Silly money, strange driving, and weird crisps

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Thursday

Fall break snuck up on us pretty quick. And what with being busy studying for midterms and writing long essays the week before, we didn't have too much time to plan ahead of what we were going to do where we were going. We left right for the airport after my last class. The flight was pretty nice, as the plane was rather empty in the back of the plane so Sean and I each got an entire row to ourselves, and it was only a three hour flight to London. The wait for passport check seemed to take forever, but we did get another stamp in our passport. Our bus into the city center dropped us off at Liverpool Street, which was a little farther than Sean thought we were getting off at. So we began walking the 90 minute walk to our hostel, but it was already 11 at this point so Sean called the hostel to make sure we could check in after midnight. He said he heard a lot of people in the background so we decided to take the tube (their name for the subway) the rest of the way. It was a bit expensive but I find the cushioned subway seats to be some of the nicest I've seen. Once we go to the hostel, we found a group of people sitting around in the lobby watching a movie. When we went to our private room for the night, we found not two beds, but just one queen bed. But that was fine, Sean and I dealt just fine.





Friday

We woke up early at 8:30 and enjoyed some of the complimentary breakfast of toast and cereal. We then left to venture around London for the day. We started off with seeing Abbey Road, which was just a 10 minute walk from our hostel. We weren't quite sure which was the famed intersection at first, but then we surmised that it was indeed the one closest to the Abbey Road studio building, with its front gate covered in writings and signatures of fans. It took several tries to get our pictures lined up correctly mid-stride with no cars coming, since it was a surprisingly busy street. Eventually we got them and then headed to the Sherlock Holmes museum located at 221B Baker Street, just down the road. It was a bit costly to tour the actual museum part that was inside the small apartment, so we only perused the gift shop in the building next to it. Reasoning that I had to get at least something from the shop, I purchased a small book of matches for a pound. We also did some gift shopping at the Beatles store and the Rock n roll store that were right next door. Then we took a leisurely stroll through the Queen Mary's Gardens located in the Regent's Park. Heading north, we walked past the zoo and to the top of Primrose Hill, which gave an excellent panoramic view of the city, which was generously decorated with crane booms. There must have been at least a dozen in sight. It was getting to be about lunch time, so we headed to Carnaby Street, where we were meeting a fellow couchsurfer Tristan for fish and chips (fries). He brought one of his coworkers and we had a nice conversation about our education and what we were planning on doing. Tristan said I should use the line "I'm gonna cure cancer" as a lead in with the ladies. The food was delicious, as he took us to one of the better places for fish and chips, but we took it to go and ate outside in the front courtyard of a church, where several people were eating lunch.

Afterwards, we took some of Tristan's advice and checked out Leicester Square (their sort of Times Square), which was full of large color billboards and different types of venues, and even a large 4-floor M&M store that we explored. Then we walked through Trafalgar Square (the very center of London), on our way to the walking tour we were going to do. We had a bit of time to kill in the park where the tour began, and luckily they had many folding chairs all over this park for patrons to use, which was quite nice after walking around all day with our heavy backpacks on. The tour was rather informative, educating us on the duels that took place in that park, or how it was a burial ground for victims of leprosy long before. Then we walked past Buckingham Palace and were enlightened about the story of a drunk Irish man who broke in during the 80s, and awoke the queen in her bed asking for a job. We was only held in jail for one night, because at that time, the Palace was considered public property so he did not break and enter. It has now since been changed though. The queen is only in the palace one in eleven days, and they change the flag on top to signify whether she is in or not. The road leading up to the palace is made with red brick, to illustrate a red carpet for the queen. It is also very wide, which supports the rumors that it can double as a runway for the queen should she ever need to make a quick escape by aircraft, although I think the stoplights further up the road would get in the way. We also saw St. James' Palace which is the official residence of the queen, but she prefers Buckingham Palace. We also learned about how the Duke of Westminster attempt to court Coco Chanel and when she refused to marry him, he emblazoned all the light posts in the borough with the gold symbol of Coco Chanel and a gold W for Westminster. This still failed to win her over. We saw the residence of the British cavalry, and got to take our pictures with one of the guards out front. W saw all the prominent government buildings like the treasury, which has the Churchill War rooms underneath. Just outside of this is St James' Park, which gives home to many pelicans, and is the sight of where the viral video of the pelican eating the pigeon took place. Then we walked past Westminster Abbey, where Charles Darwin, Newton, and hundreds of royals are buried and where all the royal weddings take place. Our tour ended just outside of the Parliament building and Big Ben, which is the name of the bell inside the clock tower, not the tower itself. The bell, named after the guy who made it, has a crack in it, giving it a very distinct sound that we were fortunate enough to hear. Sean and I still had some time left to explore before we had to catch our bus that evening to Winchester. We headed to the borough of Chelsea to try to see a bit of the free Science museum and to get some cookies from famed Ben's cookies along the way. Chelsea being such a rich neighborhood, we saw many nice cars, including a gold Ferrari outside of a fancy gym. It was very impressive. And near the cookie shop, I found a Lamborghini store. But the cookie shop was quite excellent. I got a chocolate orange cookie and a double chocolate cookie. They were soft and warm and so delicious. Unfortunately, the science museum was closed by the time we got there, so we headed to Victoria station and found a nice pub, Traveler's Tavern, to chill in before our bus arrived. On the menu, it had the nice quote of "I'd rather be someone's shot of whiskey than everyone's cup of tea." It was about an hour and a half bus ride to Winchester, and when we got there it was down pouring. Thankfully, Debbie, a friend of Sean's aunt who we were staying with, came to pick us up with her car so we wouldn't have to walk, which wouldn't have been all that far as it is quite a small town. Her and her husband Gordon had a guest room with one bed, which I let Sean take as he was too tall to fit on the couch. But it was big enough for me and I was exhausted from the day of walking that I had no trouble falling asleep.



Saturday

We woke up a bit early, planning to go see Stonehenge that day, but Gordon says the weather would be better for it the next day. So we spent the day exploring Winchester. There was a very busy market on High Street in the center of town with a lot of small stands selling meats, fruits and vegetables (it appears as though every town in the UK has a High Street). We also went to a chocolate shop, where I purchased some chocolate orange fudge which I had a craving for. Then we walked along the local river to get to Wolvesey Castle, the ruins of a medieval castle. A lot of the walls were well preserved so it was rather interesting to see. Then we walked past the Winchester Cathedral, which was closed for the day so we couldn't see the inside. Next we went to see the Great Hall with the Round Table. The Great Hall being the last standing structure of Winchester Castle. And inside they have mounted on the wall, the massive Round Table of King Arthur. It is very impressive to see. On the opposite wall is a mural with the names of rulers with the dates the ruled. We walked back to the main street to get some lunch, chicken and bacon pasties with potato wedges. It was like a small calzone of sorts, and it was quite delicious. After lunch we decided to venture just south of town to try to find an old hospital that Debbie and Gordon informed us about, saying that it gives out a traveler's dole of bread and ale. Eventually we found it but we were unsure about where to get the dole. There was a cafe, but it was closed. A lady was around who ran the small gift shop, as this was not a tourist museum of sorts. Sean asked her about where to get the dole. She answered that we did get it from her, but then we had to explicitly ask for it, as it is custom that the traveler must know of it and ask for it, since they cannot just offer it to anyone. So we enjoyed our small slice of bread and cup of ale and had a nice discussion with the lady about our future travels. She suggested that we go on top of the nearby St. Catherine's Hill and to complete the mizmaze there, which the knights of the past would have to complete on their knees to be forgiven of their sins if they did not want to go on the crusades. The hill appeared to be not that far from the hospital, but there was no path that appeared to lead directly to it. We made the mistake of trying to just cross the field to get there. Then boom. Mush. (As I jokingly suggested at the time, this would in fact become the motto for our trip) We thought it was be simple grass, but shallow streams made some parts of the field more marsh-like, so we got our shoes a bit wet. And then upon getting closer to the hill, we see a wide river that we could not cross. We had to follow the path north to reach a road that would allow us to cross the river and over to the hill. Once we reached the small forest at the top of the hill, it was not easy to find the mizmaze, despite there being a few signs with maps. Eventually we did find it on the opposite side of the trees, but there wasn't even a sign next to it to point it out or to explain the significance. It was just simply a large square that had a very long and winding narrow groove in the grass that formed this continuous labyrinth. It took us 15 minutes to complete, but I don't think we were absolved of our signs as we did not do so on our knees.

After returning back to the flat for a bit, Debbie and Gordon treated us to a nice dinner at a nearby Indian restaurant (they said there was nothing special about British food and Sean had never had Indian before). Sean and I both got different types of curry chicken. It wasn't spicy at all and was very delicious, as was the appetizer of some sort of large flour chip made with different sauces. After dinner, Sean and I checked out a local pub to mingle with the locals. Sean struck up a conversation with a gentleman who was wearing some sort of uniform jersey, along with several other men in the pub. They just so happened to be the Winchester rugby team who had returned from a winning game in London and were out celebrating. When they discovered we were Americans, they delighted in the moment and bought us a round of vodka redbulls. They then took us under their wing for the night and showed us to a couple more pubs. They asked us about what sort of drinking games Americans play and told us about how we could easily use our accents to pick up the local women, talking about literally anything, even peanut butter and jelly. We didn't stay out too late though as we had a rather long day and had to get up early the next morning.



Sunday

Debbie and Gordon drove us out to Stonehenge this day, as it was about a half hour away. I was really surprised by the sight of it as it was not quite was I had pictured in my mind. I imagined it to be out be a bit far from anything modern, perhaps just near some cliffs. In reality, you can see it from the nearby highway, that it only a quarter of a mile away. And it is surrounded by farm fields, with cows, pigs, and sheep rather close by. We didn't want to pay for the bus that brings you right to the entrance of it, so Gordon informed us that we could easily access it from the side road that they stopped at. Sean and I walked down the road to the entrance where a guard informed us that there was a public pathway along the sheep field right next to Stonehenge. So we carefully traversed through the minefield of sheep dung to get as close to the structure as possible. Considering that the people who paid 14 pounds to get in were still at least 10 feet away from it, I think we got by just fine seeing it from the sheep field. It is just a bunch of rocks anyway, and they're not as large as you'd expect.

Since that didn't take too long, Gordon and Debbie drove us to a close by town of Salisbury, which is a bit bigger and more commercial than Winchester. It also had quite an impressive cathedral that we toured the inside of. There was a nice fountain in the center, and an interesting bumping stone, that was dented from the hundreds of years of chorister boys tapping their heading against when they were accepted into the choir. This church also houses the world's oldest functioning clock, which tells time by striking a bell. After walking around for a bit through the town, we returned to Winchester, where we stopped at the grocery store. Sean and I purchased some interesting flavors of Walkers crisps (their Lays potato chips). We got a big bag of cheddar and bacon and a variety pack of bacon, roast chicken, and prawn cocktail flavors. Cheddar and bacon was definitely the best. Prawn cocktail was supposed to taste like shrimp cocktail, but only tasted like tomato and vinegar. And the roast chicken just tasted burnt. We then toured the town a bit more, to catch an inside look of the cathedral where there was a service going on so we got to hear a bit of the choir singing. We also wandered through a shopping mall and found a catalogue store. This was a peculiar experience as I had never been to one before. So we thumbed through the catalogue to see what they offered and happened to find a very cheap two person tent, which we later found to come in very handy. So we wrote down the order number for it and made our purchase at the checkout counter. We had to wait a little bit for them to bring our tent up from the back storage, but I guess it's a convenient way to shop. That night Sean treated our hosts to some of his homemade pancakes for dinner in order to thank them for everything. I had not had Sean's pancakes yet, and they were quite good. (He adds lemon juice, vanilla extract, milk, and eggs to Bisquick mix). That night we just stayed in to rest up, as we had some long days of walking ahead of us.



Monday

First thing that morning we had to catch our bus back to London. The weather was terrible for touring the city as it was on and off drizzling. Luckily we had already seen most of the outside attractions. So we first went to the National Gallery, as it was one of the free museums to see. It was full of art from many different eras, including some work from Da Vinci, Van Gogh, and Rembrandt. It was a tad boring as there wasn't too much of the art that we recognized, but it was free and a good way to kill some time. Next we went to the British Museum, as it was also free and had a lot more interesting displays to see. It houses the original Rosetta stone which was very cool to see, along with different exhibits on ancient Egypt and Greece. Then we began venturing toward the London Bridge. We happened to walk down Drury Lane and so we were determined to find a bakery from which we could purchase a muffin. Sadly there are no bakeries on Drury Lane, which is frankly just a missed business opportunity. So we purchased some muffins from a small shop just around the corner and ate them on Drury Lane. We resolved that one day we shall retire and come to London just to open a muffin shop on Drury Lane. The official London Bridge was rather disappointing as well. It's not that special and it isn't that old as it has been replaced many times. Our next stop was Shakespeare's Globe theater. Which wasn't even the original as it was destroyed in the late 16th century. This new one was only recently built within the last century, but I suppose it was nice that they rebuilt it to the similar likeness of the original in the same place where it once stood. On our way back to Parliament Square, we walked along the river which gave us a very nice view of the light-up London Eye (the famous Ferris wheel). I also saw a unique restaurant boat, that had windows all around and it ferried individuals up and down the river as they ate. I took a few selfies with Big Ben before we headed to the coach station to catch our bus to Edinburgh. It was quite the lengthy nine hour ride, but I think I slept just fine.

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