On Friday night the 15th of February six of us out here embarked on our spring break. We took a train to Amsterdam, where we boarded a bus to head to London. Thirteen hours and a ferry ride across the English Channel later we showed up in London on Saturday morning dead tired!
The hostel was an hour walk across town, on the way we ended up in front of Buckingham Palace, caught the mounted changing of the guards.. saw the eye..saw the Prime Ministers house with his car in the background of the last picture.. and eventually made out way to to Rest Up London Hostel! The hostel was an experience in itself. Nine bunk beds in a room.. one bathroom with two toilets two showers and three sicks.. to be shared by guys and girls alike. Made for quite the interesting experiences, especially when some of the people at the hostel smelled worse than any homeless person I have ever met..
That night we went up the London Eye, the largest ferris wheel in the world. It takes a half hour to go around, and the view from the top was absolutely stunning! A few of us purchased the London Pass, so that we had travel and entrance fees all paid for for a few days, which saved us a lot of money, time and hassle! The first thing we saw was the HMS Belfast. The ship was used during the attack on Normandy, and also in some other major battles of WWII. What amazed me was that the anti-air guns on the ship were not accurate, but could shoot up to 39,000 feet!
The captain's chair
On the deck..
After the Belfast we took a tour of Tower Bridge. The tour itself was not that exciting, but we got to walk across the top which was an awesome view! The bridge was the second one across the River Thames, and was badly needed at the time. It was of completely new design, utilizing steam power in order to raise it.
Right next to Tower Bridge is the tower of London... Dating back to the 11th century it has been a key point of control and defense for England for centuries. We saw the tower where a lot of important prisoners were tortured on "the rack" and it is now the location of the Royal Crown Jewels! After waiting in line for awhile we were able to see crowns from years past that have been worn, along with all the gold table settings and all that ornate stuff.. right up to seeing the crown that is currently used at the end.
I was finally able to go see a castle! Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world. It is still a "weekend getaway" for the queen, and around 150 people live there year round. All of the rooms in the castle are still used, so really you are not allowed into to much of the castle itself. the pure size of it was crazy! We were able to go in the "state rooms" but not take pictures... but rooms full of old weapons and paintings and huge sitting rooms and dining rooms.. just the maintenance and amount of wood needed to keep all the fires in there going is astounding!
Caught the Guards parading as we came in!
Hampton Court was an extremely hurried visit, but the history behind the place is astounding to say the least. King Henry VIII took up residence there, but the location of it was the best part. Out the back door is an awesome garden of sorts with fountains, sculptures, and a massive pool/canal.
Some of the group had made it to Harry Potter world.. I didn't wanna fork over the funds but still made it to King's Cross Station and Platform 9 3/4!!
A few of us wanted to hit up Oxford, so one of the days we made the long walk to the bus station to head up there and visit some Dordt students doing a semester abroad there. Yes we made that hour walk to and from the bus station to the hostel seven or eight times while we were in London.. yes it stunk.
On our walk we stopped to gaze at Westminster Abbey.
Had tea in the pub where Tolkien and C.S Lewis always sat together!
One of Oxford's Library's.. the public is not allowed in sadly. Apparently there are tunnels running all over under here full of books.. and connecting libraries.. and lots of different levels of them so lots of students disappear down there to study.
Christ Church... We have seen so many huge churches anymore that unless we get a full tour they don't really pique our interest
Inside the garden where Tolkien always sat.
Christ Church from the other side...
After this we headed off to Ireland..
Paddy's Palace! Our hostel and tour provider.. yes we rode around in the "paddywagon" for three days.
Our hostel was very budget friendly!! picked us up from the airport.. free breakfast.. a free tour worth 30 euros.. definitely would have made money off them if their maids hadn't taken our towels!! We flew out to Ireland early.. Left the hostel in London around 3 am.. so we were pretty tired that first day. We did visit a prison though. At the time it didn't mean much but as we got to know more of the countries history we learned that many of their leaders in the revolution for independence against England were kept and executed there. Kilmainham Gaol!
We were famished. Most of what we ate was the cheapest we could find.. not that healthy!
The free tour we took was to Glendalough, the Wicklow Mountains, and Kilkenny. Our guide was awesome! A short irishman with a case of road rage that loved to sing. He kept us learning and singing about Irish songs and their history for the duration of the day.
First stop was Glendalough.. yes this is where apparently "PS I Love You" and "Braveheart" were filmed.. it was amazing country! Drove through Irelands highest town to get here.
An old monastery we got to walk through
The water tower.. when invaders came the watcher would warn the people then stay up in the tower.. often to be burned out.
A tomb! The heaviest one in all of Europe this rock covers the entrance.. this site remains untouched so they don't know who is buried there or how old it is exactly. Many consider it equal to stonehenge in that they have no idea how the stone was moved back then.
Drove past Hollywood.. population 100?
Kilkenny Castle!
A panoramic of the castle...
We then got a great discount on a tour to the Cliffs of Moher/Insanity thanks to our awesome driver! It is all the way across Ireland.. so maybe two hours drive;)
Stopped here on the way..
Stopped at the baby cliffs! Actually more frightening because you sit right on the edge of these..
The group minus Brian.. he was off trying to fall and perish.
The cliffs of Moher!!! 702 feet high...
And from the other side! Ill have more pictures later.. but decided that blogging was more important for the time being.
Then we took off back to London for the last day or so! We covered a lot that last day.. I got lots of pictures of street people in Covent Garden which made my day!
Video from Covent Garden... Notice their child in the background...
He was singing Wonderwall.. and was amazing!
Glad that I hadn't volunteered!
There was a massive "Love" that people could put padlocks and tags on..
The subways were a loooong ways down there! Long escalators to get down to the trains.
Buckingham Palace!
We found Aslan in Trafalgar Square
There honestly is numerous phone booths on every block of this city.. not just the center even. They smell bad though! Apparently there is still people that just use them instead of a cell phone even.
Abbey Road where the Beetles famous picture was taken..
Shakespeare Globe! Performed all of his plays here..
The taxis are a model of car made only for London taxis..
We took a bus back again.. under the English Channel this time! We loaded the bus on a train and through the tunnel we went.. not my favorite part of the trip but proud to say i havn't gotten sick yet while out here despite all the crazy travel methods! :)
I think that covers most of the trip! It was an awesome experience! Got to know the group a lot better.. how can you not when you are not out of each others eyesight for nine days.. Had some fish and chips in London.. and as always there are lots of small moments to write about that im sure i forgot to mention. School is still going well.. just had out midterm evaluation! Hopefully in the next few days ill do a post about education out here and some of the other cultural differences we have encountered. Im still doing fine.. miss home, family, friends, AMERICAN FOOD!!!, and my independence a LOT- but down to two months left so I'll be fine! Really starting to look forward to this summer.. for those of you who didn't know I am going to be an Expeditions guide at a camp by Lake City, Colorado.. so I will not have a cell phone for another four months! The quick turnaround is scary but I am sure that God will give me the strength! If you want to know more about how I'm doing.. as Amanda says.. shoot me a message! And if you have anywhere awesome to see in Europe let me know! I got a five day weekend next week and am not sure where we want to go yet..
Camp Redcloud.. please keep me in your prayers as I am trying to prepare for the summer while in Europe!
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