Monday, May 24, 2010

Manic Monday

Today was supposed to be the day that Tina & I went to the Tower of London. We decided to go on Wednesday since it is pretty much an all day adventure and we had some other little things we wanted to do today. We're trying to fit in everything we can in these few days we have left, so we don't miss out on anything we want to do.

So instead of going to the Tower today, we went instead to Kensington Palace & Gardens, where Princess Diana used to live. The palace itself and the grounds were very lovely, and lots of folks were out sunning themselves, kicking around a ball, or taking a stroll. We went from the palace to the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain (I'm not sure how far this was from the palace but it was a good walking distance anyway). The fountain was nearly impossible to get a good picture of because so many people were there visiting and playing in the water. They let you stick your feet in fountains here, and don't mind that you climb about in this fountain because it is low to the ground as is, and is also very shallow. There were lots of little kids there with their parents, and the girls (the ones about 5 or younger) were only wearing their bikini bottoms, and not the tops at all. We did dip our feet for a little while because we were very hot from the walk, but the water is ice cold, so we did not keep our feet in the water for more than ten minutes i'd say.

After this fountain we caught the bus up to Oxford Square. I wanted to go to Foyles, the rumored 8 story bookstore, as well as Hamley's Toy Store. We weren't able to find Foyles this afternoon, but we did make it to Hamley's, and that in itself was an adventure. The whole first floor seemed to be dedicated to teddy bears and Paddington bears, and they even had a Build A Bear Workshop as well. On one of the higher floors we found all of the Harry Potter memorabilia, and some of it was really awesome. They had Godric Gryffindor's sword, wands for Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville, Voldemort, Luna, Cedric, Krum, Fleur, and Bellatrix. They also had a Wizard's Chess Set with the pieces that looked just like the ones in the movie. I was highly impressed with it, and if i had a lot more money to spend and a whole new suitcase in which to put said chess set, I would have bought it. As it stands, I do not have 250 pounds.

After we left the store, we took photos with a man dressed like a pirate out front of Hamley's, and that was a lot of fun too. :) Tina got a nosebleed (not so fun) and we caught the bus back to Oxford Circus, and from there caught the tube to Tottenham Court Road, just two blocks or so from our hostel.

We got back to the hostel in time to rest for a bit before Tina had to leave to go to the London Eye with a few other folks that didn't manage to go on Thursday night. While she went to the Eye, Lacee, Abbi, and I went to Subway down the street and around the corner for dinner. The chicken they have tastes different here, and Abbi's sandwich had too much of the sweet onion sauce on it, and gave her an upset stomach.

After our trip to subway, we went back to the hostel and found that Chris and Tina had returned from the Eye, and Alli and Elysa joined shortly thereafter to chat about an email we got from Dr. Storm. None of us have really seen him for a few days since we've been off doing our own things pretty much, so he wanted us to check in and make sure we were all alive. We may have a dinner tomorrow that is our "last dinner" or we might do it wednesday, i'm really not sure. There is a little Italian place across the street from the British Museum that's open til 11 pm, so we might go there if we can.

This evening as we relaxed in the room, someone suggested we actually attend a pub, so that is what we did. Alli, Lacee, Christina, Elysa and I all went to Rising Sun and got our first official pub drinks. Alli, Christina and I all had the same thing, which was a "cider with fruit." It was very tasty, definitely a girly drink, and tasted more like fruit punch than anything else. It was hard to tell that there was actually any alcohol in it at all. Elysa had a Guiness (it looked pretty awesome in the glass, but I declined the offered sip).

After the pub time, we went back to the hostel and sat around chatting for awhile, and ended up playing "I have never ever," which is an interesting game to say the least. We had a lot of laughs, mostly because I was tipsy and saying silly things, and probably making silly faces, but it was a good time overall.

Tomorrow of course is Stonehenge, Salisbury (and i think one other place), and we leave from the museum next door at 9 am. We all are going to get up and shower/eat breakfast and hope we can all make it over there on time. I have no idea how long it will take for us to get from here to Stonehenge, but I hope that it isn't an extremely boring bus/train ride to any of the places we'll be. I'm charging plenty of camera batteries tonight so i have fresh juice for tomorrow. I definitely do NOT want to run out of working batteries before we ever make it to Stonehenge.

As for now, I'm pretty tired so I'm going to hit the sack. I can't believe we only have two full days left before we catch the plane back to the states. Its crazy!

Also, Gma, I will have 3 girls with me on the return trip. Tina doesn't have a person to pick her up from the airport so I said that it shouldn't be any problem for her to ride with us and then stay over with the others too. So it will be me, Jen, Christina, and Tina. If that is okay. I meant to email this earlier but I haven't been able to until now. :)

5 comments:

  1. Thanks Shawna...have a safe trip home..love Nanny

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  2. wow sounds pretty exciting, the toy store seemed fun--pac

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  3. Like G'ma is going to drive at that hour to come get you pond hoppers, so it looks like you're asking the wrong person. :p --J

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  4. Oh Stonehenge, soooo amazingly pretty...the day we went it was more overcast than normal, which gave everything a more eerie feeling. The bus ride we took out there was pretty, and there was definitely stuff to look at. Reminded me of driving through the Lake of the Ozarks hills with all the green there was. Hope you enjoy!

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  5. Thanks Nanny! :)

    The toy store was lots of fun, and I wish you could have been there to play with the toys with me. lol. :)

    Oh, okay Uncle J. Please? lol. We should be in at 7 pm on Thursday.

    Who is my anonymous poster? and thank you, it was very much fun!

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