Here is some commentary for the pictures I previously posted...
This past week has been crazy busy! I’ll go back to the beginning of last week and try to remember everything that I’ve seen and done.
Monday we went to Stamford Bridge Stadium - home of the Chelsea Football team. The stadium was nothing compared to the Arsenal stadium that we toured the week before but it was still great to see the differences in tradition and fan experience between the two rival clubs. Monday night the whole group went out to O’Neill’s (one of my favorite spots) for a casual night of beer sipping and hanging out.
Tuesday and Wednesday we had class.. class is pretty chill - more of a conversational style and really relaxed which I enjoy. Tuesday we watched the Netherlands v. Uruguay game at Montagu Pykes then headed out to Sports Cafe where Mary and I got free pitchers from our Beer Pong victory. YAY!
Wednesday after class we went to Buckingham Palace to see the Royal Mews -home to the royal collection of historic coaches and carriages and where all of the Queens horses are - which I kind of enjoyed because you got to see all of the pretty horses (that the Queen specifically names). We also went to the Queen’s Gallery museum - a collection of memorabilia and gifts from Prince Albert and Queen Victoria. It was interesting seeing all of the luxurious family jewels and paintings but not my favorite place to spend an afternoon (sorry!). Wednesday night we went to a packed Montagu Pykes to watch the Spain v. Germany game.
Thursday we toured the London 2012 Olympic Venue - which was kind of disappointing. The town that the Games will be in is rated one of the worst cities in the UK - it is the home of all of the London sewage and a dump site for the city - and our tour guide thought it would be great for us to see all of this. I wasn’t impressed with the city but I’m sure most Olympic venues are this way - on the plus side - the London games will be the most green, transportation seems to be figured out, and a number of jobs were hired locally. The Olympic site itself was cool -- we got to see the main venue, aquatic center, the palindrome, the arena, and Olympic village (or at least the outsides of all of them). when all is said and down however I’m grateful for the experience and can’t wait to watch the games. Thursday night Mary, Steven and I got gelato and walked around the Covenant Gardens. There are a lot of street performers here which is fun to watch and is an overall fun place to hang out. After that we went to the Crown to meet up with some people for some delicious Wheat beer and hung out. It was a fairly early night for it would be a busy weekend!
Friday we were off to the races! We took the train about 45 minutes out of the city to Royal Ascot - a beautiful race track - and my first race track experience! We were all definitely under dressed. Everyone was dressed to the nine - Kentucky Derby style. Nonetheless we had a great time exploring, hanging out, and watching all of the pretty horses. From what I heard the Ascot scene is much different from the likes of the American tracks. Ascot was quite sophisticated and classy - where I heard most American tracks are quite the party! Our group even started our own betting pool amongst ourselves - we each threw in 2 euros to the pot and would bet on horses. We had a great time but were only able to watch a few races because we had to jet back to the city to catch our train to Wales! Getting to Wales was an adventure and a half - missing our train - getting random people to help us at 1 in the morning - finally convincing a bus driver to take us to the small coastal town we would be staying (no one knew where this place Perseli was) - we got in around 2 am and were exhausted so we hit the sack for an early morning!
Saturday we woke up and had a delicious breakfast - and then went on a 7 and a half mile hike along the coast. It was absolutely beautiful (not the nicest of days but still)- although most of the hike was spent stepping on snails and dogging sheep droppings - it was so pleasant and peaceful! We ended the hike on this secluded rocky beach where we all threw rocks and just took in the scenery. (This was no Northwest hike - more going up and down along the hilly coast - but needless to say it was nice to be enjoying the great outdoors and get some exercise!) After the hike we walked back to our -- not sure what to call it -- kind of a combination of a hostel/summer camp/party spot/place we were staying - to have a deliciousss lunch of homemade bread and hot soup! After lunch we headed out to the beach to take on the surf! This was only my second time surfing and many people’s first so we knew we were in for some entertainment. The water was 11 degrees celsius (about 47 degrees) so we were adorned with lovely wet suits and booties for the water. (Everyone was super impressed with my putting on we suit skills because all of the Florida kids had never even put one on before haha). We had a great time surfing and had fabulous instructors -but not the best of luck -- it was super windy and we were exhausted - but loved every minute of struggling to stand up. haha. After surfing we headed back to Perseli to take a much needed HOT shower and relax. Dinner was delicious - yet again - and had the best cheesecake I’ve ever had in my life! Seriously sooo good! After dinner we all order Taffy’s and Bailey’s and hot chocolate and hung out and played games. There were a bunch of sexy brits there for a stag party (aka bachelor party) so we had fun hanging out with them all night. Once it got dark we had a bonfire and taught all the Brits how to make what they called shhmores (which they loved), told ghost stories, and had a ball. It was a (fairly) early night for all of us exhausted kids so we hit the sack for another early morning.
Sunday was the highlight of the trip -- we went coasteering!!! It’s kind of hard to explain for those unfamiliar - but it’s basically a combination of swimming, rock climbing, and cliff jumping. We were adorned with wetsuits, life jackets, and helmets - (for the group prior to us on saturday nearly drowned -- yikes!!) Our trip was much more smooth and so much fun! The highlight was definitely at the end when we made our way to the blue lagoon and were able to jump off 30 foot ruins into the water! It was amazing!! For the adventurous type - coasteering is a must! The pictures might better explain what we were doing so take a look at those. After coasteering we went back to our place, squeezed in a shower, and ate another wonderful meal before we had to take off. It was a six hour trek back to London where immediately ran to the Rising Sun pub to catch the second half and overtime of the final World Cup game! I think London was probably just as crazy as any place to watch the game - there were Spanish people everywhere! After the game people were jumping in the fountains, honking their horns, and screaming in the street. It was wild! (Side note: I still have not found an appreciation for watching the game of soccer- the final game was so boring and I am so thrilled the pubs will no longer be full of crowded, smelly Europeans! :D) We were all starving so we ventured to China town to catch our much craved chinese food! After dinner we all came back to the flat and passed out from a very fun and exhausting weekend!
Monday and Tuesday are days of catching up on sleep, homework, and chores... Wednesday we had to Edinburgh to site see around the city - and then Thursday we go “the Open” - according to Brits - which I am really excited about! Then I am off to Amsterdam for the weekend to meet up with my friend Julie and take in all of the sites and festivities there... I’m sure I’ll have much to report on next week so until then...
Cheers from London! :D