Ugh today was the worst day for public transportation!!! "Due to late finishing engineering works, signal failures, passenger illness, etc, etc..." haha. The Circle line, District line, Central line AND Northern line were all suspended, part suspended, or severely delayed this morning so I had to take the most round about way to get to work ever. Then on the way home there was another signal failure somewhere and our train was super delayed and ended up stopped in one tunnel between stations for about 10-15 mins! To make it worse the train was quite full and then to make it even worse the guy standing in front of me who is reading his magazine with one hand decides to use his other hand to full out pick his nose!!! And then he proceeds to hold onto the pole on the train with that hand.... ew so disgusting! When I finally got back to my residence I washed my hands for like 5 minutes LOL.
Sadly Wendy and Kyle left today but we had a really fun weekend :o) I discovered the little brother I never had, and I think Kyle discovered the older sister he's glad he doesn't have LOL! On Saturday we slept in a little bit and then decided to go back to Westminster Abbey and explore the inside - very beautiful! It was a very clear day with really blue skies so we thought it would be perfect for going on the London Eye, however so did about a million other people haha. The line just to buy tickets was a two hour wait!! We decided not to waste all day in line and walked away...
After that we wandered over to Trafalgar Square to St Martin in the Fields to eat some lunch in the Cafe in the Crypt (came very highly recommended in Wendy's guidebooks and by her friends). Wendy really enjoyed her lunch, however mine and Kyle's left something to be desired LOL. We had this really over-cooked fatty boney pork, mushy over-cooked veggies, and the potatoes weren't too bad haha. But the dessert more than made up for the crappy lunch - we all had scones with jam and clotted cream and Wendy expressed the same sentiment as my mom did when she was here "I'm glad we don't have these at home because I'd eat them all the time!!" haha.
Then the experience that everyone in London must have, we jumped on a red double decker bus to go back towards the hostel (Wendy forgot her glasses there and since it was getting dark didn't want to wear her "sunglasses at night" LOL). However, when we got to the stop near Sloane Square, Wendy looked out the window and saw Kyle on the sidewalk outside the bus!! Then we both looked up and realized we were the only two people left on the top of the bus so we made our way down, very confused. With no explanation from our driver, everyone was kicked off the bus!! Sheesh. So we walked all the way back to the hostel from there.
After a short rest we decided to go out for Indian food for dinner. Since the District and Circle lines were not working all weekend due to engineering works, we had to take a rather long route to get there! But on that route, I took us to King's Cross train station so that we could take photos at Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter :o) Then it was back on the tube until we finally got to Brick Lane (in an area of the city known as "Banglatown", lots places to choose from to eat at - in fact many of the restaurant staff came out the doors and tried to convince us to eat at their places). We took another suggestion from one of Wendy's guidebooks and ate at "Le Taj". They had two menus, Bangladeshi and Indian. On the Bengladeshi menu I got concerned because there was Bengal Tiger! But just as I was freaking out about how tigers are endangered, Kyle pointed out that the description said "tender CHICKEN pieces..." haha. Oh well, Wendy hadn't noticed it said that either so it wasn't just me being silly! Dinner was very good but I think we all ate too much!
We went back to the hostel and relaxed while watching some TV (some special on James Bond movie themes, all of which were pretty bad haha) and Wendy did some laundry. I decided to leave because the next morning we had to wake up really early and got to the pedestrian subway just minutes after it closed!! And we all know how great I am with directions LOL so finding my way back to my place in the dark was a bit difficult at first until I realized which direction I needed to walk!! I made my way back to South Kensington station - had a "Mean Girls" moment and almost got hit by a bus haha - but made it to my residence in one piece.
Woke up really early on Sunday to go back to the Vanderbilt hotel and wait for our rescheduled tour from last weekend... Wendy was very paranoid that the coach wouldn't arrive again so she got the concierge to call the tour company just to make sure!! Our first stop was to visit Warwick Castle, very cool. However, since it is owned by Madame Tussaud's, some of the wax figures throughout the castle were a little too lifelike - kinda creepy!! My absolute favorite part of the castle (Laura, you'll appreciate this) was in the dungeon - the Oubliette! (there is one of these in "Labyrinth", basically my fave movie of all time so this was very exciting LOL). For those of you who do not know what that is, an oubliette is a dark unsanitary pit where they would put particularly bad prisoners to forget about them (as the name implies).
Then we headed to Stratford-upon-Avon, on the way our tour guide informed us that "Avon" actually means river, so it is the river river LOL. Here we visited Shakespeare's Birthplace (Wendy was very excited!!) but we weren't allowed to take photos inside. Afterwards we had a traditional English pub lunch with our tour group - Kyle had bangers (sausages) and mash, Wendy had fish and chips, and I had cottage pie. It was all quite good, especially compared to our lunch on Saturday haha, but we probably perceived it to be better than it was anyways because we were all so hungry by then!
Back on the coach on our way towards Oxford our tour guide told us that Oxford University isn't like the universities we are used to, it is set up differently because it is so old. The university actually consists of something like 39 different colleges around the city! We went to visit one of the fanciest colleges of Oxford - Christchurch College. I found this very exciting as well because part of the first Harry Potter movie was filmed there and the food hall there inspired the Great Hall in the movie as well! It was beautiful!! Wendy and I both decided that we would be much smarter and not complain about having to study if we were able to go to university there :o) Just being there made you feel more intelligent haha.
One the way back to London we ran into some traffic so Wendy tried to catch up on writing in her travel journal and we also tried to teach Kyle how to play Cat's Cradle with a lime green lanyard thing we found on the bus! Then Wendy and I discussed how kids these days don't know how to have fun anymore without iPods and television haha wow made me feel old! When we got back to London, I took Wendy and Kyle to "Pizza Rock" down the street from me on King's Road (they play rock music, the entire place is decorated with vinyls, and all the food is named after rockstars - Wendy and I both ate Janis Joplin and Kyle had Red Hot Chili Peppers). Then sadly we had to say our goodbyes!
Alone again until Kirsteen and Jason arrive at the end of December!! But maybe now I'll finally be able to concentrate on working on my work term report considering it is due in less than a month.... eek! Hard to force yourself to do homework when there are so many things to do in this city - makes you appreciate how boring Edmonton is LOL.
I hope everyone else had a great weekend :o) I will try to post my photos this week when I get a chance but right now I need to get to bed because I think I'm getting sick... going to load up on some Cold FX beforehand!! Miss you and love you all tons
Later days!
Sadly Wendy and Kyle left today but we had a really fun weekend :o) I discovered the little brother I never had, and I think Kyle discovered the older sister he's glad he doesn't have LOL! On Saturday we slept in a little bit and then decided to go back to Westminster Abbey and explore the inside - very beautiful! It was a very clear day with really blue skies so we thought it would be perfect for going on the London Eye, however so did about a million other people haha. The line just to buy tickets was a two hour wait!! We decided not to waste all day in line and walked away...
After that we wandered over to Trafalgar Square to St Martin in the Fields to eat some lunch in the Cafe in the Crypt (came very highly recommended in Wendy's guidebooks and by her friends). Wendy really enjoyed her lunch, however mine and Kyle's left something to be desired LOL. We had this really over-cooked fatty boney pork, mushy over-cooked veggies, and the potatoes weren't too bad haha. But the dessert more than made up for the crappy lunch - we all had scones with jam and clotted cream and Wendy expressed the same sentiment as my mom did when she was here "I'm glad we don't have these at home because I'd eat them all the time!!" haha.
Then the experience that everyone in London must have, we jumped on a red double decker bus to go back towards the hostel (Wendy forgot her glasses there and since it was getting dark didn't want to wear her "sunglasses at night" LOL). However, when we got to the stop near Sloane Square, Wendy looked out the window and saw Kyle on the sidewalk outside the bus!! Then we both looked up and realized we were the only two people left on the top of the bus so we made our way down, very confused. With no explanation from our driver, everyone was kicked off the bus!! Sheesh. So we walked all the way back to the hostel from there.
After a short rest we decided to go out for Indian food for dinner. Since the District and Circle lines were not working all weekend due to engineering works, we had to take a rather long route to get there! But on that route, I took us to King's Cross train station so that we could take photos at Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter :o) Then it was back on the tube until we finally got to Brick Lane (in an area of the city known as "Banglatown", lots places to choose from to eat at - in fact many of the restaurant staff came out the doors and tried to convince us to eat at their places). We took another suggestion from one of Wendy's guidebooks and ate at "Le Taj". They had two menus, Bangladeshi and Indian. On the Bengladeshi menu I got concerned because there was Bengal Tiger! But just as I was freaking out about how tigers are endangered, Kyle pointed out that the description said "tender CHICKEN pieces..." haha. Oh well, Wendy hadn't noticed it said that either so it wasn't just me being silly! Dinner was very good but I think we all ate too much!
We went back to the hostel and relaxed while watching some TV (some special on James Bond movie themes, all of which were pretty bad haha) and Wendy did some laundry. I decided to leave because the next morning we had to wake up really early and got to the pedestrian subway just minutes after it closed!! And we all know how great I am with directions LOL so finding my way back to my place in the dark was a bit difficult at first until I realized which direction I needed to walk!! I made my way back to South Kensington station - had a "Mean Girls" moment and almost got hit by a bus haha - but made it to my residence in one piece.
Woke up really early on Sunday to go back to the Vanderbilt hotel and wait for our rescheduled tour from last weekend... Wendy was very paranoid that the coach wouldn't arrive again so she got the concierge to call the tour company just to make sure!! Our first stop was to visit Warwick Castle, very cool. However, since it is owned by Madame Tussaud's, some of the wax figures throughout the castle were a little too lifelike - kinda creepy!! My absolute favorite part of the castle (Laura, you'll appreciate this) was in the dungeon - the Oubliette! (there is one of these in "Labyrinth", basically my fave movie of all time so this was very exciting LOL). For those of you who do not know what that is, an oubliette is a dark unsanitary pit where they would put particularly bad prisoners to forget about them (as the name implies).
Then we headed to Stratford-upon-Avon, on the way our tour guide informed us that "Avon" actually means river, so it is the river river LOL. Here we visited Shakespeare's Birthplace (Wendy was very excited!!) but we weren't allowed to take photos inside. Afterwards we had a traditional English pub lunch with our tour group - Kyle had bangers (sausages) and mash, Wendy had fish and chips, and I had cottage pie. It was all quite good, especially compared to our lunch on Saturday haha, but we probably perceived it to be better than it was anyways because we were all so hungry by then!
Back on the coach on our way towards Oxford our tour guide told us that Oxford University isn't like the universities we are used to, it is set up differently because it is so old. The university actually consists of something like 39 different colleges around the city! We went to visit one of the fanciest colleges of Oxford - Christchurch College. I found this very exciting as well because part of the first Harry Potter movie was filmed there and the food hall there inspired the Great Hall in the movie as well! It was beautiful!! Wendy and I both decided that we would be much smarter and not complain about having to study if we were able to go to university there :o) Just being there made you feel more intelligent haha.
One the way back to London we ran into some traffic so Wendy tried to catch up on writing in her travel journal and we also tried to teach Kyle how to play Cat's Cradle with a lime green lanyard thing we found on the bus! Then Wendy and I discussed how kids these days don't know how to have fun anymore without iPods and television haha wow made me feel old! When we got back to London, I took Wendy and Kyle to "Pizza Rock" down the street from me on King's Road (they play rock music, the entire place is decorated with vinyls, and all the food is named after rockstars - Wendy and I both ate Janis Joplin and Kyle had Red Hot Chili Peppers). Then sadly we had to say our goodbyes!
Alone again until Kirsteen and Jason arrive at the end of December!! But maybe now I'll finally be able to concentrate on working on my work term report considering it is due in less than a month.... eek! Hard to force yourself to do homework when there are so many things to do in this city - makes you appreciate how boring Edmonton is LOL.
I hope everyone else had a great weekend :o) I will try to post my photos this week when I get a chance but right now I need to get to bed because I think I'm getting sick... going to load up on some Cold FX beforehand!! Miss you and love you all tons
Later days!
posted by Heather at 3:22 p.m.
2 Comments:
Yes, your entry is much more thorough than mine. But I was on an internet timer and trying to catch a plane. Heard the tube problem updates on the radio at breakfast so we left pretty quick. Fortunately our route was unaffected and we didn't have a crowded train or any problems. Sorry you had such a rough start to your day and I hope you feel better
Hey darlin!
Glad you had a good time with wendy and kyle! Im sooooo excited to see you! did you get my e-mail about the info i need from you???
LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU!
Kirsteen
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