Sorry for not updating! Not much has been going on worth noting over the past few weeks, but we just got back from
London so I figured it was time to update.
I’ll start with what we have been doing lately…
After Germany, Italy, and Paris we came to Cork and took a much needed travel break—we were exhausted. I got pretty sick a few days after we got back and was stuck inside, but got back on my feet rather quickly. I had a bit of actual college work to do in the form of a history paper so I made sure to get that done…The following week our friend, Bryan, from W&J who is studying in Spain visited for the weekend. I took him to Blarney and showed him around Cork, as well as indulged him in some proper Irish culture—drinking pints of stout. After Bryan left I had another paper due.
So between actual schoolwork and a visit we stayed pretty busy, but had little to report about. Moving onto this past Sunday, we got the lads out into the park to play some soccer because the weather was absolutely amazing. Sunny, no rain, warm. It stayed like that for Monday and Tuesday and both days I managed to get some work done for my upcoming finals by studying in the park. Wednesday morning we left for London!
Our trip in London was short, but we saw a lot and the weather was perfect. We arrived in London around 8:15 AM and took the train to Liverpool. We got off and immediately began our tour. We started at St. Paul’s Cathedral. We decided not to go in because it cost £10 which is like $20 and we have seen a fair amount of cathedrals in Ireland and Italy. Next we headed to the London Bridge. I was a bit disappointed with it actually. The bridge was pretty standard and in the pictures don’t confuse the London Bridge with the bridge outside the Tower of London. I will be sure to clearly label them.
From here we took the Tubes to the Tower of London. This place was pretty sweet with the moat and walls guarding the castle inside. The moat was filled in, but the walls were still there and most of the stuff was original. We took a tour through and I will try to label the pictures as best as possible. The Tower of London was basically where the Kings and Queens lived and it was famous for the jail cells and all the executions they carried out in public. Most executions took place on Tower Hill, just outside the walls so that all the people could watch. I got a picture of the area, now a public park, where it would have happened.
Next we visited the London Eye—the 2nd largest observation wheel in the world. We took a spin in this and got a great view of London. The pictures are bad because the glass in the carriage had a weird reflection. After the Eye we crossed the River Thames to see the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. Across from this was Westminster Abbey and down the road was the Ministry of Defense. After these places we began walking toward Trafalgar Square past Downing Street. As we were walking down the road we saw a bunch of people in fancy clothes and it turned out the actor that played The Fonz in Happy Days—Henry Winkler maybe?—was outside Downing Street shaking hands with some other dressed up people.
We made it to Trafalgar Square and headed towards Buckingham Palace. After about a 20 minute walk through the park we made it to the palace and got some pictures. It was too late to take a tour and it also cost a lot so we just saw it from the outside. It was about 6 when we left the palace and we were beat from walking around for about 9 hours. We headed in for the evening and would be sure to get up early and see as much as possible before our flight left that evening.
First thing in the morning on Thursday we decided to visit Wimbledon. Little did we know, The All English Tennis Club wasn’t located at the 2 Wimbledon stops on the subway, but one 3 stops earlier. So after a great deal of walking and asking directions we found the club. The place was pretty much all blocked off and we got a few pictures. We found the Wimbledon Museum where you could take a tour of the inside for £10, but there was so much construction going on that Centre Court and Court 1, the two biggest courts, were blocked off so we didn’t go in.
We found the Tube stop close to the club this time and headed back into central London. We had a few hours still so we visited The Globe which was the theatre that Shakespeare worked with for much of his life. The Globe that we were in was recreated in the 90’s because the original from 1599 caught on fire and was then rebuilt in 1613. The 1613 version was destroyed by the Puritans, as with all theatres at the time, and never rebuilt. I got a few pictures from outside, but inside the actual theatre rehearsals for A Midsummer nights Dream were going on and no pictures were allowed.
That ended up being our final tourist spot because we were tired, hungry, and needed to get to Liverpool to catch the train to the airport. London was pretty fun, but I am getting a bit frustrated with touring cities. It was very crowded, rather dirty, and very fast-paced. It was great to see and visit, but I don’t know if I could have handled a longer stay in London.
So up next our friends that we stayed with in Italy are coming to visit Ireland for a few days. The come next Tuesday and leave Friday. We’ll be touring Cork and Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday we are renting a car and driving to Portmagee where we will catch a boat to the Skellig Islands. Skellig is a tiny island off the coast that has an ancient monastery on top of it. It’s supposed to be amazing if the day is nice.
After our friends leave I’ll be studying for my first final on May 21st. After that Reline leaves on May 25th and I have my other final on May 29th. I leave Cork on May 31st to go to Shannon and then fly out of Shannon on June 1st to come back to Pittsburgh.
Look for 1 or 2 more updates coming. I’ll definitely update after Skellig—weather permitting and possibly once more before I leave.
Hope all is well, see you soon,
- Travis
