Thursday after work I go into the city and wait for Katie while I enjoyed a supermac and people watched. Saw some interesting fellows and a giant wolf dog!!! When she got off work we caught a bus straight to the airport. We checked in and headed to our gate. Katie was hungry and bought a sandwich and two bulmers in a bottle for us. We sat there watched the rain as it came closer to the airport and just talked. This was really nice, it felt like we were at home and was a great way to start the trip.
First off RyanAir is different, the reason it can offer such inexpensive flights is because they sell so much stuff in the cabin. They sold food and beverages of course, but then also scratch-card tickets, smokeless cigarettes, and train tickets. It was kind of annoying because the woman would get on the intercom and talk about the products, well what happens if there was an emergency, so many people tune out the intercom they wouldn't know! That irritated Katie the most, but what irritated me was that on the way to cambridge the cabin lights were off and it was dark out, but we were in a cloud and the moon was shining, oh it looked like heaven. There were at least 5 different shades of blue and grey, the clouds were big and puffy, it was wonderful...at that moment I felt so relaxed and at peace...then they turned the lights back on!!! I tried to take a mental picture, it's something I would want to paint later, so we'll see if I can hold onto that thought!
We get there and Rob my friend that we were staying with said he wasn't going to be there because he had a flying mission. So his friend nate was going to pick us up, he specifically said he was going to be in a blue collared shirt, so right when we bypass customs we go past the automatic doors and we see a bunch of people. Katie and I thought since it was such a late flight there wouldn't be that many people, oh but there was! So we kept looking for a blue shit, blue shirt...No blue shirt...then we see Rob standing with what looked like nate! And it was...his flying mission was cancelled so they both came to pick us up. They take us to Rob's other friends house in Cambridge since we couldn't stay with him that night...so we get there and they give us the taxi's number and show us how to get to the train station. We told them we were getting up early to leave...I don't think they really thought we would since it was already 2am...Katie woke up at 5am, and I woke up at 530am...3 hours of sleep, umm yes please!
So we take a taxi to the train station, and buy our tickets then go on our way. London is only about a hour train ride from Cambridge so it wasn't bad, and we got to see the countryside a bit which was nice. Right when we get there we pull up to Platform 9 & 3/4, the spot in Harry Potter that takes you to the train to get to Hogwarts! Ha I know I know, but Katie really wanted to see it, so we took pictures by it and then asked the quickest way to Buckingham Palace. This was through the Tube, ha, it's the underground subway system in London!
The tube is hot and packed during the daytime. And we almost got in a fight with these angry english girls...we "took" their seat, even though they got up and moved at a stop and one was just glaring at us and the other was talking a bunch of smack...I didn't react to any of it, because yes I can hold my own, but not against 6-7 angry black english girls...umm no thanks! I didn't tell Katie about it until we got off, she had no idea that was happening, she was too engulfed by their clothes...they were wearing cute clothes!
We walked to Buckingham Palace, we stop at the gift shop first, I bought a shot glass (what a shock huh!) and Katie bought a teacup and saucer for her mom! Then we found a stop at the gate to the palace to watch the changing of the guard. There were a ton of people that showed up for this, luckily we got there when we did or else we wouldn't have been able to see it very well...but that came at a price, we were standing on the cement block up on the gate so we could see better for close to 2 hours! Oh man did our legs hurt when we got down...and this little kid next to me definitely copped a feel a few times...hope you liked that kid! haha Took a ton of pictures there, I'll put them up later!
Then we walked towards Big Ben, this was SO cool! I seriously kept looking at it and saying wow am I really here, am I really seeing that! I was in shock, it's so big and magnificent and surreal! There we also saw the outside of Westminster Abbey, we didn't want to pay to get in. And a bunch of statues, I took pictures with Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, and Winston Churchill!!!
After that we walked across the Westminster Bridge and got a hotdog, and saw some street performers that were probably the most memorable so far. Then we met up with one of our friends from CSU who is doing an internship in Newcastle for the summer.
The nex thing that happened is by far my favorite! We went to the British Museum, it's free to get in and AWESOME! There are a bunch of different exhibits you can see and we didn't have time to see them all but we saw the ones I wanted to see the most. We saw the Egyptian exhibit which houses a ton of different things but a few things were the mummy of Cleopatra, the book of the dead and Ramses II statues.
I took pictures with all my favorite Greek and Roman people, Apollo, Marcus Aurelius, Julius Caesar, Augustus, Hadrian, Trajan, Venus, Socrates, Septimius Severus, and Dionysus...I think thats all of them haha, there were a lot! To say the least I was like a little kid in a candy store at this museum, around every corner was some to read and look at and just excite me! Katie liked it a lot too but pretty sure I was the only one that was just in heaven there. We also saw some metopes from the Parthenon, and some of the Hindu and Buddhist art that I learned about in Art History. It was a dream come true to see the stuff I've been learning about for 4 years in real life, I could touch these things...oh so amazing, it gave me goosebumps! We also saw the Rosetta stone which was really cool, took a picture with that too! :)
After the British museum Brent (Katie and I's friend from CSU) took us to a pub he knew of with good inexpensive food. I bought a delicious panini and a pint for 7£ (pounds) thats pretty good! Then Katie and I got on the train back to Cambridge.
We initially told the boys (Rob and Nate) that we would be back around 8pm, figured that would be enough time, well we didn't get back until about 10pm. They started getting a little worried...so we quickly showered and changed then went out in Cambridge. We went to a vodka bar, which was fun and cheap!!! There rob told us that his friend Katie and I were staying with was leaving the next day and we couldn't stay there anymore...so when we left (after a few drinks :) we went back to that guys house and quietly and quickly packed our stuff up and left...went to the hotel rob was staying at and ended up watching Calamity Jane, haha oh that was interesting!
Woke up the next morning and got ready to go to the Horse races in Newmarket. So Katie and I got dressed up, I wore a dress and heels and she wore a skirt and heels, the boys wore nice button up shirts and jeans. We get there and everyone is fancy, the way I would describe it is that it's similar to the Kentucky Derby, the women either wore hats (not as much as KN derby) or they wore headbands with stuff of them, some sort of head embellishment! Mum I'm so much like you it's crazy, every where I go I make new friends. I ended up talking to this English couple that we were standing next to and they gave me some tips on the horses and the race. Racing in England is different than the US, it's typically a straight track not a oval one. I told them that I really like this grey horse, so they looked and told me his stats, he was 2nd favorite, so I told Nate and Rob that and all three of us put down a bet on him, his name was Sutton Veny. Allison, if you're reading this, you would have loved these horses...they were BEAUTIFUL! It was kind of funny, after the races were over we were waiting in the parking lot to leave and we saw these english people sitting at a table they set up drinking tea, haha just the typical stereotype of English people, it was lovely!
Then we went back to the hotel we were at, and Rob and Nate needed to go on base to get gas and change so Katie and I just hung out. They came back with some food and beer and this apple liquor that tasted like apple juice...no joke, it was delicious! After a few beers we walked down to the local pub and ate some food, then walked to another pub and drank a bit more. This pub had karaoke...it was fun! Rob sang first, and I didn't want to sing by myself and katie and nate were too shy, and rob said no I already sang, so once again like my momma I made friends with this english woman and her and I sang Cold As Ice by Foreigner...haha it was great, Katie got some good pictures of it, I was belting it out! This pub had to have been family owned or something, everyone in there knew everyone, and that english woman was feeding me drinks of jameson, it was fun! We walked back taking pictures in the deserted streets and on the weird plastic yellow dividers on the round-a-bouts. Katie and I only got about an hour of sleep that night since our flight was so early...we woke up late so Rob was getting us to the airport as fast as he could, and we made it with a lot of time left which was good. Both of us slept on the plane the entire way home.
We came back and talked to Erin a bit then we both took like 4 hour naps, it was nice. I texted the irish man I've been talking to Dj, and him and I hung out at the comet with a few friends last night...I drank water because I just didn't want to spend any money and I was tired. Except this one guy who works at the comet but wasn't working that night sent me over a 'I'm sorry' shot, he was the fellow that took Erin, Alyssa and I took another pub a while back lets just say I dont remember much from that night, ha but it was fun. So I took that shot but that was the only alcohol I had. But hanging out with Dj was nice, he's a cool guy, he's a little weird but that fits me so it's good. The other girls went to Cork this past weekend, and there is this animal park there where all the animals roam free, except for the really dangerous ones. Well I went to the bathroom while they were talking about this and I come back and Dj is all embarrassed and Jen tells me hey hey guess what Dj just said...haha I guess he asked if there were cheetahs in Colorado...haha poor guy never lived that one down!
But we told him and his friends about Edward Bulmer hands and we showed them pictures, well they said they wanted to play, so this Thursday we're playing...haha going to be funny, they've never even heard of this game and they also said that they don't think they can drink that much without having to pee! Should be interesting!
They also told us about this grocery store where everything is super cheap, cheaper than the store we've been shopping at. And Dj offered to pick us up and take us there and bring us home since it's far from where we live...so Erin and I said we might have to take him up on that offer! He's a nice guy, a little too nice for me, makes me nervous but I still enjoy his company!
Other than that not too much has happened...debating on whether to go to Belfast (Northern Ireland) this weekend or not because of money, I'm running out fast and not sure if I have enough to do that...so we're booking it tonight so we'll see if I can convince myself. I'll also try to post pictures tonight, the internet just gets so slow at my apartments at night...
Until next time...I hope you enjoyed my looong post, thanks for reading it! :)
I really enjoyed your long post! Good to know what you're doing and seeing. I'm sure the Irish people will never forget the American's who taught them Edward Bulmer hands, ha ha! You might research Belfast a little more - there has been turmoil there - please be careful. Love, Mum
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