Mind the Gap

...between the tube, the islands of Ireland and Great Britain, and of course, the differences between cultures. This past week and weekend, I went on my first international excursion in Europe: over to London.

Wednesday, February 19: 6:00 p.m. London Calling

My classes finished at 5:00 p.m. and I hurried home to make sure that I had everything ready to go for London and eat a quick dinner before heading off to the bus station. The bus station in Cork is a good 25 minute walk from our apartments, so Megan and I had planned on leaving at 6:15 in order to catch a bus to the airport and get there in plenty of time for our flight departing at 9:30. Definitely excited and anxious, Megan and I chatted about all of our plans on the way to the station. Conveniently, we ran into our first obstacle of the trip as well: we were checking to make sure we had the important stuff (passports, ids, etc.) when I realized I forgot my RyanAir confirmation number which I needed in order to pick up my ticket. I sprinted back to the apartment--thank goodness I'm a runner and I've taken enough buses now in Cork to be familiar with the route to and from. Our boarding of the bus and plane went fine after that, however and we were soon on our way to London! Being the cheap college students that we are, we opted to arrive at the London Stansted airport. From what the Bennies and Johnnies who study in London tell me, London Heathrow is really the only airport in the city--all the others are kind of a distance away. Wouldn't you know that Stansted is a forty-five minute train ride into the city. I bought a train ticket online on a spur of the moment decision before I left, but I'm very glad I did! However, this brings me to obstacle #2 on our adventure: I didn't bring my confirmation number for my train ticket either. I went up to the counter and bought a new ticket anyway, figuring that one of the other Bennie or Johnnie Ireland students could use my ticket if they went to London. Upon arriving to the kiosk to pick up Megan's ticket, however, we realized that a confirmation number was unnecessary. Luckily, the women at the ticket counter was nice enough to give me a refund for the second ticket I had purchased. Which brings me to obstacle 1.5 (I forgot about this one, hence the strange number)! As we were leaving the plane, Megan went to turn on her cell phone--our only form of communication for the weekend as laptops are too bulky and my cell phone only had 1 euro worth of minutes on it. European cell phones require a PIN number to unlock, and unluckily, Megan has never turned off her cell phone so was unable to turn it back on because she couldn't remember her PIN. So by this point, we've arrived in London with a forty-five minute train ride to look forward to, confusion about tickets, and no form of communication. It certainly was the start to our adventure!

The train ride was mainly filled with excitement for the next couple of days and crazy games of M.A.S.H. I found out that I'm going to be a plumber and my car is going to be a Hummer. Liverpool Street Station was our stop in London. This was a very appropriate introduction to the city--our hostel was in Barbican, right next to a business area of London. I could not believe how beautiful the city was. It was very late when we arrived, but the buildings were all lit up and the streets were so much cleaner than those in Cork! Which is remarkable considering the difficulty we had finding garbage cans all weekend. We checked in late to the YMCA in Barbican and got a few blissful hours of sleep before starting the next crazy day!

Thursday, February 19: City Skyline

Our goal for Thursday was to hit up the major landmarks in London. Our first stop: Buckingham Palace and watching the changing of the guards. The palace was absolutely beautiful, but what a production! I had no idea it involved so much! There were multiple bands playing pretty popular songs, actually, such as Dancing Queen. We stood on the steps as was recommended by some friends and got a great view. After watching for a bit, we decided to head over to Westminister. After our walk to the Palace, we realized that the distances between landmarks are actually quite extensive, so we decided to get our first experience on the London Underground. I cannot believe how efficient their system is! With a little help right away, we learned quickly how to get around the city. In fact, the only time we got on the wrong tube was when we were with the other Bennies and Johnnies studying abroad in London!

The next stop then was Westminister Cathedral and Abbey. We didn't go in the Abbey because it was quite expensive. But the Cathedral was pretty wonderful. My favorite part of the church was a side chapel devoted to Saint Patrick and other saints of Ireland. It was very green in color and appropriately significant to Ireland with Celtic symbols.

Big Ben and the Parliament building were just down the road, so we were able to get pictures by those two landmarks as well. We grabbed a quick lunch and ate in on the square before catching the tube to the British Museum. The British Museum took up most of our afternoon--it's absolutely enormous, and a bit of an information overload. They have artefacts from all over the world. Some of my favorites were a tree made in Africa out of old weapons, an old mummy from Egypt who was preserved in the sand (he still had his teeth!) and an art display upon entering the museum which showed old photographs underneath a netting which contained all the pills an average person will take during their lifetime. Kind of interesting for us healthcare folk.

Next on the docket was dinner. We stopped at a place called "Wagamama's" recommended by our "On a Budget Weekend" guide. It was a wonderful asian noodle restaurant. We even ate with chopsticks! Quite the experience for the inexperienced, such as myself. After a filling dinner and numerous phone calls by which I was finally able to get more minutes on my cell phone, we were able to connect with one of my friends from St. Ben's studying abroad in London for the semester, Javen. Javen met us at the restaurant and we walked back to their apartment. They live in a very upscale neighborhood, so it was fun to see the different flats and houses. What a welcoming crew! As soon as we got there we were able to chat and catch up with people before they decided to take us out. Being as I only had a backpack and had packed very light considering our change in overnight locations, I had nothing with me, but the girls of the trip were more than willing to share their clothes. We all got dressed up and hit up O'Neil's at Picadilly Circus. It was a fantastic night, and the pub scene was much different than in Ireland. If any of the London crew is reading this, thanks again for your generous hospitality!

Friday, February 20: Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend

On Friday, two of the London crew, Javen and Megan (a different one) decided to wake up early with us as we went to go explore Portobello Market. We were looking for some steals and deals, and everyone except me walked away with something. They had a very ecletic mix of clothing, jewelry and souveniers and pretty good prices. It took us a while to find it, as we were on foot and had taken a wrong turn, but it was well worth it. And once again we lucked out with the beautiful weather!

That afternoon the four of us decided to check out the London Eye and the Tower of London. We decided in the end to skip the Eye and go right for the Tower, to get our money and time's worth. The Tower of London holds the Crown Jewels, but it also has other areas of the fortress to explore. We went to the Crown Jewels right away (being girls). They were so beautiful! The London Megan and I spent several minutes in front of each piece. They also played videos of coronations and such too, which was really a neat experience. Megan knows a lot about the Monarchy because of one of her classes, so she was able to instruct me and be my own personal tour guide. It was great! Megan and I headed to some of the other attractions of the fortress afterward. As we had walked from the Eye to the Tower and had walked in the morning to the Market, we were all exhausted at this point, so we headed back to the Londoner's flats to collect our things.

Megan and I had planned to spend Friday night with one of her relatives. She lives in Ascot which is about an hour and half train ride out of London. We bought tickets and got to enjoy some of the quieter parts of the greater London area. It was a very relaxing ride and nice to get away from the city for a little while. We spent the evening with her and her family, eating a wonderful meal which included ice cream for desert!

Saturday, February 21: What to See?

Ascot is only a short five miles from Windsor, so Megan and I were lucky enough to catch a ride with her cousin to go and check out Windsor castle. We did eventually have to catch a train back into London, so we didn't stay long, but it was absolutely enormous. Windsor was fun to meander around, as well. We did a little window shopping before heading back.

We were absolutely set on seeing a show while we were here. From others, we decided to go to Les Miserables. Neither of us had seen it, but I know several of the songs from choir. What a fantastic show! I've always loved any theatre experience, and this was great.

So what to do now? Nearly everything was closed for the evening because the show is a little lengthy, so we weren't sure how to spend the rest of our evening. We decided to find a sit-down restaurant before catching an early train back to the Stansted Airport. We went to the Italian Coffee Company--a must for anyone on a budget! We got a pizza to share for only 3.50 pounds! Cheap enough for us to get good desserts, too. ;) We also decided to go take a picture at Platform 9 3/4 at the King's Cross Station. We got a little lost trying to find it, and both of us were too embarrassed to ask anyone, but we finally did find it and got a great picture (see Facebook). We arrived back at Stansted at about 9:30 and parked it on some benches for the evening. After a very long night at the airport (i.e., I didn't sleep), we boarded our 6:20 flight back to Cork. Let's just say I'll spend the next couple of days recovering.

Things I've discovered since travelling to London:
1. Cork is really dirty. London has a population of 13 million people, and it still manages to look cleaner than Cork.
2. Cork is my home away from home. I love coming back to it (no matter how dirty it is).
3. I love the Irish accent. I feel like I can definitely distinguish between the two now. Irish accents are scruffier, I think.
4. I'm really bad at sleeping. Mainly because I've gotten 2 hours of sleep in the past 36. Fun.