Saturday, July 4, 2009

the 4th of July

I apologize to all my lovely followers! I have been out of internet for the past couple days. And what a past couple of days i have had. You are going to get the snippet bits. here goes.

Dublin: Brilliant. I wouldn't recommend anyone going to this city...rather i would recommend staying in the country side and visiting the city. The city is a little bit depressing. Dirty. The Avalon House is probably the coolest part of the whole city. Well actually Saint Patrick's cathedral was pretty cool. beautiful. But all in all you could skip Dublin. We did this walk along the coast of Ireland and THAT was AMAZING! the mist rolled over us as we snaked our way through the tall grass while the sound of waves could be heard mixed with the call of the sea gulls.




The most hellish day i have ever had in my life: A.K.A TRAVEL DAY FROM DUBLIN TO LONDON: i don't know how much to say about this awful day. We rode 1 plane, 5 trains, and walked at least 5 miles if not more. We traveled all in all for 9 hours. Our first hostel never received our booking which was probably a blessing in disguise because although we were exhausted it was located in the grossest part of london i have ever seen. I would say it was the ghetto....After much growning and contemplating how we were going to find somewhere to stay in London when this is the weekend of WIMBLTON!!! everything was booked. Finally the Best Western came to our rescue and five of us piled into the smallest room i have ever seen. Three of us where on the floor and the other two in the bed. Although the floor was hard i was jsut so happy to not be moving, not be in the train station (talk about packing people in one small tube like sardines) and happy to not be on the street. All in all i am happy this day is done. I learned...never book a hostel the night before you need it. ALWAYS call to confirm. ALWAYS ask the train attendent where to go. and NEVER pack to much stuff. Good thing i packed dresses becuase it was so bloody hot. OH yah not only were we traveling from 7 am to 6 pm but England had its record high heat wave making everything the muggiest humidity you have ever felt. I thought i had gone to the Sun.

A perfect day in London. Waking up the next day was so relieving. We got to leave our luggage in our room. Uninhibited by luggage we braved the unknown of London. Our hotel was in the nice part of town..i would equate it to Queen Anne. Most of the people milling our were going to our competing in Wimbelton. We found a free tour which was AMAZING!!! i love love loved it. We saw everything in three hours. The changing of the guards. All the palaces. Parliment. The tower of London. We did see the Tower bridge...but the London bridge is the lamest bridge i have ever been on. They moved the cool London bridge to Illinois or somewhere in the states. The tower bridge is very neat though. I have some cool pictures i will try to up load. We also saw where Shakespear performed his plays. We didn't get to go in but we got to go in to the building built around it. Everything in London is expensive. A man in Dublin told me that when he went to London he wanted to throw his wallet at them and say, "Here....i didn't need it anyway!" and that is exactly how i felt. But non the less i am actually doing so much better with my money then i thought. The food is SO SO CHEAP. And praise the Lord that there are Starbucks everywhere!!! I have started to take pictures of them in each spot. That evening we moved to a different hotel just one block down the street. That one was nicer. It had two beds. I still slept on the floor because it was SO hot. I have never been in such hot weather in my life. On the bright side we have finally mastered the tube....its a language of its own. If you just moved your feet the crowd would sweep you off in every direction. Poor hailey and her suit case kept getting stuck in the train doors which sent matt and i pulling at her until she was in the train.


HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!! today has been my favorite day.
I LOVE OXFORD! Although it is the 4th we keep forgetting....the British don't really care about our brave day but every so often we'll look at each other and with bright eyes remember our great country. We slept in and took our time getting ready in our tiny hotel room. We then caught the tube to the train station and took a train to oxford. Hailey, Tully, and I are all staying in the Central Backpackers Hostel! which is the coolest place i have ever been. The entrence is only a door, which is sandwhiched inbetween two buildings. To get in you ring. The door then opens up to two flights of straight stairs. There is a patio up here, free internet hurray hurray, a cool kitchen, rooms, two tv rooms.....it is heaven. When you travel you appreciate places like this. Nothing is like home so you have to make due with what you have. After getting rid of our luggage we went and found Eagles and Child's pub...where non other then my hero C.S. Lewis, his brother and Tolkein ( all formerally known as the inklins) met to discuss things. I had a latte and at that moment i don't know if i could have been any happier. I sat at the exact table!!!! It was so so so so so sosososososososososo cool. I almsot didn't leave. But there was all of oxford to see. We had no idea where to go or what to see so we meandered around. We past a castle, the gardens, and all these colleges. I can't believe that christo gets to go to school here. This is an amazing city. It has 30 colleges so it has a young laid back feeling. People are reading everywhere! On the street, on steps, in cafe's, on the lawns. You can pop a squat anywhere as long as you have a book in your hand. And the book stores are on every corner. The river that runs through has gaundoles. I love it. Some day i want to come back here. I want to bring my family. If you were wanting to write a book or to romance someone you would need to bring them here...then fly to vennice.


Random thoughts in random order:
I have yet to make an overseas friend. I was hoping i would make one in each spot but i have yet to make one. Lots of smiles and many conversations but no facebooks exchanged. I guess there is still alot of time. Time...i feel like my trip is like a giant piece of chocolate cake. You see it and your eyes get big and you think, "yes! i want the triple decker, double choclate, with fugde cake!" then you get it and realize you should only have had the regular cake...but i will get through and i will learn alot. I need to figure out this phone thing becuase i am not going to be able to go for very much longer without talking to my family. I need their voices. Like i need sleep, like i need oxygen. I have been without coffee, intenet, texting, and facebook for almost three days. It makes me appreciate being born in the 21st century. I don't know how i could live without them for my whole life. The time difference makes it hard to get anybody on facebook chat. Everytime i get on i excitedly look to see if anyone is on....but then i realize it is like 3 am at home!!! rrrr. Alright i have so much more to say but i need to see what the gang is up to. I will try to upload pics later! i love you all so so sosos so much.

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