London Calling!

Last weekend, I went to London with Ashley and Regi. Regi flew in on Thursday night because she and Bernardo (her friend we're staying with) were doing a day trip to Liverpool to see all of the Beatles stuff. Ash and I had already been there, done that, and so we left Friday morning. Bernardo supposedely told two of his friends that we were coming in the morning, so we had their numbers and had to use a payphone to call them (because our cell phones don't work in other countries). The first guy, Cody, didn't pick up. So we tried Calvin, who is from Manchester. I never understand a word he says, but he's really nice. Anyways, he picked up when Ashley called, but had been asleep. Ashley said, "Hi Calvin, it's Hayley and Ashley. We're here and we were just wondering if we could drop off our backpacks and stuff for the day?" Calvin had no idea what was going on. His response was, "Wait, why are you here?" haha. Oh brother...Anyways, long story short, he let us in, we dropped off our backpacks in his room, and then were off to explore for the day. We decided that it would be a good idea to try and call Regi to see what time she and Bernardo were coming home (b/c they still hadn't told us), so we went back to the same payphone ~30 mins. later and before I picked up the receiver to dial, the phone started to ring! I picked it up, and it was Cody (the first guy we called)! haha! So I told him that we'd gotten a hold of Calvin, dropped off our stuff, and were off for the day. He said he had been in class and that he had class until 2pm, but wanted to know if we would like to go to the British Museum. He said he hadn't been yet, and so I said sure, but how was I supposed to get hold of him again? He asked me what number I'd called him from, and I said it was a payphone. He said, "So you've just been waiting by the same payphone for the past 30 minutes waiting for me to call?" hahahahahaha. Nope! It just happened to ring when we popped back in! Weird, huh? Anyhoo, we decided that we'd just call him after 2pm and meet at the museum.

One of my sorority sisters who is studying in London was very helpful and gave me an itinerary for Friday. It was great! Ashley and I had so much fun! We started off at Borough Market, which is an outdoor food market that is PHENOMENAL! They also had lots of little food samples, which was a bonus! The market was really cool--I'd compare it to a farmer's market. Then right next to the market was Monmouth Cafe, a cafe famous for their good coffee, so we were told, and so we both got lattes.





After our lattes, we walked towards Shakespeare's Globe Theater and the Tate Modern Museum (of modern art). Shakespeare's theater was cool, and we really wanted to take a tour, but it was very expensive, so instead we just took pictures from the outside. The Tate, on the other hand, was free, and it was HUGE. To be honest, it kind of looks like a Nazi concentration camp on both the outside and parts of the inside (some parts are dark and creepy). Especially since it was a foggy foggy day out in Londontown! But anyways, although I am not a huge fan of art and especially modern art, we paroosed (sp?) through some cool exhibits.



Ashley and I also got our picture taken by the Millenium Bridge (a bridge also featured in one of the more recent Harry Potter movies)!


We crossed the bridge and saw St. Paul's Cathedral from the outside and then found some shops: Top Shop!!! Top Shop is amazing, but very expensive. :( But it was still fun to look. Then we called Cody and met up with him at the British Museum. We saw the Ancient Egyptian exhibits, some of Ancient Greece and Rome, and the Rosetta Stone!!!





After the museum, we left to go meet up with my sorority sister, Tenley at the Temple tube station. It was Armistice Day/Veteran's Day all weekend and there was going to be a fireworks show. Welllll it turns out I got the days mixed up--the show was tomorrow. :(

No big deal. So Ashley and I decided to go have high tea at Harrod's department store because it was nearly 6 o'clock (best time for high tea according to Google). We waited in line for the fancy tea room and then were finally seated. It took forever to order because they were out of scones, and this and that, but we finally made a decision, and a good one at that! We split a pot of Earl Grey tea and an apple crumble. It was so delish and had a warm vanilla bean cream sauce to put on top. YUM!





Once we were done with our tea, we toured around Harrod's for a bit. It's a really cool high-end department store that has EVERYTHING! We saw the designer shoes, hats, gowns, hats, etc. and even went to the floor that was Harry Potter World! My favorite part of the store was the fact that they had it all decorated for Christmas! There were lights and Christmas trees and ornaments and everything!



Finally, Ash and I left, grabbed some Asian food, and then made our way back to the dorm. Cody let us in and the dorm kids were having a party because they'd just had hall elections. So we hung out and talked for a bit with some of the people there and then Regi and Bernardo finally appeared!!! Ash and I went to Calvin's room to grab our stuff and then we all moved into Bernardo's room and got ready because we were going to maybe go out. I looked like a disaster by this point, thanks to the constant sprinkling outside. My hair was a mess! So we fixed ourselves up, and then went back down to the common room and then decided to go out for a bit. We had fun at a nearby bar/pub, dancing to some good music. It was hilarious. Then the boys wanted to go to a club, so we agreeded, even though we were pretty tired. On the way there, though, Regi and I got really hungry and wanted a burger!! So we searched and searched, but everything was closed. Until we had walked for ever to this supposedly close-by club, which was def. not close, and we found a kebab place that was open! They also served burgers and so Regi and I got one! Nommm. Berna got a kebab and was struggling to eat it. Oh brother. Anyways, we decided to go home after that.

The next day we got up early for our bike tour at 10:30am. We struggled a little to find the place, which was at Gabriel's Wharf, but we made it. Our group was small--only 6 people: a couple from Barcelona, a nice French lady, and the three of us. Plus Mark, our tour guide. We rode our bikes down the pathway by the River Thames and saw the London Eye, Big Ben and the Parliament Building, and another "palace" that is supposededly older than Buckingham Palace. We crossed the bridge and saw Westmister Abbey, then Buckingham Palace (which is kind of blah looking, in my opinion). We learned that the front part of the palace was the newer part (built with gray stone around the turn of the 20th c.) and the older part was built with a yellow stone from the Bath (sp?) region of England because it was mandatory that they use this stone (can't remember why). Anyways, we moved on to see some war memorials and a statue of the Duke of Wellington. From there, we made our way to Hyde Park. I was SO EXCITED!! I've dreamed about strolling through Hyde Park...It was amazing! The Fall leaves were everywhere and the colors were magnificent. I've never experienced a more beautiful fall. We also saw Princess Diana's memorial fountain, which was pretty cool.





After Hyde Park, we mostly just made our way back to the start of our tour, but stopped to see another monument that had statues of the four corners of the world. I can't remember which monument this was though, but it had real gold on it, which was a big deal. Here's us on our bikes:




After our tour, we were starving! So we grabbed a bite to eat at a restaurant right next door to the bike place. Then we decided, since we didn't have a lot of time because we were going to see the fireworks show at 4:30pm (yes, it gets DARK, like NIGHTTIME dark around this time), to go to the Tower of London and see the crown jewels and the Tower Bridge. When we got there, we saw the price to get in--about 20 pounds--and decided not to go...a little disappointing. But we took pictures of the Tower Bridge. Then we went to China Town! That was interesting! I really wanted to eat some Chinese food. Pretty soon, it was time to go to Temple Station to meet Tenley for the fireworks show. When we got off the tube, it was beyond crowded. There were SO MANY PEOPLE you could barely move! It was nuts. Needless to say, we could not find Tenley :(

Anyways, we decided to just watch the show, which I thoroughly enjoyed! After the fireworks ended, it took about 20 mins. for people to vacate the vicinity--that's how packed it was. Era una locura!! We wanted to go eat somewhere and get away from the hordes of people, so we walked. And walked. And walked some more. We probably walked 6 miles. People were everywhere. We really wanted to have fish and chips for dinner, because that is so English! So we searched for the best price, until we finally found somewhere! We split the meal 3 ways and it was delicious! I have to admit, that fish and chips never really sounded like an appetizing meal to me, but now that I've tried it, I really like it!



We had walked so far, that we found ourselves in the very spot where the only Chipotle in Europe is! So of course, we had to go! Ash got a burrito and Reg and I split chips and guacamole. Yum! We were very satisfied! Finally, we headed home--and we were pooped! We went back to find that Bernardo was out eating dinner. We ran into one of his friends, who let us into the computer room so that Reg could buy her bus ticket to get to the airport. Finally, Bernardo came back and we went went to bed for about 4 hours while he chilled in the common room with his friends. We had to leave around 3:45am (Regi a little earlier). We all crammed in Bernardo's bed-haha. I finally fell asleep but then woke up and was really hot and claustrophobic, so I climbed out and laid on the cool floor for probably less than 5 mins. and decided I was too cold. So I climbed back in the middle of Regi and Ashley. They didn't even realize what was going on. haha. Anyways, we made it to the airport the next day and Reg immediately attacked us with her Starbucks coffee. We paroosed the gift shop for a while, just to kill time. I bought a magnet with the coins I had left because they don't exchange anything but bills. Regi bought a book. Finally it was time to board our flight. The flight from London to Madrid is only about 2 hours, but I swear (and now that I've done this 3 times) it feels like the world's longest flight EVER. But we survived and made it back home to lovely Madrid!

We had an amazing, eventful trip to London--I had so much fun! I am so glad I was able to go there because I've always wanted to. Special thanks to Bernardo and friends for housing us and dealing with all of our shenanigans. We love you! See you when you come to Madrid! ;)

Liverpool for a Day

Once we arrived in the John Lenon Airport in Liverpool from Dublin, we took a bus to the center of the city and found the train station where we would be departing from (to London) later that day. After we'd gone to the train station and gotten our tickets printed out, we didn't really have a plan for the day, so we picked up a tourist brochures and decided to go on a hop-on/hop-off bus tour of the city with 15 sites to see.



We got to see Albert Dock and various Beatles landmarks and learn a little bit of history about the city while on our bus. We decided to get off at Albert Dock because Regi's friend who had studied in England said it was pretty cool and there was also a Beatles gift shop there.



After purchasing a cool black and white postcard of the Beatles, and waiting for Regi to shop around (I forgot to mention that she is a die-hard Beatles fan), we found a place that was reasonably priced for lunch. We were starving! We went to a cute little restaurant with a view of the dock and each got delicious, though strange looking, sandwiches!



After lunch, we hopped back on the bus and continued our tour. We saw things like this:


After our tour, we wandered around the area of bars and clubs where the Beatles had played.




Once we had seen pretty much everything there was to see, we decided to take refuge in a nearby mall because it was getting pretty cold outside. We stayed there for a while and Regi and Ashley had coffee. Then Regi wanted to see some statue for peace thing, so we went to go find it, but sadly, never did. But, we wandered through H&M and browsed other outdoor kiosks on our search for the statue. After searching for a while and having no success, we finally gave up and decided it was time to head back to the train station. We were tired and COLD by this time (I was pooped).

Finally, it was time to board our train to London--which was first class, by the way, even though they were the cheaper tickets (?!?!). Our train literally had about 60 million and 1 stops, so that's why the tix were cheaper, because the travel time was so much longer. We arrived in Euston Station in London around midnight and decided to call one of Regi's friends from school, Bernardo, who's attending the London School of Economics this year. We chilled in his dorm common area (his dorm was conviently close to the train station) for a few hours until we had to leave for our early-morning flight back to Madrid. He was very kind and let us use his laptop, ipod charger, offered us food, and when we asked him if we could stay with him when we come to London for real in two weeks, he graciously said yes. Hehe.

Even though this trip involved a lot of tiring traveling, I had a lot of fun! I got to meet new people and see two different countries. I also got to experience Halloween in 3 different countries: Ireland, England, and Spain, because we had a 5 day "puente." That was pretty awesome--I don't know many other people who can say the same.

Ciao for now! :)

Dublin, Ireland

NOTE: If I spell words incorrectly, it is because I am either confusing them with the Spanish spelling (ex: "synagogue" is "sinagoga" in Spanish, so I accidentally misspelled it) or I have forgotten how to say a lot something in English. Please excuse any grammatical/spelling errors. Thank you.

This past weekend we had a "puente," literally meaning "bridge." This is because we had a 5-day weekend: no school on Monday for Halloween and then Tuesday was a festivo, so no school. Regi, Ashley and I made our way to Ireland and the UK! We left Friday for Dublin and stayed until Sunday morning. What an amazing city! From the moment I stepped into the Dublin airport, I was in love! In the airport, there was an art display of photographs entitled "The people of Ireland." It was just a bunch of people's faces, but I could already tell that Ireland was a people-friendly country. The next thing that pleased me was that the airport customs people stamped my passport!!! So now my passport says I've been to Ireland! (not every country does this, which makes me sad because I want a lot of stamps in my passport)!

We made our way to the bus stop and, with the help of a few nice Irish people, made it onto the right bus headed towards the city center, where our hostel was located. Whilst (I feel so British saying that!) on the bus, which was DOUBLE DECKER, by the way, we realized that there was absolutely no way we could tell which stop was ours. We knew where we were supposed to get off, but there were no signs inside or outside of the bus that told us what each stop was. I guess you just had to know (or ask the bus driver). After being on the bus for a while, we decided to move downstairs and then encountered 3 other Americans from Michigan who happened to be going to the same hostel as us, and were equally confused as to which stop we were supposed to get off at. Ha. Anyways, we figured it out, and all was well. We made it to our hostel where we met the craziest, most hilarious, epitome of and Irish man ever--Shamus, the "concierge." Oh man, he was a HOOT and super nice!!! We got our room and walked through a maze of doors and hallways to get there, made our beds, and were off to begin our adventures!

First stop: Grafton Street! Great shopping street that conveniently leads to St. Stephen's Green, which is a beautiful park. Most everything was in walking distance from our hostel, which was great! Grafton St. was very cool and then we toured St. Stephen's Green. After, we decided to walk to St. Patrick's Cathedral, then headed back towards the hostel. We ate dinner at a nearby restaurant called O'Shea's. It was pretty good.

The next day we went on a free walking tour (based on tips only). Our tour guide's name was Dave and he was great! Very enthusiatic and knowledgeable about all of the sites we saw. To name a few: Trinity College, Temple Bar, Christ Church, Ha' Penny Bridge on the River Liffey, a museum, etc. We thoroughly enjoyed our tour! After our tour, we went to the Guinness Storehouse/museum. It was very cool, but definitely more info. than I ever needed to know about Guinness. We got a free pint at the end up in Gravity Bar, on the top floor of the museum. Gravity Bar has a panoramic view of Dublin, and it's amazing. We got there right at sunset too! After, we promptly left because we were pooped! I wanted to get postcards, so Ash came with me to buy them while Regi got Burger King. On our way back to the hostel, Ashley and I grabbed some Thai food to go.

We had planned to stay in that night because we were so tired from our long day of touring the city, but our friends we met from California (same age as us but studying in Rome) convinced us to rest up and go out with them b/c you're only in Dublin once! Plus the whole city was celebrating Halloween! So we rallied, but had no idea what to wear. Amanda and Mollie (our new friends) got Irish rugby outfits to wear but the three of us didn't have anything. Luckily, the day before, Regi and Ashley had purchased matching flannel pj's and so Reg wore hers and I wore Ash's while she just wore regular clothes. Regi and I dressed up at "couch potatos." :)

We went out and met a really funny and nice girl from Liverpool and just had a great time out. Irish (or Dublin) people go all out for Halloween. It's nuts! Then we went home and got up early for our 30 min. flight to Liverpool. The end. Pictures: