Platform 9 & 3/4, of course.
The Tower Bridge (the London Bridge isn't anything special.. ha)
Okay, time for the second installment of my adventurous week. The southwest part of it. . .
So we left Snowdonia early Friday morning, in order to make it back to campus in time to catch the bus to London - a five hour trip. Thankfully, we made it back in wonderful time, leaving us a whole two hours to unpack from the previous week, shower, get some food in our stomachs, re-pack, and still make it to the bus on schedule.
We headed for London at about half past two and from there, we had a six hour drive ahead of us. Normally, it should have only taken about 4 hours, but a bus-load of people and traffic didn't quite make for a quick drive there. But we finally made it around 8:15. Unfortunately, that's only when our troubles began.
We were dropped off at the Great Portland Street Underground Station (London's form of the metro/subway) and we went up to buy tickets. Mind you, the ticket stations are supposed to close at half past 8, and it was 8:20 by the time we all unloaded and got our stuff in order. So, with approximately 30 kids making a mad dash for the ticket office in order to get on their way to their hostels, it's no wonder the ticket lady closed her window as soon as she saw us coming. Even with an excuse on her behalf, we were all still like, "really?"
Yep, really. She refused to help us. So from there, we all split off in different directions trying to find the nearest open station before they all closed in 10 minutes. Luckily, my group found one and we got our tickets in the nick of time. After we got our tickets, we found out that we needed to be at a different station in order to get to where we needed to be. So we set off for Euston station, which would then take us directly to Borough station, which was only half a block from our hostel. By the way our night was going, it was no surprise that our train was being held at a red light. We climbed onboard anyhow, and waited for about 15 minutes or so before we started off. Borough station was only 5 stops away, but it took us about 45 minutes to make it because of the constant delays.
But we did finally make it to our hostel. At about 10:15 (or 22:15, I suppose), we got ourselves checked in and scoped out the room. It wasn't too bad. It was my first time staying in a hostel, so I didn't know much what to expect, but the building itself was pretty old, so it created a neat atmosphere at the very least. And there was a bar downstairs, so that's always a plus, I feel like.
Although, I didn't take advantage of the bar. Instead, Lacey (my friend that's studying at Kent Uni., only a hop, skip, and a jump away from London) came and found me! So we went on a little evening adventure to check out Picadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square. Needless to say, it was cool! Picadilly Circus is somewhat like a mini-Times Square. It's got a big jumbo-tron screen and all that jazz and then you know you're in Trafalgar Square when you see the giant lions surrounding Nelson's Column. It was all really cool to see at night, however, as I was super tired from the long day of traveling, that's all we saw that night before I headed back to the hostel to catch some zzzzz's.
The next morning though, I had plans to take the underground to meet up with Lacey near where she was staying so we could get an early start to our one, full day we had in London. So after a quick breakfast, I set out a little early in order to have the time to walk by the Tower Bridge, take some pictures, and still have time to meet Lacey. At this point in time, I chalked another one up for the London underground system. I had managed to take a train to the wrong station, resulting in Lacey having to come find me. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait long and soon we were walking the colorful street of the Portobello Market. What a WONDERFUL experience. The street was at least a mile long with vendors EVERYWHERE selling EVERYTHING you could imagine.. telescopes, trinkets, clothing, cowboy hats and boots, antiques, fine china, seriously EVERYTHING! Then there were more permanent shops on the side that also had sales going on. It's amazing that I made it through the entire market with only buying one thing: a Double-Decker bus for my charm bracelet!
From the market, we headed towards King's Cross Station. Why, do you ask? Well, for those Harry Potter enthusiasts out there, such as myself, a trip to London isn't complete without visiting the renowned Platform 9 and 3/4!!!! Lacey and I were almost in tears when we found that it was actually there! Unfortunately, the Hogwarts Express must have left just minutes before, because we couldn't make it through the barrier. Oh well, there's always next time. But in the mean time, we took lots of pictures and looked touristy as ever.
The rest of the day was kind of a blur. Since we hadn't eaten since breakfast, we decided to find somewhere to get a good meal. About the time we walked out of the restaurant, good ol' London decided to hit us with some rain, so we got a little damp, but it sure didn't dampen our spirits. We walked towards Big Ben and Parliament and got to see the London Eye a little bit more close-up. That's when it really started to pour. So, we took shelter in Harrod's, London's high-class shopping center. That was fun. Of course, instead of checking out the Gucci or Armani shops, we headed straight for the toy store. And from there, to the pet shop. Oh yes, you can see where our priorities lie.
Unfortunately, Harrod's closed at 9pm, so we set out once again, back into the rain. Only this time, since it had been a LOOOOONG day, we made our way back home, or rather, to our hostels. We were exhausted as ever and we wanted to be up early for our last day there, since I had to leave by 2pm to head back to Carmarthen.
And we were up early! Unfortunately, it was raining when I woke up, so I was trying to think of something to do that didn't involve walking all around London in the rain. That's when I remembered that Gemma, a girl I sat with on the bus who is a student at Trinity, but is originally from London, told me she could get tickets to a lot of the popular attractions in town. Because it was so rainy and cloudy, we decided not to ride the London Eye, but instead, went to Madam Tussaud's wax museum. Gemma set us up too! She has a friend who's a photographer there and we got VIP access and all kinds of neat, little benefits. Not to mention, pictures with more famous people than you can imagine... too bad they were made of wax. But it was a lot of fun! Lacey and I enjoyed taking the most strangest pictures ever and had a good laugh when we'd say "excuse me" to a wax figure, or vice versa, when we'd stare at someone for a long time, trying to figure out who they were, to find out that they were just an ordinary person, just standing still for the moment. Ha ha ha.
So after numerous photos and a short walk to the train station, my day came to an end. Or so I thought. I left myself with about an hour to get across town in the underground, fetch my bag from my hostel, and get back to the pick up station by 2pm. This is when the London underground went for the win. I ended up boarding the wrong train, and instead of taking it Eastbound, I went Westbound. Ahhh.. so now, after about losing 40 minutes of time, there was NO way I was about to make it across town to my hostel and back to the pick up station on time. Thankfully, I was able to get a hold of two of the girls from Trinity that stayed at the same hostel and asked them to just grab my bag, which I'm sure, was no easy feat. But they managed, and I made it back to the pick up station, only 5 minutes late. Thank goodness. By that time, I was ready to board the bus and looked forward to sleeping the entire way home. It was a great weekend, but I was exhausted and looking forward to sleeping in my own bed back at Trinity.
So sure enough, that's what I did. And then it took me two weeks to write this! Hahaha.. So sorry! Things have just been CRAZY around here. And when I say crazy, I mean that I've been busy occupying my time with trying to make travel plans and watching Disney movies. Until today, I just haven't been in the mood to write. But I do have a few more fun days to update you on. And when it does come time for Easter Holiday, I'm promising you right now, that I will update you along the way!
Until next time!
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