First Half of Spring Break

Thursday:
Last Thursday (March 5th) Bridget’s brother came to visit for a week. After he got here and we had lunch in the refectory, we decided it was time to show him some of the sights! We went to Buckingham Palace and Westminster Cathedral and then stopped into Costa Coffee for something to warm us up! I got a vanilla latte (which was FREAKING AWESOME!!!!) Bridget got tea (naturally) and Michael got hot chocolate (which neither Bridget or I could taste since we had given chocolate up for Lent…notice the had…)

After that we headed to Westminster to see Westminster Abbey, Westminster Bridge, Big Ben, and Parliament. We walked around, took lots of pictures and just had a lot of fun, all while FREEZING!

Then we came back and went to Pizza Express for dinner. After dinner we headed to The Globe (the pub, not Shakespeare’s Globe) for a couple rounds. We ended up leaving shortly after Michael was serenaded by a homeless man who became quite hostile after the singing was over….it was a fun night!

Friday:
We slept late and then got up and headed out for some shopping on Oxford Street. I got 2 pairs of shoes, a belt, and a t-shirt in Primark for less than £10!! How cool, right!?!

After a bit of shopping, we stopped for a Belgian Waffle at the little stand. We all got our waffles with ice cream. Not even a minute after we got them I broke my plastic fork in half trying to eat mine. Of course, they both laughed and made fun of me. I went to get a new one and was very careful as I was eating. Well Bridget ended up breaking the prongs off of her fork and had already proceeded to eat them…she had eaten plastic…the sharpest pieces nonetheless…and she made fun of ME!!! <3

After that we decided we should do something “touristy” with Michael and went to Trafalgar Square. It was kinda too dark to take pictures so we just messed around a bit and decided to come back in the daylight so he could take pictures. From Trafalgar we went to Belgo Centraal, a FABULOUS Belgian restaurant in Covent Garden. The place was so quaint! The waiters are dressed as monks and we sat on benches instead of chairs, etc. As the Belgians are famous for their beers, it seemed fitting that we try them. Bridget and I started off with a Framboise (a FANTASTIC) raspberry beer. I also had a blackcurrant beer which was rather good too! For dinner Michael got Bangers and Mash (sausage and mashed potatoes), Bridget got half a chicken with sweet chili and ginger sauce and frites (fries) and I got beef carbonnade with frites. ALL of the food was SOOOO good and we were so full! We all took guesses as to what the bill would be since we thought that with all the beer and the food that our bill would be expensive. Bridget guessed £88.50, I guessed £85 and Michael guessed £97.25. We were ALL WAY OFF. Our bill was £54! We were amazed!

2 thumbs up for Belgo Centraal!

So after our great experience at Belgo, we headed across the street to Bünker Bar. We didn’t really want to stay, we just wanted to check it out so we decided to do a Jaeger bomb each and head out. I had never done one before but DAMN was it good!

We wanted to show Michael around Leicester Square a bit too, so after Bünker Bar we went to Ed’s Easy Diner for milkshakes. On the way we saw one of those bicycle taxis laying on its side. For picture purposes, Bridget had a “tragic” accident and ended up laying on the ground in front of the bike tire…priceless and unforgettable moment!

After Ed’s we headed toward Piccadilly Circus to show Michael O’Neill’s Pub and Chinatown.

Saturday:
We slept late again and then went out to the bank and to exchange currency. I needed to get some euro for Ireland and we also needed to exchange our “drinking money.” See, Bridget and I had been saving up “drinking money” for Ireland in an empty water bottle. We had saved £47 in spare change in just about 4-5 weeks!! So after exchanging all our pounds for euros we came back here to try and find something “touristy” to do again. It was pretty late and since we were bums until the afternoon, not much was open anymore. We decided to go to the Tate Modern since it is open till 10PM on weekends and then head to the Bok Bar for dinner.

The tubes here run like shit on the weekends because they are doing TONS of construction on them to improve them. So some lines are closed completely while others are closed between certain locations, etc. Because of this, we are becoming pros at the buses too! Anyway, since it was a Saturday we had to be creative with our routes!

We took the tube to Farringdon and then the bus to Blackfriars so we could head to the Tate. Since it was on the other side of the Thames, we decided that we were going to walk over the Millennium footbridge to get there.

Millennium Bridge!

On our way to the bridge we came across St. Paul’s Cathedral. It was MASSIVE and GORGEOUS and I was completely in awe!

Bridget and I in front of St. Paul's Cathedral

After walking over the Millennium Bridge we went and looked at the outside of The Globe (Shakespeare’s this time…) and then went into the Tate. The Tate was fun and I definitely enjoyed it. It was something different, which was nice.

Entrance to Tate Modern...which way do we go?!

We headed back towards the Bok Bar but when we got there they had stopped serving food already so we went to Ask for dinner. Ask is AMAZING and I got penne, chicken and spinach in a gorgonzola cheese sauce…uhhh it was FABULOUS!!!

Then it was time for bed since we had a long day ahead of us on Sunday!

Sunday:
We got up early and headed to Westminster Abbey for their 10:00AM Matins (mass). It was a really nice service and we were right in front (they seat you) so we got to see more than if we were in the back. It was a bit different than the church services I am used to. In the Methodist church the congregation is quite active in the service. There is lots of singing and dialogue interaction between the pastor and the congregation, etc. At Westminster the program pretty much said that most of the service is sung by the choir alone. I believe there were two places in the service that we spoke. It was really different and interesting and I loved being able to see the inside of the Abbey!

Going to mass at Westminster Abbey!

After the service we headed over to Poet’s Corner in the Abbey to see the graves of Geoffrey Chaucer, T.S. Elliot, Rudyard Kipling, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning and more! We were still looking when we were asked to leave. I had never been kicked out of church before! But there was another service starting and we had to leave.

Despite being a bit chilly, it was a beautiful, clear, sunny day and we decided it was PERFECT to go on the London Eye! After a quick stop at Nero for breakfast (where I had the greatest caramelatte) we headed toward the Eye. Though the line was long, it moved pretty quick and before we knew it, we were on and seeing all of London from above!

Me in front of the London Eye!

Big Ben from the London Eye!

Bridget and I on the London Eye!

Look! I'm taller than Big Ben!

When our ride was over we headed toward 10 Downing Street (where Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister lives). We didn’t get to see his actual door since there were gates and guards everywhere but it was still neat!

We walked back to Trafalgar so that Michael could get daytime pictures and then boarded a bus to Tower of London.

You might remember that just a bit ago I wrote how great the weather was. Well the second we got to the tower it started to rain. Quite hard. It was great though because it added to the effect of the tower! So we went through and took lots of fun pictures, acted silly and learned a lot, watched the end of the Changing of the Guard and saw the Crown Jewels, etc.

I don't think I would make a good soldier...the helmets don't fit me!

When we came out to head over Tower Bridge to The Globe (Shakespeare’s) it was bright, beautiful and sunny again. It was like the weather was working with us to optimize our experience (haha okay, that might have been taken TOO far…)!

We stopped for a quick bite in the café outside the Tower (since history makes you hungry!) before heading over the Tower Bridge. We decided to do the Tower Bridge exhibit this time and it was a lot of fun! We got to go to the very top and walk across and learn about the building design and how it was built, etc. After that we got to go into the engine rooms and see some of the machines. It was pretty cool!

By this time it was too late to do a tour of The Globe and we decided to just head to Waterloo Station so that we could get the Northern Line to Chalk Farm Road and go to Belgo (yes again, but this time we went to Noord, not Centraal!).

So we went to Belgo Noord and ate. Bridget and Michael got the same thing they had at Belgo Centraal, I changed and got the Bangers and Mash. Bridget tried the Kriek (cherry beer) and the Strawberry beer. I tried the Mango and the Apple flavored beer. They were all really good! We wanted to try the Chocolate Beer for dessert (being girls we needed chocolate and couldn’t actually go through with our Lenten sacrifice) but they were out so we paid for the check (which was MUCH more than we were expecting this time!) and headed home.

We figured out what bus to take back to Regent’s and then saw it approaching the stop as we waited for a light to turn red so we could cross the street. Well Michael hopped the fence and started running for it. Bridget hopped the fence too. I couldn’t. It was too high and I am short. So I kept running…looking for an opening. Thankfully there was a tree and an opening so I dashed across the road and made it!

When we got back it was time to skype the families, pack for Ireland since we had to get up at 5AM for our flight the next morning, and go to bed (which we didn’t get to until after midnight anyway!)

It was a great start to Spring Break with many fabulous memories and great, silly pictures!!