Travels

I'm finally back in my dorm in Newcastle after a long few days of traveling! Let me see...I arrived in Newcastle Wed. around 11am/noon-ish, and we had about forty minutes to drop our stuff in the dorm and meet back with the group. From there we walked to downtown Newcastle and eventually made it to dinner after not eating for a long time. We ate at some Sports Bar (on Loyola's dime) and in the evening took a walk down to the riverside. Along the way we saw the Newcastle castle, and then at the river the Newcastle bridge. The bridge was really pretty lit up at night, and it changes color every few minutes.

Thursday we took a trip to Tynemouth, which is a small seaside community. We ate lunch at a fish and chips place...but I did not eat fish...I ate chicken bites and chips instead. I'm sure sometime I will try the fish...but not just yet. We sat along this wall that was just outside the Tynemouth Priory, and faced the small beach and water. Afterwards we were able to go into the Priory...it was so pretty. It was basically a fort for all the many wars, however it was never attacked by land, only by air. The ruins were really great, and as well preserved as can be expected.

Friday began our London trip! I was super excited to go to London, we just had to get through the six hour bus ride there. It wasn't too bad...I slept a lot of the way and Kelly and I watched out the window as we drove by hundreds of sheep, cows, and horses...soo different than highways on the East Coast of the US, and very pretty. Our hotel/hostel in London was tiny, and my room had 8 girls in it. I slept on the top bunk! Not exactly something I would normally do but once I managed to climb up there it was pretty cool. Friday night Kelly and I went out with some others to dinner and then we made it to a bar...which wasn't too bad..except there was hardly anyone in it, so we went back early. The place we ate was a Cuban food place and they had live dancing/dance lessons so it was cool to watch.

Saturday was so great! We had to wake up early and the entire group took the Tube to the House of Parliament for our tour. It was pretty interesting to see...except we were all tired so whenever the tour guide let us sit down we kinda dozed of a bit...whoops! But after the tour, me and a few other girls went to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards! It was soo cool...and really crowded. The Palace is huge, and has large gates surrounding it and a beautiful statue in front. Despite being smashed in between a mix of British and other international people, I was able to snap some nice photos. The changing of the guards had a procession of a band, the guards and some kind of military looking guards - not quite sure. Very formal. There were police men on horseback on crowd control also! The palace also has beautiful gardens outside.

After the changing of the guard ceremony, we walked over to Trafalgar Square. It looked like this had a few embassies there, as well as a fountains and statues where people were sitting out enjoying the beautiful weather we had. We grabbed something to eat from a nearby cafe and sat out by one of the fountains also. Then we went into the National Gallery. It was amazing - I was able to see paintings by Money, Da Vinci, and Van Gogh! I got in trouble for trying to take a picture as well....whoops! Hey, we're able to do that in Baltimore museums!

Kelly and I then separated from the four other girls we were with, after visiting the National Gallery gift shop. We set out to find our next destination...Abercrombie and Fitch! It was in an area with lots of shopping and food places. Somehow we managed to walk right past Abercrombie...and somehow some random guy on a cig break was able to tell we were looking for it and told us where it was...lol. I guess we might have stuck out on that side street we thought it was on. Inside we took a picture with the live model! Afterwards we walked through some other shops...saw some extremely expensive clothing inside Ralph Lauren (5,000 GBP for some fur thing...equals almost 8-10 US dollars)...and stopped in an Ice Cream Bar, which was delicious!