18th-20th February

It’s currently 8:03pm, and I have just checked into St Christopher’s Inn, the Village. This was a different one compared to the one I went to a few weeks ago. I’m in a mixed room tonight, of 14 beds, consisting of girls and guys. It’s quite interesting actually, as soon as I walked in, a Spanish guy, named John greeted me, asked me where I was from etc. He comes from Spain but he’s come to live in London. So that was pretty good. I left school around 3:30pm this afternoon, and have arrived in this hostel since 20 to 8. Though I’m checking out tomorrow, I’m moving into a private dorm with my family friend – Den. I’m waiting for her arrival sometime tonight, although I think we’re just going to head to bed early as we need to be at Westminister – London County Hotel tomorrow to get picked up on the tour to head to Stonehenge, Windsor and Bath. We’re also going on a night tour of London on an open bus (I think it is), so I don’t expect us to be back at the hostel quite early. I guess that’s pretty much it really, well for now. I’m only typing this up in a word document so that I can publish it in a massive post when I head back to Hunstanton, and so that it may be easier to recall events and locations that I’ve been to, instead of having to think so much when I get back and having to write a blog about various things that happened on different days – I know that will confuse me heaps.

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It’s now 7.26AM, Sunday morning, the20th of February 2011. I have so much to say already.

On Friday night, I met two Australians from Manly, that are engaged, and are travelling Europe for six months – pretty much like gypsies (as they would call it). It was good talking to them, they gave me plenty of ideas, and tips on how to save whilst travelling. They were so nice, and the nice thing about them was that they aren’t those couples that give out a PDA all the time while they’re around others. So yeah, I was literally talking to them for four hours in the dorm, while I was waiting for Dane. She arrived at the London Bridge tube station around 11pm, so I walked to pick her up and bring us both back to the hostel. We woke up around 5AM, to get ready, and get out by 6.30AM, arrived at Westminister tube station just a few minutes before 7AM. We had coffee and breakfast at Cafe Nero, just in front of Big Ben, overlooking Westminister Abbey, and the London Eye. Then we headed to London County Marriot Hall, where we were picked up by the hotel services to take us to the tour of ‘Windsor, Stonehenge and Bath’. We got on the bus around 8.45am, and headed off to Windsor, which was our first stop. It took longer than expected because of traffic, and the traffic was due to the Queen being around town, heading towards Windsor. Ahha. Oh, and I also learnt that the J.K Rowling is the richest woman in England, according to the ‘rich list’ they publish annually, and that the Queen is ‘only’ 253^rd in the line of the rich list. We explored Windsor Castle, took many photos. Unfortunately, because it’s ‘Royal property’ we weren’t allowed to take photos inside the castle itself, so Dane and I went out earlier than the others to take photos outside. After that, we headed to Stonehenge, which was a little bit of a trek, because it took an hour to get there, but we stopped over for lunch on the way. Stonehenge is actually a mystery, and they cannot track down on how it actually came to place because the ancestors never left anything behind. Apparently, it came together during the times when the Egyptians were building pyramids, but unlike the Egyptians, who left hieroglyphics for those archaeologists, the English didn’t leave anything behind. And the rocks that were there, there are 30 of them, and they start from under the earth, apparently come from the north (Scotland) or the west (Wales) – not so sure on that one. But it would’ve taken then centuries to arrange the stones like that. And it was planned, because it’s perfect for the sun to shine just in the middle of the circle. People think that those who put it together those many years ago were worshippers of the sun and the moon. But it all still remains a mystery. We didn’t stay in Stonehenge for too long, because we were a little behind schedule, so we quickly headed over to Bath. And passing by the villages on the way there, oh my gawd, it was just absolutely amazing! A village isn’t a village, unless it has a pub and a church. Margot, our tour guide told us that pubs originally started back in the day in villages. Because the next village was a couple of hundred miles away, men who had work wanted a place to ‘chill’ at over night. So there were people who gave out a free room in their house to the public. They didn’t know what to call it, but because the brewers were giving them alcohol to sell, they needed something for the business, so basically, PUB comes from the word PUBLIC. It was for those people who couldn’t read very well, so hence, instead of saying ‘bed and breakfast’, etc, it was called the PUB. Bath was our last place of visit. I could’ve literally fainted when we got off the bus. It was just LITERALLY that amazingly, heavenly. I don’t even think words are worthy of describing it. It was just.... omggggggg...... and I’m being serious. The Roman Baths were just so nice, the hot baths, and springs. It was so beautiful, and I’m being legit. The shops there were really pretty as well, and the architecture, omg, don’t even start me. It was just built so... so beautifully, and as corny as that sounds, it’s a ‘you got to be there moment in order for you to understand it’ kinda moment. After Bath, we headed back into London, where we were supposed to go on a night tour of London, but the stupid bus company had to cancel because of the traffic congestions and something about the bus. So I was pretty angry, although sweet talking the manager was alright, he said he’d give me a refund. He thought I was English, and refused to give me one. I said I was from Australia and all that kinda thing, but he thought that I’ve been living in England. Omg, what a confusing man. So instead of that little drama, Dane and I headed to Piccadilly to find something to eat. We chose pizza hut because it was literally the first restaurant we saw, and by this time of night, we were both hungry. We had pizza and nachos. And I’m honestly loving how everything is so cheap, even when you do convert it back to the Australian dollar, it’s still cheap. After dinner, around 11pm, we hit the nightlife of London, walked around Piccadilly Circus, and into many of the shops that were still opened. We finally found where China Town was. And it is an actually town, unlike the China town alley in Sydney. Walked around practically anywhere we could walk to and from. The national galleries looked so nice, it was like the State Library of New South Wales, except probably 20 times bigger. It’s still soaking into me, the fact that I’m actually here. I’m still pinching myself in the morning, wondering if this is really true. But it’s reality, and I’m loving it. We got onto the 1.40AM bus from Trafalgar Square, and headed to London Bridge, where we literally just crashed on the bed and slept. It was good to have a private room for last night, it was just Dane and I, so the privacy was good, instead of having 8 or 14 other people around. So yeah, basically, now this brings me to where I am now. It’s now 8:04am, and check out time is at 10am, so I should really be getting packed to go to another dorm later on.

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Photos are up on my facebook! :) x