Disclaimer: This is a long blog post because I have not had time to write in several days, sorry! I have tried to make up for it with lots of wonderful pictures!
On Thursday, we went to the London Eye. We were lucky
enough to have the program pay for us to go as it is normally 19 pounds ($32).
After a short queue, we got into the pods and ended up having our group split
into two pods. In the thirty minute ride, we were able to see spectacular
views, as shown below.
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| Half of the Grinnell Group |
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| View from the top |
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| Eastern part of Central London |
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| Selfie |
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| At the top of the Eye |
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| Sara and I at the Eye |
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| Kate and I at the Eye |
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| Start of the ride |
Afterwards we walked home which was really nice as we saw
lots of street performers.
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| My eyes are closed but it is worth posting because it is a person in a phone booth outfit. |
Given our hunger, we decided to treat ourselves to
pizza so we used our student discount at a local pizza place for a 12 inch
pizza for 3 pounds (normally 10!). I got the “tropical” pizza which was
delicious. After eating, we went to another flat to have cake and celebrate
Hannah’s birthday.
On Friday, we made a long trek in the rain to the train
station. From there, we took a train to the Bethlem Royal hospital. We had a
talk by a curator and then we got to look around a small art gallery and museum
full of art made by patients from the hospital. It was very interesting to see
how the hospital has changed, especially since the hospital used to give tours
to the rich. Afterwards, we rode the train back, and then took the underground
home as it was still raining and we were exhausted. We had a relaxing night and
watched Les Mis. Having just been in Greenwich, we recognized a lot of the “Paris”
architecture since it was filmed in Greenwich.
On Saturday, we had to get up really early to get to the
coach station. We left our flat at 7am to walk to the bus station. We took a
bus, then walked to the coach station, and then took a coach to Bath. The views
from the ride were beautiful and the perfect, iconic, English countryside.
When
we got to Bath, we wandered around a bit and grabbed breakfast at a bakery
before heading off to the Roman baths. It is normally an hour line on
Saturdays; however, we got in within 20 minutes. We walked around a very
crowded museum and then explored the baths themselves. The baths use the hot
springs so the water is warm and bubbles (because of gas from minerals). There
are several different rooms, including changing rooms, warm baths, and hot
baths.
After this, we found some space under a tree to have our picnic lunches.
Then, we wandered around the city and looked at lots of adorable shops and walked through the beautiful church.
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| Beautiful stained glass |
At 2:30
we went to the pump room to have afternoon tea. We had to wait for about half
an hour as it is a very popular restaurant. I got English breakfast tea and
biscuits with clotted cream and strawberry jam. It was a great pick-me-up and
reenergized all of us. Then, we went and walked along the river. When we came
to the river, Eleanor and I both noticed how it looked like a scene in Les Mis.
A few minutes later, someone asked us if we had seen Les Mis, as this is where
Javert kills himself. We feel like we may be unintentionally be taking a Les
Mis filming tour.
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| Site of Les Mis filming |
After walking across the bridge, we went down the stairs and walked along the river.
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| British duck |
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| For some reason there are many of these pigs throughout Bath |
After some more exploring, we headed to the coach station and took a bus to Bristol (I didn't see any Grommits, sorry dad!), then took
a coach to London, the tube to Farringdon, and then walked home. We got home at
11:30 having had a wonderful but exhausting day.
Sunday, we changed our plans and had a very relaxing day. We
went grocery shopping (in the rain, yuck!) on a Sunday afternoon which was chaos!
The Sainsburys has officially lost its enjoyment. The prices here make no
sense. Most things are WAY more expensive, and the price in pounds is sometimes
more than it is in dollars. Meat and cereal are outrageous. However; I can get
a container of jam for 30p, honey for 50p, and peanut butter for 60p. Things
also expire much faster here, so you can buy pasta, bread, humus, etc that is
expiring soon. You can also slice your own bread- it is really entertaining to
watch.
Monday was a rainy day. We had classes like normal and then
went to the play “A Doll’s House” in the evening. It was very well acted and
had a really cool set. The set rotated so you could see different rooms of the
house and they did a really awesome first scene and later a cool chase scene
through the house. We had wonderful seats, row C in the stalls, so we were very
close to the stage. Thank goodness these tickets are free, they cost $70 USD.
Today, I had a leisurely morning and got a lot of homework
done. After class, I did homework, cleaned, figured out my tube routes for
tomorrow and worked on planning fall break. We also learned today that in phase
2 (the last six weeks of the program) our class is probably going to meet MTW
10:30-12:45. It will be wonderful and we
will also have a 6 day trip to Ireland. In the meantime, we have a trip to
Stratford-Upon-Avon this weekend. We will be seeing THREE Shakespeare plays (All’s
Well That Ends Well, Titus Adronicus, and Hamlet).
And a ridiculous picture to brighten your day.
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| This is what happens when I am told to open my eyes... |
