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Published: March 13th 2011
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Shelly
Hole in the Wall Pub We woke up early friday morning so that we could get a jump start on the day and get our touristy stuff done early. We bought a ticket at the bus station for "the original bus tour" which traveled all throughout london showing us foreignors all of the main tourist attractions. We got to see big ben, buckingham palace, the eye of london, cleaopatras needle, the london towers, and parliament. We ended up taking a cruise down the Thames River which gave us a great view of the london towers. Throughout the city there is lots of construction, getting ready for the 2012 Olympics so the view from the cruise gave us a different perspective on the older parts of London. After we fulfilled our need to be tourists, we met up with Shelly's friend Darren from Manchester and his girlfriend Hannah from London. We grabbed a drink at the local bar and got a few great pointers about ettiquette such as tipping. We tried to leave a tip for our bar tender and got scolded because people just don't tip here, and if they do it's not much. After we walked Darren and Hannah back to the "underground" we went
Rach
Hole in the Wall Pub back to our hostel where we ended up meeting a boy from Arkansas. He was very nice and gave us great information about a few of the places he's been already. It was really nice being able to talk to someone who was in the same situation we were.
Saturday was a fantastic day filled with walking around "Covent Garden" which is filled with tons of shops, theators and pubs. We spent the entire morning roaming around enjoying the scenery of London and ended up stopping in at a small pub to rest our legs and grab a beer. The pub that we were at was called "Hole in the Wall" and looked a little "dodgy" from the outside but ended up being a great place for lunch. Right as we were finishing our beer and lunch the pub starting filling up with people getting geared up for the rugby game starting later that afternoon. The older couple that sat next to us was very nice, probably the most friendly people we've met so far. We talked a lot about the states, different types of beautiful places to see in Europe and of course their favorite topic...... Beer.
A younger guy named Fabio who used to play rugby sat down next to us in the crowded bar and gave us a lesson about the sport, he was missing about 4 teeth on the bottom of his mouth and informed us that it was the best sport in the world. I bet his mouth thinks differently. We ended up leaving the pub about half way through to head back to our side of the town before dark and ended up catching a street show on the way. It was amazing, two brothers did a very enthusiastic gymnastic show, pictures will show more. After that we came home talked to our new hostel bunk mates from Austria, and went to bed. The town was very loud later in the night and we had the wonderful chance to wake up to the church bells at St. Pauls church right next to our hostel. We then walked about 3 miles to the train station, and finally got into Horley where our bed and breakfast hotel is. It's a beautiul town, much more "our style" then london, it's a lot quieter and filled with beautiful homes and neighborhoods. Tomrrow we will be in
Dublin to meet up with Rachaels friends Kate and Ty. So excited!!
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Kt
non-member comment
Yes, every country has a different rule for tipping....make sure you check on that! Your hostels are going to get worse and your breakfast even more worse than that. Some nights your probably going to laugh and debate if the floor is better or not. When you start staying in 30 people dorms thing get interesting. ALWAYS LOCK UP YOUR COMPUTERS AND CAMERAS EVERYWHERE. They will get stolen. And often times, the shottiest places are going to be the most delicious to eat at. You know, the ones that look like they are about to fall over when you open then door. Bathrooms- if you find one for free your lucky, if your in public and you find a public bathroom, consider yourself even luckier. Finding a bathroom, a public bathroom, a free bathroom, or both is like the chance of seeing god walking around down here. When in doubt, GO TO MCDONALDS. They are always around the corner and will have free internet 98% of the time and free bathrooms 50% of the time. Thins are going to get crazy, things will go wrong, don't get stressed.... trust me. It will work out. Even if you do have to sleep in a bus station because you couldn't find a hostel. After your in Europe for a while...you will find that your really not in any great danger and sleeping in the park isn't such a bad option when its your only one! also, good work on the blog....even better work if you can keep up. I found it impossible.... and i quit doing it. haha, take care and i will let you know if anything comes to mind! Love ya- KT