London: Stuck because of a Volcano

Ok so basically after getting back to Spain the next day I left for London. I left Wednesday night and got there at like 2am so I just checked into the hostel, which was located in South Kensington, which ended up being a great location.

Telephone Booth

I woke up the next morning and had breakfast in the hostel before heading on a free walking tour of London. The walking tour was New London, which was the same walking tour company I used in Prague. The tour was great. The tour started at the Wellington Arch, which included a monument in memory of the Battle of Waterloo, which was a big battle the British won against the French. Following this I walked to see Buckingham Palace and then St. James Palace, which is where the Prince William and Harry live. Then I headed to Trafalgar Square and Nelson’s Column and then went to 10 Downing Street that is where many government officials live. Then I headed over to the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abby, which is where the walking tour ended.
After the walking tour I grabbed some lunch before getting on another walking tour that would take us to the Old Part of the City. During this tour we first saw the Temple Church, which was the church in the Da Vinci Code. Next I saw a law school and learned that it is much more difficult to become a lawyer in London then in the United States. Following this I saw a clock that was in the movie Harry Potter along with the Courts of Justice, which is where high influential people get divorced. Also, I saw the statue of a dragon that is the symbol of the City of London. Following this I walked to the river to see the London Bridge, Tower Bridge, and Millennium Bridge that connect the different areas of London across the Thames River. From this point I was able to see the Globe Theater and the Tate Modern Museum. Next I headed to the financial distract of London and saw the Bank of London and the Stock Exchange. Finally the tour ended at St. Paul’s Cathedral, which is one of the largest cathedrals in the world. That night for dinner I went to an Indian restaurant because London is actually known for having a lot ethnic restaurant because it is a place that a lot of people migrate too.
The following morning I woke up, had breakfast, and then headed to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards, which was really cool since it is a tradition that has been going on for decades.

Changing of the Guards

After this I went to ride the London Eye, which is the biggest ferris wheel in the world and took 30 minutes to make the complete circle. The London Eye was a lot of fun and gave me the opportunity to take some great pictures of the London skyline. For lunch I went to this chain restaurant in London called Wagamama’s that had some great Chinese food that I was defiantly missing in Spain. That afternoon I went inside the Tower of London to see the crown jewels. I took a tour with a Beef Eater, who are men who served the British army for 22 years and are now retired and live in the Tower of London. After the tour I saw the crown jewels, which were beautiful, saw the torture tower, and a tour that houses the armor of past kings. Then I headed to Portabella Road of go to the Portabella Market, which was a lot of fun to walk around. I saw George Orwell’s house and got an amazing cupcake at the Hummingbird Bakery. That night for dinner I just went to a local pub and got a traditional chicken pot pie.

London at Night

So the next morning I woke up to find out that my flight was canceled due to volcanic ash from the volcano in Iceland that had erupted on Thursday. This is where the start of our adventure would be. I tried to find out other ways to get out of London but everything looked really booked so instead I just decided to try again later and headed to the British Museum. In the museum there were a lot of cool exhibits but I enjoyed seeing the Rosetta Stone and the mummy of Cleopatra. Then we went to Westminster Abby to go to Evensong mass because it was a way to get inside without having to pay the ridiculous entrance fee. The choir was amazing and the church was really cool. After this I went to another market that was in the section of London known as Camden. Then since we were all stressed we decided it would be fun to go see a movie since it was in English. Before the movie I got Thai food for lunch and then went to go see Shutter Island, which ended up being really great and had an amazing twist at the end. After the movie I just headed back to the hostel and tried to figure out some stuff.
In the morning we woke up early to go to the Eurostar train station to see if we could buy train tickets from London to Paris in order to just get us on continental Europe. The first available tickets were for Tuesday and currently it was Monday so we just decided to buy them. After this I headed to a different area of London known as Parsons Green to go stay the night with my friend’s aunt because our hostel was full and originally we did not know when we were going to be able to get train tickets so we planned to stay with her aunt. My friend’s aunt, Debbie, was really hospitable and opened our home up to us for the night and made us an amazing dinner. It was nice to be able to relax and just hand out for a while.
Tuesday morning we got up had some breakfast and just hung around the house waiting to leave for our train, which was not until 5pm. Finally I went to the trains station and boarded the 2 hour Eurostar fast train to Paris. I got to Paris around 7:30pm and meet with a friend who was studying abroad in Paris and was going to let us stay the night in her apartment. I grabbed some dinner and then we went to see the Eiffel Tower at night and saw the light show that occurring every hour.

Eiffel Tower at Night

I was exhausted from the journey so that night I just got back to the room and fell straight asleep. The next morning I got up grabbed a creep and then headed to the bus station because I would be taking a 15 hour bus ride back to Madrid. The bus ride was not as bad as it could have been because the driver stopped frequently and the French countryside was really pretty. I finally arrived back in Madrid on Wednesday at 7am and by the time I took the train to Alcala I arrived at my apartment to shower, unpack, and then head to class. Even through it was really stressful to get back I did make it back to Alcala in one piece and it gave me a great story to write about.