“Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life;
for there is in London all that life can afford.” ― Samuel Johnson
Alright now for the tales of my last amazing adventure-
London, England.(If you haven't looked on here for a while, I just posted another blog post about my trip to Oslo earlier this morning, so scroll down and read that one first if you have the time!)
Let’s start by saying I absolutely loved it. As of now if I
could move anywhere in the world- hands down it would be London. It’s
incredible. But the start of my trip was pretty rocky…I don’t think any of my
trips have run 100% smoothly yet, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s
to roll with the punches. So here we go!
This past weekend I traveled to London with my friend Angela
and then two of my friends from the States I made here in Bø- Katie and Kimberly.
Katie and Kimberly were both leaving to go back home after their time in
London, so they had decided to bring their stuff with them to leave in Oslo, so
they wouldn’t have to come all the way back to Bø to get them. So one Thursday we hopped on the 8.30
train to Oslo and from there I took the train to Rygge. (We were flying out of
the Rygge airport this time, not Oslo) and they took their luggage to Ǻshild’s (a friend in
Oslo). I got into Rygge train station at midnight. We had made plans for me to
wait for them there and then we’d take the bus together to the airport. Well,
as I was getting off of the train, I learned from a guy that the airport bus doesn’t
run after a certain time. He was then nice enough to give me directions on how
to walk there and his phone number encase we got lost. The Rygge train station
is very small and when first getting there, all I saw were some outdoor booths
to sit in. So I picked one and huddled in the corner trying to stay warm. That
worked for about 15 minutes and then I knew I needed to walk around to try and
stay warm. As I was walking I saw a light on on the other side of the tracks
and when I went to check it out I discovered it was a waiting room. I was so
thankful and it was so warm- a very small success. I lie down and fell asleep.
When I woke up, that’s when everything started to go wrong. It was 12.53 and
the train was supposed to have gotten there at 12.51. Two minutes may not seem
like a lot of time, but in my experience- trains in Norway are never late. So I
head outside thinking that maybe I just didn’t wake up to it and Katie and
Kimberly were outside waiting for me. Looking around, I saw them nowhere. So I
start freaking out. And looking all around the platform, the monitors didn’t
say anything about a delay or anything about the train not coming. Then I
started thinking maybe they missed the train or maybe they left for the airport
without me when they couldn’t find me. So I decide to just wait and see if they
are on the next train and if not, I’ll just head to the airport. So I walk back
to the waiting room to warm up… only the door wouldn’t open. It had
automatically locked me out. Not even joking, I looked at the sign closer and deciphered
that the room would close from 1 until 4.30 and I looked at my watch and it was
1.03. It would have been fine if I just had to sit in the cold until Katie and
Kimberly came, I could have handled that. But the real problem was our bags
(mine and Katie’s) were now locked inside of the room. That meant all of our
clothes, passports, etc. were there. At that point I thought I’d be clever and
sneak in through a window or side door, of course no windows or side doors were
open. Then I thought I’d be clever and call someone to let us in, of course
there was no number posted. So I sat and waited, thinking this is going to be a
long 3 ½ hours of waiting until the doors reopen to get our stuff. On top of
that I still had no idea where Katie and Kimberly were. Luckily I had my phone
on me, but since I only use the phone for emergencies and never really
understood how to work it, I only had one number programed into the phone and
it was neither Katie nor Kimberly’s. I called the number (my friend Hallie)
hoping she would have Kimberly’s number, only she didn’t answer at all. So I was
left outside, with no contact, marching to keep warm, singing camp songs to
keep from freaking out, literally inches away from warmth.
Finally at about 1.40 my phone buzzes and it’s Kimberly. She
tells me that their train had suffered some security problems and that they
were now stopped and waiting in line for a taxi to where I was. I tried to explain
what had happened on my end of the deal but she didn’t exactly understand. So
once they arrived to the Rygge train station I was able to show them and explain
what happened. So together we were stuck waiting, outside, marching to keep
warm. Finally around about 2.30 or 2.45 a police man came to do his nightly
rounds, we were able to explain to him what happened and finally get our stuff,
get a taxi and head to the airport.
Once at the airport, we found a nice spot of benches and
tried to rest a little. At 5 o’clock I woke up and was too cold to sleep
anymore so we decided to go and check in. I was bending down and packing up my
stuff when I hear Kimberly go, “Oh no. That’s not good.” I look up and see
Katie outside puking. A lot. Kimberly goes out to bring her water and brings me
back in Katie’s passport and boarding pass covered in puke to clean off. We all
end up in the bathroom cleaning and washing everything off in the sinks. We end
up getting Katie all cleaned up and checked in and on the plane without a hitch
after that. But by the time we land in London she is not feeling so well. We
guessed that it was just stress and overtiredness that did her in. We find
Angela and end up taking a nice long bus ride into the city where all of us
sleep, and later I find out Katie was sick again on the ride. After some navigation
we end up finding our hostel and Katie decided to stay there for the rest of
the evening so Kimberly, Angela and I headed off for our first afternoon and
night in London.
Our first mission- fish and chips! Accomplished this quite
easily and had a delicious and much needed meal.
Next we had the opportunity to live out every child of our
generation’s lifelong dream- we went to Hogwarts. Really we went to the Warner
Brother’s set and studio where they filmed Harry Potter and got to have a tour,
but really it felt like Hogwarts. We were able to see a bunch of sets like the
Great Hall and the Gryffindor common room and a bunch of the props and costumes
and learned a lot of interesting facts. Like did you know that Hagrid’s face is
really a mask and that when first filming they tried to hang real candles from
the top of the Great Hall but they melted too quickly and fell all over the
actors, so they had to switch them? We drank butterbeer and took countless
pictures, so here are a bunch for you to enjoy….
That night we then headed to the Soho district and Piccadilly’s
Circus and got a nice look at their Christmas lights and hand some more food to
eat.
The next morning Angela and I got up and went on a walking tour
of the city. We were able to see Wellington’s Arch, Buckingham Palace and the
ending of the changing of the guards, St. James’s Palace, Trafalgar Square,
Churchill’s war rooms, Horse Guard’s Parade, 10 Downing St., Westminster Abby, Big
Ben and finally the House of Parliament.
Next after a nice lunch of sausages and mash, we went to the
East India Tea Company and then to Harrods. Harrods was crazy but absolutely beautiful.
The outside window displays were decorated with different Disney Princesses.
We ended the night with a night Jack the Ripper tour. We
were taken around the east side of London and learned all about the Jack the Ripper
murders and other calamities and deaths of London- like different hangings and
beheadings and the Plague.
Sunday morning Angela and I got up extra early and looked at
the London and Tower Bridges. We even took our chances and sung ‘London Bridge
is falling down...falling down…” while walking across the London Bridge.
Thankfully, it didn’t actually fall down. We then completely the morning with a
tour of the Tower of London from the famous Beefeaters and got to see the crown
jewels.
We met up with the others and took a tour of Shakespeare’s
Globe and got some nice food at Borough Market.
We completed the night with a quick tour of the British
Museum to see the Rosetta Stone, a visit to King’s Cross Station and Platform 9
3/4, and finally we were able to meet up with a friend from London, Emma, who
studied with us in Norway for the semester.
Monday morning Angela and I headed for a tour of St. Peter’s
Cathedral. It’s the Cathedral where Princess Diana and Prince Charles got
married. After that we headed for a tour of Kensington Palace (the home of Kate
and Will- Duke and Duchess of Cambridge) and then it was off to Abbey Road.
Which is surprisingly hard to find and actually very difficult to get a picture
on because so many cars are driving over it.
We then headed to the London Eye and got some really nice
pictures of the sun setting over the Thames River. We got some nice ostrich burgers
at a Christmas market right at the bottom of the Eye and then Angela had to
head off to catch her flight. I finished the night by walking around the market
a little bit more and then headed back to the hostel.
The next morning I got up nice and early and headed off to
the parks. I bought a croissant on the way and sat at the Round Pond outside of
the Kensington Palace, eating and reading my book for about an hour. I was
amazed at the number of people who stopped to take pictures of the ducks and especially
the squirrels there. I spent the day slowly making my way through the
Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, St. James’s Park and Victoria Park, looking at
all of the memorials (Prince Albert and Princess Diana) and other statues. I
got another look at Buckingham Palace and Queen Victoria memorial. I walked
through a couple of markets and over the Millennium Bridge (the one in Harry
Potter 7) and final off to the train station to head to the airport.
My only major problem with the trip was that my bed at my
hostel had bed bugs, so I now have quite the collection of bites all over- including
one on my face that looks like a giant zit, but itches like crazy. I’m just
hoping I didn't bring any back with me!
Well tomorrow morning I leave to meet some of my relatives
living in Skarnes, and I’ll be spending Christmas with them. I’ll be back in Bø for the night of the 27th
(my birthday!) to unpack and repack and get ready to fly out to Sweden on the
28th. I’m meeting a friend from Sugar Creek Bible Camp (the camp I
work at during the past 2 summers), to spend New Years in Stockholm and then
head to Helsinki, Finland for a few days. I’ll finally be back in Bø at midnight on January
6th, because classes start the next day!
So there probably won’t be any posts until the 2nd
week in January or so. But until then, Merry Christmas my dear family and
friends, and a Happy New Year as well! I wish I could be home celebrating with
you all, but that will have to wait until next year! I hope you all stay safe
and have a happy and healthy holiday season! God bless us, everyone!
Lots of love sent to each of you!
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