One Crazy, Crazy Week: some friends, a prince, a plague, a monster, and a crime!

This past week, was both the best and worst weeks we've had since we've been in England...

Our friends Crystal and Griff from Keene got here the 9th, and it was great to see some familiar faces, and to have some of our best friends spend the time (not to mention the money) to come over here and spend spring break with us. They were pretty tired when they got in, so we got a quick bite to eat, before heading home and exploring Wolverhampton a bit. On Sunday, we had heard about a St. Patricks Parade in Birmingham, and since we were planning on bringing our friends into the city anyway, we decided this was the best opportunity. The parade was pretty cool, but not nearly as large as we had expected after hearing that it was the third largest in the world. Then again, I am not sure where that stat came from, so who knows how accurate it was. We had a blast in any case, and it was great to spend some time with Crystal and Griff.

Since they did fly all the way to England to visit us, Justin and I decided that we needed to bring them into London, at least for the day, I mean, it is England after all. Because we sort of decided this on a whim, there weren't any cheap train tickets available, which meant our only option was to take the luxurious form of transportation known as the coach. I am kidding, you see, in a country full of roundabouts, and people who drive on the wrong side of the road, the coach can be quite miserable, especially when planning to spend 7 hours on it in one day. In any case, we sucked it up, and headed south. Luckily, it was the single most beautiful day we have had since in this country. It was about 75 with cloudless skies- unusual for rainy England. We brought them to many of the same touristy things we had already seen, but didn't mind because of the weather, and for the sheer fact that we were with them. Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, and Parliament were all a bit more exciting with good weather. We tried to bring them into Westminster Abbey, primarily because it occupies a good chunk of the day, and because it is cheaper than our other option, the Tower of London. Much to our dismay, the Abbey was closed because of "tourism week" or some such random holiday. We headed to the tower, where we discovered they had raised the price of the student concession fare £1.00 since we were there less than a month ago. As we walked toward the gate where we entered last time, we were wonderfully notified that this had as well changed, and we would have to go to the entrance nearest to the river. Once we rounded the corner we were ecstatic to realize that the line was a good 500 yards long, and there was now a full security tent with metal detectors and armed guards. In line we speculated about the changes, thinking perhaps that there was a security threat, or they were preparing for the high season, but we noticed that the beefeaters were now in a much more formal attire than they had been. By the time we got through the gates, we were very curious, however our curiosity was short lived. As we walked in, we saw a large group of people, their cameras up in the air, and just beyond them, PRINCE CHARLES AND CAMILLA PARKER-BOWLES!!!! Yes, we saw the prince, and you should be jealous. :-D The remainder of the day was really overshadowed by this fact, and by the time we got back to Wolverhampton, we were exhausted.

Tuesday Justin and I both had some work to do, so we let Griff and Crystal lay low, while we did what we needed to do. Later in the evening, we had an incredibly over-priced meal at a Mexican Restaurant. Somehow, we didn't mind, since Justin and I had both been craving a good burrito since leaving the States two months ago, and for whatever reason, this cuisine is not the most popular over here. After dinner, we saw a British movie called Hot Fuzz, a comedy about corruption in a small English village and the police force that brings it down. This was all too ironic once we came to realize what had been transpiring while we had been gone. We came back, and headed to Justin's room to look up some stuff about our trip to Edinburgh. When we opened the door, we were all confused to see it had been chained shut from the inside. Instantly Justin and I knew what had happened. He broke down the door, taking with it, the molding around the door too, and we realized that someone had broken in his window, taking his laptop and both Crystal and Griff's digital cameras. To make a great night really crappy, really quickly. To make a long story short, apparently Wolverhampton has a big problem with petty crime, which we were aware of to a certain extent, but this all became much more clear now. We all ended up being pretty lucky: my camera, which I have only had now for about a month, I had taken out of Justin's room earlier in the day, and the theives left Crystal's wallet and credit cards, as well as Justin's digital SLR camera, his ipod, his external hard drive, and his DVD's. We later found out Griff's phone was also taken, but luckily he wasn't found responsible for any of the charges made on his account since Cingular has a 7 day fraud policy. The insurance company seems to be working it out, and things should be fine. Since Justin's room is on the ground floor, and mine is on the third, all valuables have been moved into my room for the time being. Some things just don't change no matter where you are I guess. Needless to say, Wednesday was spent working all of the insurance and police information out before we headed out to Edinburgh on Thursday.

Edinburgh was amazing and it really helped us get our minds off of the break in. Our train arrived at night, and with everything lit up it was beautiful. We ate supper at this great little pub, with amazing food for good prices at the foot of Edinburgh Castle, and planned our next days activities over a pint. That evening we went on a haunted tour of underground Edinburgh, which is known for its vaults and closed which were once real buildings and streets in Edinburgh which have since been built over. The tour was a bit cheesy, but nonetheless interesting, and we met some of the cast of the British tour of Fame, which was a good time.

That evening, we decided that we all really wanted to see the Scottish Highlands, so when we returned to our hostel the girl at the reception booked us seats on a day tour the next day to Loch Ness. I know what you are thinking, and NO, we did NOT see Nessie, but we did see a lot of stuffed animals, and several statues of the monster. We also saw hundreds of sheep, which may seem obvious, as Scotland is known for their wool, but apparently the population of sheep in Scotland is double its human population. The highlands were more beautiful than anywhere else I have ever been. I guess I didn't realize what they were like, but even amidst the rain and cold, and wind, it was still spectacular. Mountains after mountains, with glacial lakes in between, left from the last ice age. It was spectacular, and even though we spent forever in a bus and paid dearly for it, it was still worth it!

By Saturday we were ready to walk around after hours on buses and trains already this week. We started off at the Castle (after a St. Patrick's Day Breakfast complete with Guinness and Eggs) which provides great views of the city and the surrounding areas. What is cool about Edinburgh is that it is this incredibly historic, well preserved city, in the middle of some of the most beautiful natural scenery in the world. We continued our day on a hike up a small hill, which overlooks the city from the opposite side. The wind made this quite the feat, but again, it was well worth the view. Another thing that is awesome about the city, was the fact that it is incredibly authentic. I mean you really do see men in kilts, with bagpipes. While I know some of this is for the tourists, I couldn't help but notice that away from the Royal Mile, or the main drag in Edinburgh, people really do wear the traditional kilt for formal occasion- which is awesome. Later in the evening, we had one of Edinburgh's secret delicacies, a fried Mars bar. I know it sounds like a heart attack in your hand, and it probably is, but man it was delicious- Much better than any of us could have expected.

Sunday was our last day in the city, since Crystal and Griff were leaving that Monday out of Birmingham. That morning, we went to Mary Kings Close, which is essentially, old Edinburgh, underground. It was a section of streets right off the Royal Mile, which literally had the roofs cut off of them, and a larger building built on top. While it is creepy under the ground, it was really great to see how Edinburgh used to look. Edinburgh's history is so extensive, and so interesting that it was great to have that experience. We went to Scottish Museum next, which was interesting, but not as much so as we had expected- I suppose too many museums can have that effect on you, but the price was right, as it was free, and our pockets were getting pretty empty. Before heading back home we walked down the Parliament Building, which we had heard was atrocious, but couldn't understand until we saw just how ugly it was ourselves...it is understandable why the Scots hate it. Nonetheless, it did not damper my impression of Edinburgh and the Highlands, and I think that this has been my favorite place we have traveled to thus far! Although, we do leave in a week for our extensive tour of continental Europe, so I will keep you posted on whether or not that changes at all!

Monday, after getting in incredibly late the night before, I was really sad to see Crystal and Griff go. I think the combination of the great time we had, and the incident with Justin's room, it just made me a little jealous that they were going back to Keene. But I am not ready to come home yet. We still have places to go and people to see, especially in the next few weeks, so keep tuning in, to see what happens next!

Spring Break Plans!

I know many of you have been anxiously awaiting my spring break Plans, and we just finished booking it, so here it is!

The first few weeks in April I will be exploring:

-Paris, France (day trip to Normandy)
-Dijon, France (visiting Alison!)
-Interlaken, Switzerland (day trip to Luzcerne)
-Florence, Italy
-Munich, Germany

-Prague, Czech Republic

...you're jealous, you KNOW you're jealous...

"Nothing is certain in London, but expense!" - Shakespeare

This weekend, we headed off into London, and since I finally had a camera again to take pictures with, I was probably slightly more enthusiastic than I may have been otherwise. The journey there was particularly enjoyable because of the leather seats with extra leg room on our coach! This was welcome, because our coach left at 7:15, and thus we were able to fit in some much missed sleep from the night before. When we finally arrived, it was about 11:45, a significant delay from our itinerary, but we didn't really seem to have minded the extra hour of shut eye. The city was pretty much as any city is, especially close to a major center of transportation: loud, busy, and unforgiving. We made our way towards the nearest tube station, which also happens to be the busiest. After about a 20 minute queue, we purchased our three day tube pass (one of the smarter things we have managed to do), and headed out towards our hotel. The tube is the easiest way around the city, but can be enormously expensive, if you do not have some sort of discount: £4.00 per journey. The card we bought, for £16.50, allowed us to travel unlimited for three days, in zones 1 and 2, which covers anything you would want to see- a real bargain!

We opted for a hotel this time, since there were four of us, and splitting the cost of one room four ways was actually about the same as staying in a hostel. Of course our hotel was a bit stripped down, and we still had to share a community toilet and shower, but on the bright side, we didn't have to share a room with twelve of our closest strangers, and the hotel actually included a full English breakfast each morning! Once we had checked in and settled, a bit, we headed out towards the major sites. Coming out of the underground, we were amazed to see the London eye right there, in front of our faces, until we turned around and saw Big Ben literally towering over us, a mere 500 meters away! After recovering from the shock, we walked a bit further, past Parliament, and towards Westminster Abbey. We decided to go inside, and have a look around, despite the £7.00 price tag! The abbey is amazing, and unfortunately you are not allowed to take pictures inside. This is the case with most cathedrals in Europe, but Westminster was unusually diligent about enforcing this rule. Inside are monuments to almost every famous and significant person in British history, not to mention the graves of people such as Queen Elizabeth I, and her sister, Bloody Mary, as well as authors like Dickens, and Composers like George Frederick Handel. There is so much in the abbey, that it is literally just piled up on itself, in every crease and crevasse left inside! After wandering around for a bit, we made our way towards Piccadilly Circus, or London's version of Times Square, but far less impressive. It was interesting, but defiantly over rated! We soon met one of Justin's friends from high school for dinner. Dan is actually studying in London for the semester, just a few blocks from where we were staying. We opted to head to china town, where we had the most expensive bad Chinese food I have ever had in my life. At £10.00, this should have been excellent, but I think the bad Chinese food in mall food courts would have suited us all better. It was now that we decided that London defiantly lives up to its name as one of the most expensive cities in the world! The rest of the night we just hung out with Dan, in his flat. We attempted to head out with him later, but we were rejected for the first time since being in England, to a bar, and instead we opted to go the local pub for a quick pint before heading off to bed.

Saturday we took one of Dan's recommendations, and went to the Tower of London. He had warned us about the cost, but said it was well worth it. After dishing out the £12.00, we headed inside and waited for the tour to begin. One of the coolest things about the Tower of London, (apart from its history of torture and death), its its rich tradition. The tour guides, are actually known as Yeomen Warders, or Beef eaters, members of the Royal Armed Forces, for 22 years, and trained in history. The Beef eaters are all incredibly charismatic, and enthusiastic, and actually live on the premises within the Tower of London! It was really interesting to listen to the history, and see the arms stores, the old palace, the chamber of Anne Bolelyn, and Queen Elizabeth, as well as other tyrants. You also get to see the various methods of torture known to the towers, and the crown jewels, not to mention an amazing view of the Tower Bridge. Once we had finished there, we headed across the River Thames, to the Globe, and the Tate Modern Art Museum, where we just looked around, before getting back on the tube towards Harrods. Harrods, was crowded, hot and over priced- not to mention there was demonstration going on out-side against Harrods selling of real fur products- making the area even more chaotic. Even still it is cool to be able to say that I was there, and I wish that I had bought something small to bring back-maybe when I am back there in June! The inside is, as well magnificent, and the most interesting thing we saw, was actually a memorial to Princess Diana, and Dodi Al Fayed, with her engagement ring, and the wine glass she drank from the night she died at the Ritz. After a stroll through Hyde Park, we went back to the hotel for a quick rest, before heading out to meet some of our fellow exchange students from Wolverhampton for dinner on the other side of the city.

Sunday, we went to the Imperial War Museum, which was thankfully free. It was incredible! There was so much to see and do, that we could have spent all day in there, but instead, we hit the highlights, so that we could meet Dan again for the British Museum before the left. Outside the museum is a chunk of the Berlin wall, while inside are thousands of artifacts, including hundreds of planes, tanks, submarines, and trucks from throughout the twentieth century. We went to the exhibits on WWI, WWII, British Espionage, and the Holocaust. All of it was really well done, and I wouldn't hesitate to go back again. Later we went to British Museum, which was enormous, to say the very least! It basically holds all of the items that Britain has pillaged throughout its years of conquest. There are items from Africa, Ancient Egypt, the Americas, Asia, everywhere. There is so much, it is truly daunting to try to see it all. The highlights were probably the Rosetta Stone, which unlocked the key to deciphering the Hieroglyphics from Latin and Hebrew, and the Parthenon. Yep, thats right, the Parthenon, a huge ancient Greek Temple is in the British Museum! Well, sort of. Most of what is significant is in the Museum, including all of the sculptures, and arches and such. It is really incredible, and much more controversial than I had realized. Apparently, the Greeks aren't particularly happy that the British have such a significant part of their heritage and history on display in their national museum- who'd of thought. After the British Museum, we were exhausted, and made our way towards our hotel to pick up our things, and grab some dinner before we met our bus back at Victoria Station.

London is definitely a dynamic and fascinating city, with a lot to do and see, if you're willing to dish out the cash. Personally, I think Paris still remains my favorite, but that does not diminish the outstanding character and history and London, and I am excited to go back!

Liverpool

On Saturday, we made our second trip through the international office here at Wolverhampton to Liverpool, home of the Beatles. Although a really fun little city, we didn't have enough time to truly explore it intricacies- but maybe a second visit is in order. We started out at the Beatles Story... a museum dedicated to Liverpool's contribution to pop culture. It was a must-see since we were in the Beatles hometown, but it left much to be desired. It was crowded and poorly planned out, with few true artifacts of the Beatles careers. Even with this, it was cool to see some of things that contributed to their fame, and success, as well as their eventual demise.

After that, we headed to some place Justin had read about for lunch. It was hard to find, and although the prices and food were great, the smoky atmosphere, and crappy service sort of ruined that. Once we were done, we headed to the Cathedral, the second largest in England, which boasts the worlds largest, and highest bells. It was ENORMOUS to say the very least. I wish I had pictures to show, but even that wouldn't do it justice. We roamed around for a bit, and then decided to pay the £2.50 to get to the top of the bell tower. The way up was claustrophobic, but once at the top, it didn't matter. Because it was a beautiful day it felt like we could see forever, and the view of Liverpool was amazing! Well worth the money, far more so than the £7.00 spent on the Beatles Story.

Once we were done with the Cathedral we headed to the Tate Gallery, a modern art museum close to where we were meeting our bus. Modern Art is over-rated...thats really all I have to say about that experience. Overall, Liverpool was a very cool city though, and I hope we get a chance to go back, because there is so much more to explore, and I feel like we didn't come close to seeing the best of it.

This weekend we are heading to London, and I am supposed to get my camera tomorrow, but thats what they have been telling me for a month now it seems, so we'll see. Hopefully, I will have pictures to share with you in my next post- and therefore I will perhaps be more motivated to write something, with images to go along with my descriptions. Cross your fingers folks!

Bath

So, I have been negligent of my blog, and for that I apologize. As many of you already have figured out, about a week and a half ago, we made our first weekend trip to Bath and Stonehenge. We were nervous about being able to leave, because Wolverhampton had a 'major' (for Wolverhampton 2" is major) snowstorm in the few days before we left. We were all (Heather, Justin, and I) looking forward to getting out of town though, because the rareness of the snowstorm left people a little nutty, throwing snowballs, and eggs (one of which managed to bounce off of Justin and explode all over my coat, resulting in a desperate search for a dry cleaner). In any case, when we finally left, Saturday morning, I was happy, despite needing to trek through the slop on the roads, to get out of town. (Let me remind you that because the two inches was so significant, the city had no real feasible way to take of the white stuff.) Luckily, once on the train, everything went smoothly, with the exception of a short delay in Birmingham, and a noisy family on the bus.

Once in Bath, we found our hostel, and headed inside to check in...easier said than done. Apparently there was a rugby match, leaving the pub below our hostel packed, and impossible to get through to check in at the bar. It took a while, but we checked in, and dropped of our things in our 12 person room, then headed out to find some food. Unfortunately, because of the game, every pub was packed, and subsequently, every place with a cheap meal. We finally found a Pizza Hut, and settled for some good American fast food, and some shelter from the rain that was now falling. After we were sick of the Pizza Hut, we decided to venture out, and explore a bit, which didn't last long, because of the weather. Luckily, the hostel had a living room type place in the attic, with lots of movies, and internet access- needless to say, we opted to stay there until we were ready for bed.

We headed out early on sunday, taking advantage of the continental breakfast at the pub downstairs (whose coffee was questionable at best), before heading out to the Roman Baths, despite the rain. The baths, are really more like ancient spas, a luxury only available 2000 years ago thanks to the natural hot springs in the area. It was incredible to see the roman aqueducts and drains still working 200o years later! The complex was enormous, and there are so many artifacts left over that we can still see. There was a counter where, for 50pence, we could taste the water. It was nothing special I promise, but nonetheless, something I suppose we had to do. Supposedly it gives you good luck, which was why it was so popular in roman times...because of its healing power...but I don't know about that, since I stayed pretty sick the rest of the weekend.

After the Baths, and a quick lunch, we headed off on our tour to Stonehenge. The drive was really pretty, and we stopped at a small town called Lacock, which had an old abbey, and is supposedly where Harry Potter's parents house was filmed or something, it was cute, but small. Once we got to Stonehenge, I was pleased to see that it was exactly what I had expected- a bunch of rocks in a field. Not to be cynical by any means, but every poster and printing of Stonehenge depicts it exactly. It was cool to see first hand, and amazing to think that it was build so long ago that we don't even know why...but nonetheless, it was rocks...in a field. It was worth seeing, but I don't know that I would ever really feel the need to go back. There really is nothing around it, but grass, rolling hills, a lot of sheep, and a small tourist shop and ticket counter. After taking probably 75 photos of the rocks in different angles in different lights, and listening to the audio tape headset, which every destination in Europe seems to provide,we headed into the little shop, where they had everything you would ever need, including a do-it-yourself origami scale model of Stonehenge. If it wasn't so damn cold and windy out, it would have been a toss up as to which was more amusing, the shop, or the rocks.


Monday was our last day in Bath and we reserved it for a free walking tour of the city, and some shopping. We made it to the tour by 10:30, and followed the delightful older man around in the mist for about two hours, seeing all of the sights, including the house where someones cousins uncle once lived, or something...really this guy knew it all. Despite the sometimes meaningless fact, the tour really was quite enjoyable, and it was interesting to see how the city had evolved since the Roman times. Once our tour finished we made our way to the Bath Abbey which is in the center of the city and where most believe the first King of England was crowned! We got in for free, because the man collecting "donations" felt bad for us poor college students and we wandered the church for awhile. After the brief tour of the abbey we grabbed some lunch and walked around several over priced stores, and starbucks. (this part I'm stealing from Justin- sorry) By 3:00 we were completely bored and very tired, so we grabbed some pre-made sandwiches from the supermarket for later and headed to the bus station to catch and early bus back to Bristol (which has a brand new station) to wait for our bus back to Birmingham and Wolverhampton. Once the bus finally arrived and loaded at Bristol, about 30 minutes late, the 2.5 hour bus ride from hell began! Lets just go through the list:
- switching seats with a couple with a baby
- kids screaming and jumping over the seats
- a group of people (who made the bus late to begin with) yelling across the bus at each other
- after be so nice to switch seats, the drunk Scottish ex-con woke up and talked the whole way (even with headphones on!)
- 20 min smoke break after being on the road only an hour
- not getting to Birmingham to catch another bus till 10:30pm
But, we finally made it home safe and sound to our beds which could never have looked sooooo good!

In general our first trip was success, I wish I hadn't gotten sick but it was successful. Hopefully, by this weekend, I will have my camera, so I can post some picture of the exciting places we have seen!