Hi Friends!!!
I know, I know, I promised not to stay away so long anymore, but ya know...shit happens.
So I think the last time I left you was the day before we went to Avebury and Stonehenge. My oh my, do I have so many things to tell you!
Okay so, Wednesday June 4th, we took a day trip to Avebury, Stonehenge, and Salisbury. It was incredible. It felt REALLY good to get out of the city and see a bit of the English countryside. We left at 7am and took a bus to Avebury, which is another ancient stone landmark, but much different than Stonehenge. You should look it up! It was incredible. We got there and basically walked in a huge circle outlined with stones in the middle of a huge hilly field, with TONS of sheep...and sheep poop. This, unlike stonehenge, you could walk right up and touch the stones. After this, we went to Stonehenge, which, after Avebury, didn't feel very immaculate. You can't get up to the stones, you have to stand about 100 feet away. There are these NASTY little beetles that land on you and bite. It was gross and distracted me from the experience! I think they like blonde hair, because I had at least ten in my locks at any moment in time. That's something you never hear about in the rough guides! Anyways, it was cool to see the formation that I've learned about since preschool. After the Henge, we went to Salisbury, mainly to see the incredible cathedral. We got some time to wander around the town and eat some fish and chips while being attacked by pigeons. The town of Salisbury is very pretty and quaint. The cathedral is nothing short of amazing, but I find most cathedrals to be pretty incredible. Wednesday night we all had dinner together at an Italian place called Zizzi. It was good, but sad because it was a farewell to our engineering teacher, Dr. Saliba. He could only stay half of the program because he's going to India for another UD oriented job.
Thursday was a pretty short day since we were all exhausted. We went to Chancery Lane and the British Museum, which is immaculate, and I'm actually going back there tomorrow. There is so much to see, and the design of the building itself is amazing. Thursday night, my flatmates and I went to Youngs for dinner, and me and Hillary stayed to finish up a history paper while drinking some pints. After that, we got ready and packed very quickly and left for our long weekend to the Isle of Skye at 11pm. My oh my, so much to say about this...
So 11pm on Thursday Hillary, Kathleen, Nathan, and myself get on a train at Euston Station, that takes us to Glasgow, Scotland. It was about an 8 hour train. I couldn't sleep, and keep drifting in and out of dreams. I woke up at about 5am in the middle of green hills covered in sheep, stone fences, and thick fog....so beautiful. In Glasgow we caught another train to Mallaig, which was another 4 hours. The train ride through Scotland was breath taking. I have never seen a more beautiful landscape in my life, and I got to see plenty. At one point in our travels we went over the "Harry Potter Bridge" that the Hogwarts Express goes over in the movies. It was great. We got into Mallaig around 2pm on Friday, and had to take the ferry across to Skye. Once we were in Skye, we had no idea what to do, because there was NOTHING around. Luckily, Donald, a cab driver, told us we needed to get to the "main" part of town and get the bus to our hostel, which is in Portnalong. So Donald gives us a lift to a small town where we get some lunch, then catch the city bus. We rode on this bus, along cliffs, at 100kmh, with a crazy bus driver who was telling us ghost stories about the island. I thought we might die a few times, but it was fun. He dropped us off in the middle of some field, where another bus picked us up and took us to our hostel called, The Skyewalker....so appropriate.
The Skyewalker, run by Lisa and Bryan...aka Joyce and Bill, was very fun. It was pretty much on top of a mountain, and the nearest thing ( a pub ) was about 5 miles down the hill. So once we finally got there at 6pm, we bought some wine from the desk, and went hiking around our hostel. We climbed up a hill and sat on some rocks to watch the sunset and drink our wine. Right before the sunset however, the "midgies" came out, which are like swarms of gnats that bite! So we went inside, played cards, finished our wine, and went to sleep. We wanted to see the stars since we were literally in the middle of nowhere, but it turns out, it doesn't get dark in Skye in the summer!
The next day Joyce and Bill drove us into Portree, which is the main town that is about 2 miles large, and kind of suburban. There we got lunch, and hopped on the bus that circles around most of the island. Nathan, the mountain man he is, decides we should get off at Uig, and "walk" back to Portree . The catch was, we HAD to catch the bus back to Portnalong by 5:30pm, because that is when the buses stop running on Saturdays and we would have been stuck in Portree. So we get off the bus, and HIKE 11 MILES (15 kilometers) back to Portree. It was the longest, most beautiful walk of my life. There was nothing in sight but a church or a couple houses here and there. But mostly it was mountains and sheep. It was tiring, but wonderful. Finally back to Portree, we get on the bus and get off at the pub ( The Olde Inn) 5 miles away from our hostel. We figured that since we walked that far that day, we could walk 5 more miles to our hostel after a few drinks. We had dinner, and a live Celtic band was playing that night, so we stayed for that, and I'm so glad we did! They were incredible, and so much fun. We had a great group together and all enjoyed each other's company.....Hillary and me, well, we ended up drinking a few too many pints ( 7 each) and had some trouble walking up the mountain at 1am, in the pitch black, rain, and fog...Basically, I think we spent more time falling into ditches trying to avoid cars on the one lane road, than we did actually walking. Once we made it about a mile up the mountain, a car pulled over and picked us up. Turns out it was the bartender, Keith, who took us back to our hostel....God Bless his soul. We're convinced he was an angel. So we get back, laugh, and pass out. Sunday we wake up at 7am, and Donald our original buddy came and picked us up and took us to the ferry, which cost us 45 pounds, that's how far away our hostel was. Needless to say, we didn't feel too great, and the 12 hour train ride back was rough. But it was sooo much fun, and there is so much more I don't have time to write about...so ask me next time you see me, it's worth it.
Monday we continued our site study trips and went to Waterloo Station, Victoria Embankment, Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. All very cool and important places. We also finally got to ride the London Eye, which was sooo fun! You could see so much of London, and of course I took a million pictures. Monday night was Nathan's 21st Birthday, so we went to the Duke of York and celebrated. They were so nice and gave us all free shots and sang happy birthday. It was a good night.
Tuesday we had class again, which is always hard to get through, but really helpful in terms of tying everything together.
Wednesday was a pretty long day. We went to Euston station, Kings Cross/St. Pancras (where we're pretty sure we saw a celebrity), Hoxton (where we went to the White Cube Gallery and ate Vietnamese food for lunch), then on to Arnold Circus, and Brick Lane. Brick Lane is so cool, very trendy and busy. We are going to try and go back for some shopping. They have pretty cool stores.
Thursday we went Blenheim Palace and Oxford. Both very cool and quaint. Again, nice to get out of the city for a change of pace. More on these places later.
Friday we focused on London as a marketplace, and window shopped all day. We went down the very ritzy streets and compared those places with shopping in some place like the Tube stations. It was interesting to see the difference in advertising and marketing, and the different ways they get you in the store.
Anways, I'm about to run out of minutes, so I have to say goodbye! I will be on later this week, since it's my last week here =(
Peace and Love.
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