Part 2 of my London adventure! Yeah I’m obvs procrastinating writing applications. But fo serious London was amazing. And also, excitement—I saw Paige Wolff! She was staying just down the street so we met up Saturday to hang out. It was freaking awesome to see a familiar face, especially one I hadn’t seen in so long. We did lose Alyssa and Brian for most of the time—since Brian had studied there he knew where he was going.
Saturday we got up early to go see the Changing of the Guard cause the tour bus company from Friday had a free walking tour. Btw the Tube is a magical invention—simple yet effective. None of the insanity of the NY subway system. Our tour guide, Rebecca, told us stories of the English monarchs as we walked towards Buckingham Palace, about how Queen Victoria was loved but her son, Edward, was not so he built lots of memorials to her in the hope that the people would love him as her son. Yeah, no such luck. We watched as the Old Guard (who’d been on duty for 48 hours) came out of St. James’ Palace and lined up in the courtyard, before the band came out. They played ‘Putting on the Ritz,’ which is not exactly what I thought was going to happen, but it was cool! Apparently they play random things…one time they played the Indiana Jones theme haha. Anyway, I approve. We followed Rebecca around the side to see the New Guard begin marching from the opposite street. Rebecca Perez (my friend) was very impressed they were marching an oboe and a bassoon haha. After much marching and strutting, I think the guard was officially changed. It’s apparently a great honor for a regiment to be chosen, and the uniforms that they wear depends on the regiment as well as the season—red uniforms are only for summer, unfortunately.
After that we all split up; Katie, Dannie, Paige, and I went to the Tower of London cause it looked unbelievable while Rafa and Rebecca went to museums (ew :P ). Well the Tower was amazing. It’s freaking HUGE!! And old—the original White Tower (in the center of the complex now) was built in the 1100s by William the Conqueror. Gradually more was built around it, and it was used as a royal fort and later palace, though it was also used as a prison for high-profile prisoners. The tour guides, Beefeaters, still live here, which I think is awesome. The Warden of the Tower lives in the Queen’s House, which Henry VIII built before Anne Boleyn, but she was executed before it was finished. She spent her last nights able to see it. Now I wanna be a Beefeater. Sadly to become one you have to serve 22 years in the Queen’s Armed Forces, and retire with certain medals. So…yeah…I don’t have much of a chance…boo. The Crown Jewels were insane—I have never seen that much jewelry in one place. It’s such a waste that they’re almost never worn!! I would wear that crown every day, fo serious, just to remember that, yeah, I own an effing huge diamond. I would settle for the ceremonial sword, though, cause it’s really beautifully decorated. Sadly Oliver Cromwell, that bastard, melted down most of the royal regalia, so the super old crowns of the original English royalty are gone. I mean, the ‘new’ crown is from the 1600s so I guess it’s old too, but how cool would it have been to see the crown of William the Conqueror?!
We were there for 3 hours and still didn’t see everything, but we were exhausted and decided to head back. Paige and I headed back to our hostels, but not before getting frozen yogurt at this amazing place that had student deals. Sooooooo unbelievably good. AND they put strawberries on it—epic win to the max. That night we went back to King’s Cross to FINALLY get a pic at Platform 9 ¾, aka where it was hidden away on Platform 8 cause of construction. Damn you Royal Wedding slash Olympics…everything is being fixed up blah. After, we stayed in and drank wine and watched TV cause it was miserable and rainy. Rafa did go out to visit a friend, though.
Sunday we slept in and almost all of us went to the Museum of Natural History. Fun, but I was quickly museum-ed out cause there were an insane number of people, mostly tiny children, there. Rafa and I went off to our Doctor Who Experience which was, as I quickly learned, a 40 minute walk. That was unfortunate, but TOTALLY WORTH IT. OMG. SO AWESOME. We went inside the TARDIS and it moved and the Doctor sent us on an adventure and the Weeping Angels were there ugh. Idk if I’ve ever fangirled this hard, but we had a great time. They had all the Doctor’s costumes there and the monsters, and the villains, and lots of other things. I cannot wait until the new season starts, fo realz.
We stayed up all night to catch our bus at 2:30am, drinking lots of cheap wine and eating more Thai food and fro yo. Om nom delish fo sho. We got to the airport before it was open oy so unfortunate. I was exhausted, but happy to be back. London was awesome, but I was glad to have my own room and I did miss Cork a bit.
I did find out from Paige that my friend Scott from high school (who goes to Quinnipiac like my roommates) was gonna visit Ireland, and I learned that my roomies do know him. What a small freaking world. Obvs high school is NOT behind me haha.
Slán go fóill!
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