Accents galore!

This past week we had a week off of school, so I spent 10 days traveling the UK and Ireland - this is trip I did alone by the way!

The trip got off to a bit of a rough start. My first stop was supposed to be Coventry, to see Meagan (best friend from high school who is doing her exchange in England - I also visited for the last few days of my winter break in January). I arrived in London (Stansted Airport) on night of Thursday the 11. I THOUGHT I had booked a coach to get from the airport to Coventry, but as it turns out I actually booked it from CENTRAL London to Coventry. Now, the airport is a good hour away from Central London - but my coach wasn't until midnight, so the lady at the desk told me I could pay 10 pounds to get to London and catch my coach there with plenty of time to spare. OK, so I'd pay an extra 10 pounds I thought, not the end of the world. So I get on the coach. We arrive in Central London and I notice that there seem to be police cars everywhere. Our driver makes an announcement that there is some kind of problem and tells us that one of the main roads (the road where he was supposed to drop us off) is blocked, and that he can't stop to let us off. So he does laps until he can find a place to stop - well by this point it's already quarter past midnight; I've clearly missed my bus to Coventry. So finally he finds a spot to let us off and as he was trying to explain to me how to get to the coach station, to sort out my problem, he was shooed away by a police officer as he wasn't supposed to be stopped there - poor guy, it really wasn't his fault and I could tell he felt really bad leaving me there. So it's now after midnight, I'm in central London with no idea WHERE I really am, I have missed my bus and have only a vague idea where the bus station is (family, please don't freak out - I lived to tell about it). So I start off in the direction of the bus station, which thanks to a nice old man I met along the way, I eventually found, about 45 minutes later. So it's about 1 AM at this point, and I got to the counter and explain my situation. The lady there tells me the next bus to Coventry isn't until 6 AM - great. So I go to the tiny, cold little waiting room of the bus station and set up camp on the floor. I finally manage to get to sleep when, at about 3 AM or so, we're woken up and told to move to ANOTHER waiting room. At this point I start talking to another girl about my age, who turned out to be from Lithuania. She even shared her laptop with me and we watched Grey's Anatomy... goodtimes. 6 AM FINALLY rolls around and I get into Coventry no problem. That day was pretty much a write off: Meagan and I just slept and hung around her flat. That night we went with some of Meagan's flatmates to see "2012", which was showing in a lecture hall in Meagan's uni for a cheaper price - to sum it up, it was awful, so bad in fact that we left early and got a drink at a pub on campus.

The next day Meagan and I took a trip to Warwick, which is a town I'd visited the last time I was in Coventry, but by the time I'd gotten there it was already dark, so it was nice to see it again in daylight (and this time with Meagan)! It is a really cute little down with a VERY impressive cathedral which we got to poke around in. Then we had lunch at a charming little restaurant called "The Rose and Crown" and got milkshakes after at a little sweet shoppe. After some more walking around we headed back to Coventry to get ready to go out with some of Meagan's flatmates. We went to one of the clubs we'd been to the last time and it was pretty fun. The next morning Meagan and I were able to share a cab to the bus station (Meagan was leaving to go back to Vancouver for her week off) where I then caught the bus (with no problems) and headed to the airport to fly to Dublin.

I arrived in Dublin mid afternoon and found my hostel without too much difficulty. When I checked in, the guy asked where I was from, I said Canada. He asked what I was doing in Europe, I said studying in France for the year. So then he says, so you're with the other girls in your room then? And I said no, I came to Dublin alone... and he goes, well that's weird because there are 4 girls in your room who are from Canada who're also studying in France. Interesting. So I go up to my room and sure enough, there were 4 very nice girls from Ontario who are all doing their exchange in Lyon! Anyway, I took a brief nap and then set out to O'Connell street, the main street in Dublin. I did a bit of shopping, grabbed some fish and chips in a really cute little pub and then decided to see 'Valentine's Day' the movie (keep in mind it actually IS Valentine's Day and I was alone - I can't decide if seeing this movie under these circumstances makes me a bit pathetic, or shows I'm mature... haha) After the movie my friend Ruth (who was home for our week off, and therefore just an hour or so outside of Dublin) came to meet me for a drink and the Temple Bar, which is the really famous bar in Dublin. So that was fun to see her for a bit!

The next day I had breakfast at the hostel and then went to do the free walking tour the other Canadian girls had told me they'd done. My guide was REALLY knowledgeable, she knew a ton about Ireland's history; I had no idea they'd been under British control and fighting for Independence for so long! If memory serves me, Ireland only became its own republic in 1922, and was apparently in quite a bad state for much of the 20th century - slums and poverty were widespread! It was really interesting to hear about. We saw the main sights of Dublin, which included Dublin Castle (not really a castle, it's been used as a political building throughout the years), Trinity College (an old and prestigious university in Ireland), the Temple Bar district (a touristy area with tons of pubs and restaurants), THE Temple Bar itself, as well as several other sights. After the walking tour, I met up with the other Canadian girls and we went to the Guinness Storehouse where we learned how Guinness beer is made (barley, yeast, water and and hops) and at the end, we were allowed to pour our own pints and enjoy them at the top of the building with a lovely view of Dublin. After the storehouse I headed back to the hostel as my flight to Edinburgh was at 6 the next morning! While cooking dinner I met two OTHER Canadian girls and had a game of crazy eights with them before going to bed.

The next morning I was up before dawn to get to the airport where I got the plane to Edinburgh, where I arrived relatively early. I dumped my stuff at my hostel, which was located right on the "Royal Mile", the main street in the old part of town, and then went to do the free walking tour (offered by the same company as the one I did in Dublin) which was, AGAIN, really good! Our guide had long hair and kind of resembled a pirate but he was amusing. On the tour we saw the St. Giles Cathedral (where the Queen worships when she comes to Scotland), the Elephant House (the "birthplace" of Harry Potter, since JK Rowling spent most of her time writing there - possibly the highlight of my trip) and Greyfriar's Cemetery (where hundreds of Scotsmen were imprisoned for their religious beliefs - it is apparently a very haunted cemetery where there have been tons of poltergeist encounters!) Our guide knew tons of interesting stories too. While on the tour I met some more (you guessed it) Canadians, whom I broke the ice with by mentioning that I too owned the same pair of Olympic mittens one of them was wearing (thanks Pat!) So after the tour, they invited me to go along with them to Rosslyn, which is just outside of Edinburgh, to see the Rosslyn Cathedral, which is apparently where the Da Vinci Code was filmed! Unfortunately the Cathedral was under a lot of construction and it was therefore kind of hard to fully appreciate it but it was still cool and we got some nice views of the countryside. That night I did a "City of the Dead" tour, where a guide takes you down to an underground "city" kind of thing where the poorest of the poor used to live. Many apparently died down there due to fires that would happen above, and since the "city" (which is pretty much a bunch of caves) was completely black, people wouldn't be able to find their way out and it would get so hot that they would suffocate. Pretty creepy stuff!

The next day I slept in a bit and had a leisurely breakfast, then headed to Edinburgh Castle, where I ran into the group of Canadians from the day before. So together we explored the Castle (which is HUGE, it was impossible to see it all) but it was really interesting: my favorite parts were the prison (which was used as recently as WWII for German POWs), seeing the Scottish Crown Jewels (which went back and forth A LOT from Scotland to England, but they're finally back in Scotland) and seeing the firing of the one o'clock gun (which used to let everyone know what time it was back in the day but they carry on the tradition). The rest of the day was pretty low-key: I had a delicious lunch at the Elephant House (the birthplace of Harry Potter), checked out a cool vintage store (filled with kilts!), tried a deep fried MarsBar (which was delicious and disgusting at the same time) and walked down to the Holyrood Palace, the Queen's official residence in Scotland. That night I ended up playing some cards in my hostel with 2 MORE Canadians, 2 Germans and a Norwegian, and afterwords we ended up going to a bar which was really fun!

My last day in Edinburgh I met up with one of the Canadians whom I had met while on the walking tour, and together we hiked Arthur's Seat, a mini-hike that gave us a lovely view of Edinburgh - you could even see the coast! It was really pretty. After the hike I just did a bit of shopping and then headed back to the airport to catch my flight back to Dublin, where I had to connect to go to London. Since I got into London pretty late I had planned to stay in a hotel near the airport which turned out to be a really good idea - it was SO nice to have a HOTEL room all to myself for a night (even if it was just a Travelodge, ha!) Plus, my room had a TV, so I got to watch a bit of Olympics. I even got to have a bath, the only one I've had since leaving Canada, apart from a few I got to take at Christmas... point being, it was a big deal for me! I got to sleep in the next morning and have a leisurely breakfast, then it was back to the airport to catch my bus to central London.

Once there I had a BIT of difficulty finding my hostel, as it wasn't really on a main road, but eventually I found it. I checked in (I was the bottom of 3 bunk beds - it was like being in a coffin) and then set out to walk around a bit. I walked around Hyde Park, saw a lovely sunset and also wandered over to Buckingham Palace. The next day (we're now at Saturday, by the way) I did yet ANOTHER one of the free walking tours with ANOTHER awesome guide. We saw all the major sites: Constitution Hill (the street leading to Buckingham Palace that is painted red, permanently, for the Queen!), Buckingham Palace (where the guide told us several funny stories about Palace break ins), Trafalgar Square, Number 10 Downing Street (where the Prime Minister lives, and also the name of my hair salon back at home!), Westminster Abby, the Parliament Buildings, Big Ben, etc. After the tour, I went to the Camden Market which, along with having lots of clothes, is also an area that seems to specialize in tattoo and piercing places (again, don't worry family, I didn't get anything done!) But the market was really cool, it was right next to a pretty river - I just really liked the setting! I also got some yummy Indian food there. That night I met up with some French friends from Aix who were also in London that weekend and were staying at the same hostel as me. We ended up drinking, playing cards and pool in the bar that was the bottom floor of our hostel and which they close to the public at about 1:30-2, and then leave open to everyone staying in the hostel - so we ended up having the place to ourselves which was pretty sweet! It was weird to go back to speaking French as I had been in English mode all week long. But it was really fun!

On my last full day in London I went to Speaker's Corner in the morning, located in Hyde Park, which is a little cafe that people use to express themselves through speech. Apparently Sunday morning is a good time to hear people talking but unfortunately I didn't catch anyone doing it. It sounds like it would be really cool to see someone do though! After that I walked for about an hour to get to Notting Hill (I haven't seen the movie but I was intrigued all the same). I wandered into a random thrift shop and asked the girl if I was technically "in" Notting Hill yet - with this comment she knew I was a tourist and suggested I go to the Portobello Market, which I did - it was so cool! It was mainly vintage jewelery, a lot of which was REALLY beautiful (I may have bought a few things) but they had other items too. Amongst this really cool vintage market were also some GORGEOUS little clothing boutiques - man, I wanted to buy everything! These stores were just SO nice. One was decorated with antique sewing machines covering the walls - there were at least 100 sewing machines, it was so neat! And most of the stores were painted really bright colours! And the homes - man, they were gorgeous. Not quite the quaint little cottage-in-the-city type homes I'd been picturing (AKA, they were massive and luxurious) but SO beautiful. It was just a LOVELY area, and it was probably my favourite part of London! (I think I need to see the movie now...) After Notting Hill I went to St. Paul's Cathedral which was AMAZING (and enormous), probably my favourite Cathedral I've seen so far in Europe (and I've seen quite a few already!) It was actually where Princess Diana was married, so that was cool. After that I walked down to see the Tower Bride (Tower being its proper name, and not "London" Bridge as I thought before) and then later I did a night walking tour of London, where they told us about the darker side of the city: executions, deaths in the Tower of London, and of course the famous serial killer, Jack the Ripper, WHOM I found out was never caught BUT the man they suspected was a Canadian... awesome.

The next day I was flying out but not until the evening - unfortunately I had come down with something the night before and was still feeling quite sick the next day, so rather than walking around all day in the rain I decided to take it easy at my hostel and just get to the airport early. So I missed out on half a day of sightseeing, and the trip ended on a BIT of a low note, which was kind of the way it started, I guess! But I got to the airport early/stress free which was nice and got back to Aix with no problems.

ALL IN ALL, MY TRIP WAS AWESOME. I liked Dublin, then I really liked Edinburgh, then I really REALLY liked London - it kind of went in a perfect order because I ended up liking each city more than the last (but as I said, I really liked each one!) I found people were very friendly in every city (most of all Edinburgh!) so that was a nice change from the cool attitudes you often encounter in France. It was also refreshing to be in an English speaking environment, and not have to think at all about what I was saying (although I'll admit, I sometimes had a bit of difficulty with the accents over there, especially the Scottish ones!) I had initially been a bit nervous traveling alone but it turned out really good - sure, there were a few moments when I thought, it might be nice to be with someone right now - but I ended up meeting up with or meeting people in each city so it worked out really well! And I played more cards in that week than I've probably played in my life (not counting Uno of course.) But, and this may or may not sound silly, I'm kind of proud that I planned and executed the trip by myself and even though there were a couple of bumps along the way (ie. running around London at midnight trying to find the coach station) I dealt with it and kept a relatively cool head! One last thing: to anyone doing any traveling any time soon, these free walking tours are TOTALLY worthwhile. The website is as follows: http://www.neweuropetours.eu/ and there you can find what cities these tours are offered in. But they're really an awesome way to get to see a city!!!

All that being said, it's nice to be back in my room and with my friends here in Aix. But doing such a long trip does get me excited for what's coming up: next weekend, AMSTERDAM! Man, traveling gets addicting...