"Though miles may lie between us, we're never far apart, for friendship doesn't count the miles, it's measured by the heart."
These past few days were wonderful! but bittersweet too...
This past week was Bay Path's spring break. During spring break every year, Bay Path goes on the Capital's of the World trip, and this year was to London, and I got to go visit!
(see more details in my previous post girl talk)
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| Tower Bridge (Photo taken during my 2012 trip) |
Thursday afternoon I got on a bus outside the Florence train station to the Pisa airport. Once there, I checked in and got through security and boarded the plane, taking off around 7pm (Florence time.) I landed in London's Stansted airport where I had to get through customs and print off my train ticket. From there, I got on a train to Liverpool Street where I had to buy an underground ticket.
Unfortunately, something must have happened with the bank, or they didn't understand when I called back at the end of January to let them know I would be out of the country for a few months. They needed to know that I was studying in Florence, but I told them I would be traveling throughout Europe too. I didn't have any problems when I went to Switzerland, but when I tried to get money out of the ATM to buy a ticket, it didn't work...
Needless to say, I was frustrated because it was about 9:30 at night (London time) and so most of the change places with real people were already closed...so I had to call my dad to have him call the bank and get it fixed, but it took until the next morning (bank time = Eastern Standard) for it to kick in, so I had to rely on Cat to buy me breakfast and lunch on Friday...
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| Big Ben & Parliament (Photo taken during my 2012 trip) |
Luckily I'm on my parents credit card now, and that worked, so I was able to buy the ticket for the underground to Westminster Station, near the hotel.
I got in around 10:15, almost 45 minutes after I told Cat I though I would be there...Finally we were reunited!!! After about 3 months of not seeing each other, it was great to finally get to hug her again :)
Obviously we still talk and skype on occasion, but it's just not the same as real life.
From the station, we walked the couple blocks to the hotel and I dropped my stuff off in Cats room and got settled for a bit.
Cat and I went for a walk around the area near the hotel to talk and just catch up with each others lives, which was so nice. We then tried to find some of our other friends, who had gone out exploring the city and such, and finally caught up with them around 11:30 or so.
We all hung out for a bit, but some of them had plans for the next day which involved getting up early, so we headed to the room and bed shortly afterward.
Friday, Cat, Julie (her roommate for the trip) and I went all over the city.
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| British Museum (Photo taken during my 2012 trip) |
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| Platform 9 3/4 (Photo taken during my 2012 trip) |
While others were exploring Warner Brothers Studio's Harry Potter World and Stonehenge - which I still need to do at
some point - Cat and Julie had some little things they wanted to do before
they left. Cat and I had planned to spend a good portion of the day at the zoo,
but the wind was brisk and we didn't want to be outside in it all day.
So, the
three of us went to the British Museum for some souvenir shopping. From there,
we went to the British Library to see some historical documents such as:
original papers from Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, the
Beatles, Jane Austin, the Gutenberg Bible and much more!
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| British Library |
We had a few hours to relax and I took a shower while Julie and
Cat were packing before getting ready for the farewell dinner with the whole
group. We all went to a Medieval dinner where we were served four
courses by wenches and entertained by dancers, jesters, and jousting nights
between each course. It was a bunch of fun, but it took a long time for them to
get ready and bring us food, so we didn’t get to eat until almost 8:30 London
time (9:30 Florence time.)
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| Best friends at the Medieval Dinner (Cat, Me, Anna) |
After dinner, we all went back
to the hotel where a handful of us then tried to go out to a bar. However, even
though it was a Friday, everything was closed or closing soon, so we went back
and hung out at the hotel bar. Cat and I had to get up early so I could catch
my flight, so we went to bed around 12:30.
Saturday we woke up around
6:15, got all ready and were getting on the Tube by 7am. We had to take the
Tube to Heathrow airport – about an hour one-way – where we had to say goodbye
so Cat could go back to finish packing and join the rest of the group for their
own flight back to the States. Part of me really wanted to stow-away on the
flight with them…
My flight, scheduled to leave
at 10:45, didn’t take off until almost 11:30 and we landed in Pisa shortly
after 2 (Italy time.) Once there, I went through customs and bought bus tickets
to explore Pisa for a few hours.
Pisa is much smaller than I was
expecting. Beautiful, but not some place I could have spent much more than a
few hours. I walked around, kind of trying to find the Leaning Tower, but also
just see what there was to offer. I eventually found the tower and the Duomo,
took lots of pictures, bought some postcards, and caught a bus back to the airport.
From the airport I got on a bus
back to Florence, arriving around 7:45 – getting back to the house in time for
dinner, around 8pm.
After dinner I took a shower
and settled in for a relaxing night and rest of my weekend.
As for today, I still have to
do my homework – but that shouldn’t take too long; I’ve caught up on my TV
shows; and now I’m watching Beauty and the Beast as I write this. It’s going to
be a stay-in-and-relax kind of day. :)
With a skype call to my grandparents: it's my Grandmother's birthday! and probably one with my parents too
This week we have a soccer game on Tuesday and two on Wednesday, and then we're going horseback riding and wine tasting on Friday!
Right now I don't have anything else planned for next weekend, but most of us are staying in Florence, so I'm sure we will find things to do and places to see and adventures to have!
That's all for now and in honor of my Grandmother's birthday and Saint Patrick's Day I leave you all with this:
May your blessings outnumber
The shamrocks that grow,
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go.
~Irish Blessing
The shamrocks that grow,
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go.
~Irish Blessing
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