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Published: June 25th 2008
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Uh, oh. I have ANOTHER entry. haha.
I wanted to tell ya'll about some stuff that I have done here in London lately. At the beginning of every session, our program offers a bunch of different activities that you can participate in. Of course we have to pay for them but they get us discounted tickets for everything. For this session I signed up for the Jack the Ripper walk, Billy Elliot, Wicked (which is like the Wizard of Oz), and a boat party on the second to last day of our time here. I just recently went to Jack the Ripper and Billy Elliot.
Many of you might know who Jack the Ripper is, but for those of you who don't, Jack the Ripper was a murderer in Whitechapel, a town that is just in the outskirts of London, and he would murder women in really gruesome ways in the 19th centure. On the "Jack the Ripper" walk, we had a tour guide that "walked us in the footsteps of Jack" and took us near the places where he killed his victims. Basically, Jack murdered 5 women and they were known to be prostitutes and drinkers. The murders
usually took place late at night or early in the morning and were done in public places or semi-public places. After he killed the victims, he would mutilate their bodies. His "signature" was a double throat cut from ear to ear. It is believed that he strangled his victims before he murdered them, which explains why there wasnt very much sprayed blood at the crime scenes. He even committed a double murder one night. When he killed the 4th victim, he cut off a piece of her blouse and her kidney and took it with him to an apartment complex and wrote on the wall in what is believed to be the victims blood "The Juwes are the men That Will not be Blamed for nothing." No one really knows what is meant by this statement. The name "Jack the Ripper" came from a note that was sent to the Central News Station that mocked the police for their inability to catch him and said he would strike again very soon and it was signed "Jack the Ripper." There is some speculation in this though because some dont believe that this note was actually from the murderer because later, another
Ice chair
everyone came and sat in this chair to take a picture letter was sent with a piece of the kidney taken from one of his victims that said, "From Hell." The most interesting part of the story is that he was never found and only killed those 5 victims. There are a few theories to who the murderer is, but its all speculation. At the end of the tour, our guide said "You know, his name is quite interesting when you spell it out. R-I-P-P-E-RRRRRRRR." (insert a pirate voice at the end of those R's and you can get the picture.) He made almost all the girls in the group jump.
Anyway, remember in one of my last entries I talked about my friend that came to London to start her trip around Europe? Well, she actually ended her trip in London so we got to see her again. This time, we took her to this bar called "Ice Bar" and it is exactly what it sounds like; a bar made of ice. You have to make a reservation to get into the bar and you are only allowed in the bar for 40 min because they have to keep it at -4 degrees celcius. They provide you with a
block of ice
random "decoration" "fashionable parka" and some mittens to make your stay nice and warm. You also get a "complimentary" drink (which you pay for in the entrance fee). When Kristen came in, we talked for awhile and then went to eat this kebab shop in London. It was really awesome. Not as good as in Ireland, but still really tasty and pretty cheap. By the time we got done with dinner, we were on a time crunch to get to the Ice Bar for our reservation, not to mention that we had no idea where it was. So we power walked from dinner, changed our clothes really fast, and headed to the tube. We made our way to the bar, stopping a couple times to ask some people how to get to the bar. We arrived about 10 min late, but luckily they let us in but we only got to stay in there 30 min instead of 40 because our session had already started. We got our parka and mittens and headed into the ice. We were so hot from trying to make it there that it took a little while for the cold to hit us. The bar was actually
really small but neat. There were just blocks of ice everywhere. Everything is made out of crystal clear ice transported from the Torne River in Jukkasjarui, Sweden. Every six months it is completely redesigned. It doesnt sound like much but it was really awesome.
During the week I also went with some friends to Covent Garden, which is a huge market in London. One of our friends is really into walking everywhere, so we walked to Covent Garden and it took us an hour and 15 to make it there! In tube terms, we were 5 tube stations away from our tube station. The market was really neat though. There was a shop that the strangest kitchen materials. We got some coffee and just walked around for a little while and then headed back because our friend had to get to class. No worries. We took the tube station back. I have found that I can run here and not be as tired as when I walk everywhere! Its really strange to me.
Now, the next thing I'm about to tell you about sounds really strange but was actually one of the most things that I have done
yet. It's actually called "Silent Disco." When you go to the place, which was so hard to find, you get headphones and there are two different "stations" on your headset; 1 and 2. There are two dueling DJs and you can switch between the stations. We were so lucky to have Peaches as one of our DJ's. (I dont really know who she is but when they told everyone at the place that she would be the DJ, they freaked out) Anyway, you just dance all night long but the cool thing is you can switch to a different DJ at anytime and no one knows what you're listening to, so you look less like a fool. But we danced for almost THREE hours. I was sweating so much. Much more than I do in America. I did have quite a few shirts on which could have been my problem. I know it doesn't sound that great, but I really had a great time. They had a smoke machine and a soap machine that made it look like it was snowing. And sometimes Peaches would tell us to shout something out and we would do it, like we were some
santa?
we were sitting on aimz lap in the ice chair kind of cult or something. haha. Anyway, it was a blast. I had a really good time. The next night we wen to ROLLER DISCO! We dressed up in these costumes and went roller blading! It was one of our guy friends birthday so we all dressed up in these ridiculous outfits. The guys were so funny. They had crazy costumes with really really tight pants. They had no shame at all. I am the world's worst roller skater, so I resorted to holding someone's hand and basically had them pull me. Everyone was dressed up there and it seemed like a pretty popular thing to do in London. It was less of a disco and more of just skating. Needless to say, we had a great time.
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