crows in the yard with their wings clipped so the couldn't fly away...they're supposed to bring luck or something. We also saw a Beef EAter. MAN we NEED some of theose guys to patrol Sioux Falls. These kids tried to climb over a fence they weren't supossed to..he freaked out at them. He had them wait some where until he found their teacher and said if they moved one step he'd throw them out ((these weren't little kids by the way..more our age..but I call them kids)) How many kids would misbehave in Sioux Falls if they knew one wrong move could get them thrown out of the city. I also toured this tower...they used to use the bathroom in a hole in the ground. One more cool thing...when we were waiting for our bus, I brought a diet coke and the ingriedients were written in Arabic!! It was cool-at least to me. After we left the tower...we went to the band concert...they did good. There was this lady dancing with pom poms @.@ Apparently she's a big fan of voyagers and always appears at our concerts. I talked to this nice old British lady who said the xylaphone was out of tune. Next we split into small groups. I went with Cathy Britton and a few others to this street where the Beatles once walked...it was interesting. People took turns posing like the beatles in the middle of the street. It was hilarious!!!! Some of the Brittish people got mad at them. Next we went to Baker Street! Yes THE Sherlock Homes Baker Street. I actually went to where his house was supossed to be and there was a Sherlock Homes museum there. Did I mention how nice Brittish people are? I left my tube ticket in the museum, and they kept it safe for me. Now the finale...that night I went to Phantom of the Opera. GREAT play!!! But thats not what I'm talking about. When we left the theatre it was extremely hectic-I was tired, sad, and thinking about how the phantom related to me. When everyone got on the tube, I was with my group, so everything was fine, when the tube stopped at a station everyone seemed to be getting off, so I followed 3 people from our group who seemed to know where they were going. They then stopped at another tube takeoff, and looked at a map-they looked confused. THat's when I realized the group wasn't behind us. Figuring they were wrong, I backtracked to the tube we'd gotton off of ((been told 3 times how stupid this action was...remember I was out of it..tired))...You know what happens next. Turns out our group wasn't there. So I was LOST in LONDON! Yes...I panicked...but then I figured I'd just get on the train to go to Angel station...so I looked around for a tube that went to Angel..Finally I found one that went throught Kings Cross-I knew that we usually went through KIndgs Cross before getting to Angel; so I found one that went to Kings Cross after asking a staff person, kay there was tubes on both sides of the takeoff station...one went to Angel, one went to major stations only-problem was BOTH went to Kings Cross-and I got on the one that only went to major stations-I found this out when I asked some random British lady if the tube went to Angel. At this point I was MAJORLY stressed. Guess what the lady did? She helped me find my way back!...and taught me how to correctly use the tubes...She also gave up rididng home on the tube to walk with me back to my hotel ((she had this pre-payed thing that only worked to get her home that night..because she took a detour with me...she couldn't use the tube to get back))..I think her name was Kathleen, but I don't remember. But I'll NEVER forget how she helped a total stranger out and had to walk 20 minutes back to her house. Yes...I also found out a bit about her...She's lived in London her whole life, and is changing professions soon. She's going to become a tour guide! She'd be good at it if she's so nice to strangers. Thank you stranger!
 xxowk · Mon Jul 11, 2005 @ 04:07pm · 0 Comments |
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