| Departure: August 15, 2000 British Airways
for Logan Airport 6:05 pm
Arrival: 5:35 am in Heathrow Airport, London |
"Saying goodbye to
those that I love has been the hardest part of this so far. But I sure do like the TV
movies in the back of the seat in front of you."
- August 15, 2000
9:40pm |
 View of Parliment and Big Ben
from the London Eye |
Day 1: Wednesday August 16, 2000 COTTENHAM
Upon arrival at Heathrow, I quickly made it through customs and was on my way to the bus.
I only had to wait about 30 minutes till the bus to Cambridge came. The bus ride was 2 1/2
hours and landed me in the center of Cambridge. Within minutes Sophie was around the
corner and our visit began. Most of Wednesday was spent catching up on sleep and visiting
with Sophie. |
| Day 2: Thursday, August 17, 2000 LONDON
My second day in England began early with a bus ride and then a train ride to London.
Sophie and I were in the city and checking in to the Youth Hostile by 10:00 AM. Our tour
of London began with a walk through Kenningston Gardens and a little lunch in the Gardens.
At the top corner of Kenningston Gardens was Notting Hill Gate, which to my regret is not
a gate at all but the name of street. Using a map that we bought in the Underground we
found Portabello Road in Notting Hill. We walked down the road that was covered with
shops.
From Notting Hill we took the Underground to Buckingham Palace. We went there to find out
what time the tours were for Friday but after reading the sign wrong we that there were no
tours on Friday and that the tours were only for another 1/2 hour that day. So we ran
around the front of the palace and over to the ticket booth. There were no lines so we
thought for sure they were sold out. But they weren't and we got tickets right away for
the next tour. So we ran back over to the entrance and walked right in. Tours of the
Palace are only available for the summer so I was really excited to get in. The palace was
beautiful. It was rather surreal to be in the same rooms that the Queen of England
entertains in. Very Cool..
Friday, August 18, 2000
LONDON
Our second day in London started very early as both Sophie and I woke up to the
sound of the other girls in the room getting ready. So Sophie and I got up and were back
walking the streets of London by 9:00. Again it was pissing it down when we hit the
streets but within 20 minutes it had stopped for the day. Our first stop was Harrod's.
What an amazing store. I was completely amazed by the store and the ground level with all
of the giant rooms filled with every kind of speciality food imaginable. I found tons to
purchase but instead of carting it all around the city we decided to stop in on our way
home but we got there five minutes after it closed. Boo Hoo.
London Eye
www.ba-londoneye.com
Once we reached the bridge we soon realized that the London Bridge was
not what we thought it was, we wanted the Tower Bridge. We had a ways to walk to get to
the Tower Bridge. It was getting late so we quickly made our way to the Tower Bridge with
a stop at Haggandaus on the way. Once we reached the bridge we found the nearest
Underground to get back to Harrods (which we quickly found out was closed). So we got back
on a jam packed Underground again to go back to the Hostile to get our bag and make our
way to the train station home. It was 10:45 PM when we arrived back in Cottenham, tired
and ready for bed. |
Portabello Road - Notting
Hill
|
FOSSE Musical- Piccadilly
Circus |
After our tour Sophie and I walked through Green Park and toward Piccadilly Circus to see
if we could get show tickets for that night. On our walk it started to "piss it
down" or rain hard. So we ran in a drug to buy "brollies" (umbrellas).
We finally made our way to Piccadilly Circus which is just like New York City's
Times Square. We lucked out and got descent tickets to FOSSIE for that evening. We
had an hour until the show so we ran across the steet to Planet Hollywood for dinner. It
was a really good burger and we finished just in time for the show. It was excellent.
After the show we were both "shattered" so we took the Underground back
to the Hostile and got ready for bed. What a nice full day.
|
| From Harrod's we walked up Brompton Road to Westminister Abbey and Big
Ben. We stopped for a little lunch and lots of pictures. From Parliment we walked across
Westminster Bridge to the London Eye. The Eye is this new huge farris wheel that goes way
above the city skyline and gives you a chance to see all of London from above. Again the
story of tickets for the Eye was another lucky thing. When Sophie and I first got to the
ticket booth there was a sign saying that they were all sold out of tickets for the day so
we went downstairs to use the "loo". When we came back upstairs there was a long
line and they were selling tickets for the next half hour ride. Sophie and I quickly got
in line and had tickets and were on the Eye within the hour. It was amazing and definitely
worth the wait. |
From the Eye we walked along the Thames toward London
Bridge. On our way we come across Shakespeare's Globe Theatre so we went in to take a look
at the exhibit. I really enjoyed it. From the Globe we walked the streets of Old England
that had the feel of Medieval times all over the place. We came across the Rose theatre
next before we reached London Bridge. |
Shakespeare's Globe
Theatre |
Tower Bridge - London |
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