Things have been boring. Not too much to report on. Just working on a few papers. Don’t have anything planned for tomorrow either. Thursday evening is the lighting of the Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square. I’ll get pictures up as soon as I get back Thursday!!
…next to last week. Yes, that is correct. I’m nearing the end of my time in London. Unbelievable!
Yesterday was the start of Advent. I was recommended by a wonderful couple that I met over break to view the services at either St. Paul’s Cathedral or Westminster Abbey. It was quite a decision of which to see but the candlelight service at Westminster Abbey won. The service was amazing. I recommend it to anyone who is here during the occasion. There’s nothing like being in Westminster Abbey, at night, only lit by candles. Thanks Bonnie for this wonderful idea!
My last weekend is quickly approaching and I have a few places to still visit. I want to visit Oxford, Brighton and Canterbury. In no specific order these are my last remaining goals while I’m still on this island. It’s rather ambitious but I will prevail! I still want to swing into the Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum here in London. After that I will officially completed everything that I wanted to do while abroad. Next Friday, my last will be one last swoop around the city to see the great landmarks one last time. I can’t believe I’m actually thinking about this!!
I took ma and pa back to the airport this morning. Everything went without issue. Mom is quite worn out but she did survive the week, just. And dad did too!!
Yesterday I once again hired a car, just for the day this time. Mom wanted to see the prime meridian at Greenwich and Hampton Court Palace. So we took off early in the morning in our Vauxhall Astra heading for Greenwich Park. There we wandered around the Royal Observatory in the drizzle that would accompany us all day.
After our visit there we headed across the south of London through terrible Friday afternoon traffic. This is when I really wished I’d opted for an automatic transmission. Regardless I now have a stronger left leg. We arrived at Hampton Court with only a little time to actually go through. We did hit all the major areas however, minus the gardens. But it was raining and despite the current situation, would have been miserable to go through. The rooms within were beautifully decorated and were massive. It must have been quite extraordinary to live in there in the 1700s. There had been a fire in the King’s portion of the state rooms. It was repaired and refurbished and looks fantastic.
We then departed Hampton Court with the Satnav set for Piccadilly Circus in the centre of London. I want mom and dad to see the lights there as well as the Christmas lights of Regent Street and Oxford Street. We looped up through there seeing everything and being one of the few cars on Oxford Street mixed amongst the busses. Quite intimidating! We stopped off at a few shops and got them some souvenirs, dropped them off back at the hotel, returned the car, and dined on some pub food before calling it an evening!
I’ll put of pictures of yesterday as well as pictures from their trips to Windsor, Stonehenge, and Paris.
Status Update
In two week time I should be landing, or near landing at Philadelphia International.
I have a little bit of a dilemma on my hands. After I return home, finish up covering my experience here and write about re-culturing myself the the way of the United States I don’t really know what to do with my blog. I will keep it up for quite a while. I hope to go back through and do a lot of proofing and minor tweaks to the posts, but once that is done I have no idea what else to write about. So for the next couple weeks I’d like to hear from everyone who has been viewing and ready for the past 3 months to leave some feedback on where and what you’d like to see from my site. I’d love to post about my last semester at school but it would all be the same; cold, it snowed, and class sucked. So I’m open for ideas!!
So far all is good! Mom and Dad had a good time Monday on their tour of London. Mom did excellent on her crutches. They got to see all of the major sites around the city including Camilla, Prince Charles’s wife pulling out of their gate. They even saw a lifting of Tower Bridge! Check out the pictures in the gallery to see what they saw!
Yesterday we made a substitute for Black Friday, only a little early. In the morning we went to Harrods. We got to see a good bit of it including the toys and Christmas world. Those are the most important parts in my opinion. We then headed up to the new Westfield Shopping Centre. This is now the largest mall in Europe and we have been there! We took a cab to these places just for simplicity and the people at Westfield were very nice to Mom.
In the evening, after some great pub food, we ventured up to the Winter Wonderland festival in Hyde Park. They have quite a celebration going on there. There is a German Christmas market set up with vendors selling nearly everything, an ice skating rink, food, rides, lights, and of course Father Christmas. I’m so glad that we made it there!
Today Mom and Dad left a 5:15am for their day trip to Paris. This is the same one that Jamie and I took when she was here. I have no doubt they will have a great time. I just hope it warms up for them a little. I’ll be posting pictures once they have returned. Tomorrow is their trip to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath. Again, the same one that Jamie and I took.
Mom and Dad got in yesterday around lunch time after a rather rough flight over. There was lots of turbulence landing at Heathrow. We got back to the hotel with little fuss, got lunch and then headed up to my flat so they could see where I have been residing for the last three months. I gathered my stuff up and we trudged back down to the hotel had a little bit of a rest and took off for supper. All three of us were worn out after this so we called it a night rather early.
This morning we were up early to get breakfast and get Mom and Dad on their way. They have a tour of London today! They get to see all the famous sites around the city that I have already documented. But of course they need to see the sites up close! The finish up this evening at the London Eye where I will meet them so we can make our way back to the hotel.
Tomorrow we are set to see Hampton Court Palace but we’ll see how today goes before that is finalized. I’ll make sure to post some pictures from their endeavors today!
Yes, Ma and Pa Devers are on their way to Philadelphia as I type. They’ll be boarding the plane later this evening and arriving at Heathrow in the morning. Stay tuned for updates! It’s going to be an early morning tomorrow.
We have a few things planned. Not sure what all we’ll get done but this is a possible preview: Hampton Court Palace, Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, Greenwich, they will also be going to Stonehenge and Bath as well as the same trip Jamie and I took back in October. We’re also going to try and check out the new shopping centre in West London. It’s the largest in Europe. That’s scheduled for Friday, need to feed Mom’s craving for shopping on Black Friday!
Update on things, I have 20 days left in London. This time in three weeks I should be nearing Philadelphia International. How exciting!! Still lots of work to get done before that time is up. Wish me luck!
Today was quite a chilly one! I threw on my coat and out the door I went with some friends to Borough Market. It’s just south of the city buried within the track of London Bridge train station. This is mainly a food market that offers everything from cheese, fruit and veg, meat, and fish. There are free samples there so go on an empty stomach! While there I picked up an ostrich sandwich. I found it quite good and would definitely eat it again!!
The group was then heading to Greenwich which I passed on. I wanted to check out Kensington Palace, Kensington Gardens, and Hyde Park. I took a nice stroll through there stumbling across the Princess Diana fountain. Its quite an odd one and not what I expected. It’s very simple and modern in design. Quite a difference from the Royal Albert memorial just a short walk away. Never the less there are a few pictures of that and the Serpentine which runs through the center of Hyde Park. Have a look around.
Good news, Mom and Dad will be here in less than two days. I’m excited!!
Seems to be just as many times as my mom does! NONE! Just wanted to say that I hope you start to feel better soon mom! Love you!
The iPhone survived as well, a new case and all is fine.
When I wake up in the mornings I usually check the weather on my Phone. I was surprised to see this forecast for Spring Church. So I guess London isn’t so bad. It will be like the tropics when my parents come over!
One thing that seems to scare every American I am studying with is driving on the left side of the road. Really, what could be so hard? Well, it wasn’t. I’m sure I did some things wrong, my roundabout etiquette probably wasn’t up to par but all in all it wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be!
I retrieved my car at 8am Friday morning. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t get the Vauxhall Corsa, but a Peugeot 207! Now that isn’t a huge upgrade but it did mean a larger motor, diesel economy and more space. Unfortunately it’s French! We all know how well the British and French get along. So the basics were: steering wheel on the right, manual transmission in the middle, and satnav stuck to the windshield. Fantastic! I set off into the Friday morning rush hour of northern London. Because of London’s Congestion Charge (pay £8/day to drive in central London) I couldn’t afford any wrong turns. I had to stick to the one exempt road which passed through this zone. I was immediately thrown out into stop and go city traffic on a different side of the road, a different car, and a manual transmission which I could manage fairly well. While leave I only stalled it once! So I followed the A40 (two lane road) west towards Oxford and then meeting up with the M40 (a motorway, equivalent to an interstate) which I took directly into the Cotswolds.
My first destination was the charming town to Chipping Norton. I wasn’t going because of the charm! I followed a route suggested by the Chipping Norton website which provided my first experience through the countryside and my first experience on a B road (basically a back road). The view was absolutely spectacular. The roads were bordered by hedges that are used as fences and stacked stone walls. These walls are what have made the Cotswolds famous. They are just simply stones stacked to about three feet high. No mortar is used to hold them together, just gravity. Some have fallen, most are still standing. There are pictures of both of these in the Road Trip album.
I reached Chipping Norton mid-morning. The main reason for my stop here was to find Jeremy Clarkson’s house. I have coordinates for his house which I located on Google Maps and found a route there. I got turned around a few times trying to get there, my roundabout skills weren’t very good at this point! I finally found it and was sad to find it surround by a tall stone wall. I do have a picture of that and his gate though!! So with that out of the way I found a car park (parking lot), parked my little Peugeot and went for a stroll. Like I said earlier, its quite a charming town. There was a store for everything and no large grocery stores. Just like an old town. I had lunch in a small pub. Quite expensive for a small sandwich but everyone has to eat!
My next stop was recommended by a local. A small town on the Welsh border called Hay on Wye. I had made a reservation at a hotel for the night. My goal was to reach the town by nightfall which happens around 4pm these days. I had picked out a nice route which avoided all motorways and I did my best to avoid A roads as well. I spent a good bit of time on the B4077. I can say that this was my favorite road of the whole trip. It was winding with beautiful views, colorful trees and of course the Porsche Boxer which I kept playing catch up with! It was good fun and I’d love to drive that road again sometime.
I arrived in Clyro in Wales (the town where the hotel was at) at dusk. I checked into the hotel and relaxed for a bit. My eyes were stressed and my mind exhausted or maybe it was the other way round. I don’t know, I was too tired! I then headed into town. It was 2 miles down a dark, windy B road. Not exactly what I wanted to drive on at night. I did get a fantastic piece of lamb there, which I paid dearly for. You have to indulge yourself every now and again! Since the town was so far away there wasn’t going to be a wild, exciting evening ahead. I decided to walk around a bit (and took a few pictures) and then retired for the night on the top floor of the Baskerville Hall Hotel.
The next morning I awoke to a dreary sky, a full breakfast and the open road! I swung through Hay on Wye during the daytime, no pictures, sorry. I then set off for Cheltenham, the center of the Cotswolds. I wanted to make it there and another town before nightfall so I stuck to the motorways today. I reached Cheltenham, had a walk around. I found the Christmas Market which they had going on. I had a stroll around there, enjoyed the crafts and the Christmas music. Time was running short on my parking stub so I set off for Cirencester. I purchased a book which had different routes around the Cotswolds. I unfortunately got a little turned around and ended up in Cirencestester a bit earlier than expected. No worries though! I had a walk around. There had some fantastic buildings and the parish there was on par with the abbeys around England.
The day began to run short so I packed up, jumped in my little car and for the first time set the satnav for home. I think navigation is a stupid idea for enjoying the scenery and everyday driving. However I wanted to be back in the city before dark, so I punched in my postcode and away I went! I ended up coming into the west end of London at 4pm. Traffic was terrible and my left foot got the workout of it’s life. I dropped the car off shortly there after and caught the bus back to my flat.
It was truly fantastic to step back onto a bus and be driven once again. This was however one of the best things that I have done while here. I recommend that anyone who travels here to leave enough time for a drive through the countryside. It’s the only way you’ll be able to enjoy it at your own pace.
