so we woke up at around 4, hopped on a taxi to the airport, took off from dublin to the london stansted airport. for those of you that do not know the lovely folks at ryan air, they have super cheap flights all over europe. the seats don't recline, advertisements are running throughout the flight, there is little that is pleasant about flying with them outside of the price. when we landed we realized that we were about 40 miles outside of london, but feat not, there was the easy bus, so we hopped on that after eating a traditional, delicious, and nutritious english breakfast consisting of burger king. we jumped on a bus, who our driver andrew said that he had many problems, one of which was that england didn't rule the world anymore, and that he couldn't get tickets to ozzfest this year. we all got a quick nap and woke up in london.
upon arrival we were trying to figure out what to do, we walked through piccadilly circus and headed for buckingham palace. we walked through a park and were taking in the whole london experience, we walked through a guard museum and took the cliche awkward photo next to a guard, except these ones didnt have the fuzzy hats, and looked like they would stab us if we touched them.
once we got that out of our system we arrived at buckingham palace, which was more than any of us were expecting
after that we headed for the city center, we were walking and all of a sudden looked up and there was big ben, towering over us, we also took the cliche photo of making it seem like we were pushing him.
we also learned that pope benedict XVI himself would be arriving at westminster abbey later that day. we all were surprised and decided to try and get a glimpse of a religious world leader. but since that was not for another few hours we decided to do other activities. my girlfriend and i went to do the london eye and the aquarium, which were both amazing.
after the group reunited we found a good perch to try and get a glimpse of his holiness. after about 45 minutes we caught a very, very fleeting glimpse of il papa. all in all it was worth it though he may not be the da lai lama, but hes relatively close.
after everyone was able to relax get a bite to eat and recharge a little we got on a boat and did a quick cruise of the river thames, we got to see several bridges one of which the waterloo bridge (which we got to see an original monet in a museum in dublin a few weeks prior) we also viewed cleopatras needle and the end of the cruise was the london bridge and london tower.
unfortunately it was too late to do a tour of the tower, and the next day we were going on a relatively large tour of windor castle, bath, and stonehenge.
so after our long day of adventuring ventured on the tube to our luxurious €30 a night bed and breakfast (which breakfeast was some insta-coffee and a small package of frosted flakes). where we had booked a room that didn'y necesarily fit our party, so we had to do a little bit of snekaing to get everyone in, but in the room it smelled and it was boiling hot and the window was nailed shut, so we went, talked to the front desk about getting a room change, so we once again had to hide people while the staff was helping us into a new room.
the next day we got onto our tour, which is what i had been waiting for what seemed to be my entire life, but i found that stonhenge was the last place we would be stopping, no problem, save best for last.
the first stop we made was at windor castle, we got to the see the outrageous collections the royal family had, every room we saw was filled to the brim with priceless works of art and artifacts. we had an hour and fort five minutes to see as much as we could, we tried but could not, there was too much stuff, and our stern tour guide told us that if we were a minute late we would be left behind. we barely made the cut and after seeing one of the most ridiculous buildings in existence we moved onto bath.
bath was an interesting town, it was not quite what i had been expecting, but it was still pretty cool, apparently nick cage and johnny depp own property in the town. the only thing i was concerned with was seeing the roman baths, which was a little bittersweet because in my mind i was expecting something roman still standing, but on the outside there was not, and the water of the bath had turned a welcoming pukey green color and there were signs not to touch it because over the years it had become heavily polluted. but below ground a few bits and pieces of the ancient roman empire still stood, which being a history lover i was more than jubilated to see. we had over an hour to see as much as possible and since this was a smaller area it was easy to do so, after seeing the baths we ventured throughout the town a little bit, but after awhile it was time to go, which filled me with jubilation because for me the main event was up next, the magical stones of stonehenge. (the spinal tap song was played several times)
after listening to the spinal tap song over and over, every cell in my being was stirring for this, i sat on the edge of my seat eagerly awaiting my first glimpses of my own promised land. when we finally approached the site i was taken by surprise, i did a massive double take and my eyes grew wide as dinner plates. as soon as the bus was parked i sprinted out of the bus trying to get as close as possible. it pained me to learn we only had 45 measly minutes. i thought "oh well might as well make the most of it" (which after writing this i realized my inner monologue has awesome alliteration) running out on the green i started snapping dozens of photos, i wanted to remember as much as possible. i listened to the audio tour to learn all about it. i cannot even begin to express how excited i was to be there, to finally see it with my own eyes. unfortunately i was enjoying myself so much that the 45 minutes had passed as if they were seconds. so i dreadfully trudged back onto the bus and said goodbye to those magical stones, but knowing me, ill be back.
once we arrived back in london we bummed around the city center to waste time (we only booked one night at the hotel because our flight back to dublin was so early we decided to stay up all night, we arranged for the easybus to take us back at 230 am) we did a little bit of shopping and my roommate took some awesome long exposure shots of parliament and big ben.
(photo credit eric pollock)
we bummed around and headed towards our bus stop, waited there for a bit and then all of a sudden my girlfriend claims she doesn't feel good, moments later she walks away and vomits, she repeated this process for about an hour, apparently the salad she had eaten had disagreed with here severely and was doing everything in its leafy green power to leave her system. after awhile she was able to stop being old faithful. she still felt woozy though, we got on the easybus back to the standsted airport, and said our goodbyes to london.
the standsted airport was extremely crowded, how the hell were there this many people this early in the morning (by this time it was about 330) and we decided to curl up on the nice soft marble flooring and nap until we had to check in for our flight.
we got back onto our cozy ryan air discount seats and said goodbye to england. we arrived back in dublin feeling like we had been gone for a week but it was just a weekend. overall this had been one of my favorite trips i took while in ireland, i have always wanted to see england and stonehenge, and i was able to do so, who knows when i will be back, but i know at some point i will.
