We had 18 people show up and it was a wonderful time. Lots of food was consumed and laughs were had. Other then the 3 Americans, it was everyone's first thanksgiving and they enjoyed it. Earlier in the year i had told you about the halloween party we threw and how it was quite the party with lots of music, chaos, and alcohol. There were a few people in our house who didn't participate at Halloween and were actually scared at what was going on. I bring this up because those same people thought that Thanksgiving was this same idea, even after i tried convincing them otherwise, and obviously they saw that Americans can have holidays that don't involve an extreme consumption of alcohol and they really enjoyed the whole family vibe of it. It was a lot of work putting it all together but it definitely was worth it and couldn't have been a better Thanksgiving away from home. After everyone left, Lindsay, Andy, Louise, Suzanne, Connie, and Malgosia went out to 5th Ave to celebrate Thanksgiving England style. 5th Ave is an Indie club which is really fun. They are always playing great music and the people there aren't all stuck up and are there to dance and have a good time. It was overall a great Thanksgiving.
Shortly after Thanksgiving, Sunday 29th, Lindsay, Nuria, Sophie, Agathe, and I went to London for 3 days. We left Sunday morning at around 3:30 and arrived at Victoria station in London via Megabus around 8. Day 1 started off by taking the Underground (which is very very efficient travel system and when combined with the Oyster Card [cheapest way to travel the Underground] it becomes very reasonable) to Russel Square where are hostel (Smart Russel Square Hostel) was. We dropped off our bags and proceeded to Trafalgar Square to watch the changing of the horses. Before we came on this trip we made an itinerary for the first day and then a list of stuff that we wanted to see for the 3 days. Within the first hour of getting into London on Sunday our itinerary was off and we were left with a huge list of stuff to do. So needless to say we caught the last 10 seconds of the changing of the guards (which was kinda built up to be disappointed, but i can't say that we missed out on much) before we went to the Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards.
It's not a very pretty building but it does house the queen so i guess it's somewhat important. We watched the changing of the guards, kinda, cause there were so many people there to see it and of course it was also raining so the umbrella's were out to block out anyone's chance to see anything behind the gates. I was able to catch some shots of them leaving the palace.
After watching the changing of the guard we went back to Trafalgar Square where the British National Gallery is located where there is work by Vermeer, van Gough, Rembrandt, Seurat, Michelangelo, Velazquez, and da Vinci. I can't say that i am an art connoisseur but i did enjoy most of these artists' work. Afterwords we went to visit the National Portrait Gallery which was full of lots of modern portraits of people we all recognize today. After this we were all art-ed out and went to McDonald's for lunch. Yea...McDonald's. Next time I'm getting bangers and mash cause that stuff is better then and McDonald's you can eat, but regardless i was happy to eat. After lunch we went to go the Wellington arch to do our free tour. (The same group who Lindsay and I received a tour from in Paris.) It was pouring out though so there was no tour, instead we decided to go to Parliament, Big Ben, and the London Eye. It was at night and a very gorgeous view:
After seeing these staple buildings of London we went to Picadilly Square which is compared to the Times Square of London. We did some shopping, walked around to Chinatown and SOHO (where strip clubs, prostitutes, and that kinda stuff exists.) Good thing i know how to say no cause otherwise that prostitute that told me that "i'd have a good time with her" would have given me something just terrible.
That pretty much concluded our 1st day of London. We went back that night to the hostel where we all crashed in our triple bunk beds.
The 2nd day started off by visiting the Christmas market. It was full of arcades, food, hot wine, and no people. It was a little early for people to arrive there so we walked around and saw everyone set up their stands. We then went back to Westminster Arch to go on the free tour at 11. It consisted of seeing Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Big Ben, Westminister Abbey, Nelson's Column, Horseguards, and much more. Like i said, it's truly a great deal. It's a free walking tour and you give them a tip at the end with how much you feel it was worth. It's given by history students who know too much about these cities and they love sharing their information with you. I know i'm really plugging this thing but it's totally worth it if you visit any of the cities they give tours in. Here is their website to check out: http://www.neweuropetours.eu/
After the tour we went out for lunch in Camden Town just north of the heart of the city. During the whole trip it was hard to believe that you were in London the whole time and no more here then anywhere else. There were no old buildings, people in business suits, and tall skyscrapers here. It consisted of shops upon shops and good food. We had lunch and then walked up and down the main street in Camden going in and out of the shops. There were a lot of "freaks" there and it's definitely the indie/punk/different people escape London to. After visiting Camden we went to see Abbey Road and Abbey Studios. If you know the Beatles at all then you know the famous album cover of the 4 of them walking across the street at the cross walk. Well of course i had to get mine taken but it was sketch as hell cause it's a busy road so we had to rush it. This is the outcome:
I'm going the wrong way, and it's at night, but you get the idea and it will suffice.
After visiting there we went to visit Notting Hill and see some bookstore that Hugh Grant worked at in the movie Notting Hill. We couldn't find it so we just ended up going to King's Cross Station to find platform 9 3/4. If you've read Harry Potter then you know what i'm talking about. If you haven't read it, then i'm not gonna go any further then posting this picture:
We grabbed some food at the local grocery store and went back to the hostel where we played cards and the girls drank. It was another fun filled day which brings us to our final day in London!
We started off by visiting the British Museum. It had all kinds of stuff in there but the thing i was most impressed by was the Rosetta Stone. It's what was used to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics. Pretty cool to see that, very impressive:
Afterwords we visited the Tower of London, Tower bridge, and London bridge.
A very boring London Bridge.
We climbed the tallest free-standing stone column in the world, 311 steps to be exact. It was built to remember the great fire of London which happened in 1666. It offers a great view of the city. From here we went to the business part of London and saw the Gerkin and other modern buildings.
The Gerkin.
We then went for lunch/dinner near St. Paul's Cathedral. This gorgeous, amazing cathedral where Princess Diana's wedding was held. Look for yourself how big it is:
Looking at St. Paul's Cathedral over the Thames.
From there we went to the Tate Modern which is full of contemporary art. There were many works of Pollock and Picasso which are nice but then there were a lot of very odd modern works of art there that i didn't really like. Just straight up weird stuff. I can't get into modern art.
We then went back to Victoria station to catch our bus back home. We got back to Manchester at around 4 in the morning i think and that pretty much sums up my entire trip to London. It was very busy busy; a go-go-go mentality. I'm glad we saw everything that we did, it was well worth it. After all of that work and travel though we need a relaxing time, thank God we booked Malaga, Spain for the following weekend.
Andy, Lindsay, and I left for Malaga Friday morning. Our Australian friend Jason was supposed to come with us but had to back out the day before because he had too much work to do. We left real early Friday morning to take a bus to Liverpool where are flight was flying from. It was a 2.5 hour flight to the southern coast of Spain. We arrived and it was like we were in a whole new world. Blue skies for as far as you can see, 65 degrees, no rain, mountains that littered the coast, and a giant, clear, blue sea called the Mediterranean.
We got to hostel right away, The Melting Pot, (which i highly recommend because of many reasons. 1. It's very inexpensive. 2. It's literally right across the street from the sea. No matter what room you have, your window opens up to a gorgeous view of the sea. 3. The staff is very helpful and friendly. Handed out free shots, were very entertaining, and made sure you were having a good time) where we dumped our bags off and proceeded to change into shorts, sandals, and go walking around. We went out for lunch and then climbed a large hill to get to Castillo de Gabralfaro, a giant castle on the hill that overlooks the entire city, mountains, and sea.
I took some video of what it looked like from on top.
After our hike to the Castle we went down to the beach to go relax. The water was pretty dang cold and i did bring my swimsuit but i left it back in the hostel, which was probably a good thing. So i was just forced to stick my feet in the water and that was just cold enough. We hung out at the beach for awhile and just relaxed before going back to the hostel. I read some of my book while Andy worked on homework and Lindsay went to bed. Like i said, this trip was all about relaxing and that's all we wanted to do. We didn't want to go run around and see as much as possible. Before going to bed Andy and I met some people in the hostel; Abbi, Nadine, and some others. Most of them were traveling by themselves and had been for 3-7 months. Crazy girls! We talked for awhile before heading off to bed.
The next morning we ate breakfast and met up with Abbi and went to walk around the city. We brought her up to the castle and then went out for food. We continued to just walk around the city for quite awhile. We saw where Pablo Picasso was born which was pretty neat. We then went to the beach with some drinks and watched this sunset:
It got cold pretty fast afterwords so we went back to the hostel, grabbed our coats and went back to beach to do more relaxing. It started getting late and we wanted to go out for a night on the town. We started at the hostel and met up with quite a bit of the people there and then went to Shamrock bar. We all got separated somehow and it just turned into an eventful night. Lindsay ended up 2 hours away from the city somehow and got drove home by an extremely nice stranger at 5 in the morning. Abbi ended up in some random hostel in the city, away from our hostel. I wandered back home to the hostel by myself and crashed. It was a good night, but my stomach wasn't happy the next day. We woke up and had to rush to get ready and leave. We said our goodbyes and got to the airport to head back to cold, cloudy, and rainy Liverpool.
I do recommend Malaga for anyone who has been to Mexico, likes it there, but is up for going somewhere new. I can't imagine how warm it gets in the summer there in Malaga but it's gorgeous. It's full of delicious sea food and pretty sites, very relaxing.
After that trip i've come back to class and school work. Everyday this week i've been in the library working on an assessment. I feel like an actual student and i don't like it. But i suppose that is what i'm here for so i need to take care of that stuff. I have 12 days left and trying to get in as much as possible. So far i have planned ice skating, snowboarding, movies, Christmas dinner, shopping, Christmas market, and packing. These last days are going to go faster then the rest of the semester and even faster then i want. I hope i can just get everything taken care of and enjoy these last days here!
Like i said, i have a few more posts left in me for this blog so i will back to you guys before i leave! Get out there and enjoy that snow for me everyone!!
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