Foggy Day(s) in Londontown

I know I kind of just got back to Bangor, but I really needed to get away. Fortunately for me, Cat and her family are lovely people who are/were more than willing to have me out to their home. Thanks to convenient scheduling, we had some time between our last exam and the start of semester 2, so Cat and I hit the road out of Bangor and to her house for a bit of a sightseeing vacation. It was exactly what I needed.

We left Wednesday around noon for a 4-5 hour drive headed out to Guilden Morden, an adorable village full of thatched roof cottages and a super old church.

Very picturesque. Cat's family actually lives in the old school which, from the outside looks like it belongs in some other era, but on the inside it magically looks like it could be anywhere in the modern world. That first night we had dinner with Cat's parents and then her brother, Em, came in after attending a filming of Top Gear. (If you're interested, it was the episode that aired Sunday. Apparently you can see him grinning in the audience).

Thursday and Saturday were London Days. Friday was Cambridge day. I won't lie, my pictures from Cambridge are not very impressive, so I'll leave it to a description. Cat and I had plans to do some walking and sightseeing around Cambridge, as well as some shopping at a cute-and-cheap store called Primark. This place was a big success. Think H&M but cheaper. After we spent an absurd amount of time there, we set out for a walk around town. Unfortunately, the weather was pretty gross (cold and damp) and we were not really dressed for it to be as cold as it turned out to be, but we made the best of it. We wandered all around seeing the various colleges of Cambridge Uni, some cute shops, and a really old and round church. It's a great town and I'm looking forward to going back sometime when the weather is a little nicer- we're going to go punting!!

As for the London days, we saw quite a lot. Friday we started out at the Tower of London which, as I hadn't realized (not that I had ever really thought about it), is not just a tower but a little complex of buildings. We looked around there and saw the crown jewels which were incredible. How they keep 15th century pieces looking brand new is something I'll never fully comprehend. We also hopped on a guided tour to learn more about the stories and history of the tower (or as our tour guide would be proud to hear me remember, the 20 towers). Some really interesting tidbits! Not to mention the very entertaining beefeater guide :)

After the tower, we had tickets for an open-top bus tour of London. Though we didn't actually get an open-top bus, it was a really great way to see the city and get an idea of what was there to see and consider doing when we came back on Saturday. It was also a good opportunity to get some practice in with my new DSLR camera. The pictures are a little fuzzy given that they were shot on an unfamiliar camera through windows on a moving vehicle, but well worth the efforts. After the bus tour, Cat and I headed to the West End since we had scored tickets to Les Miserables. I've seen it a couple of times before, but Cat had never seen it despite being a big theater nerd so were were both really excited. And it was phenomenal. Our seats were great and the cast was fantastic. A superb end to an already great day.

Saturday we began our day with a ride around the London Eye which in and of itself is a cool thing to look at, but then it also gives you some spectacular views of the city. From there (and after some lunch) we set off on a long walk all over the place. We made our way down along the Thames to the site of the Globe Theater (not as exciting as it sounds... they only built this replica a few years ago), and then across the Millennium bridge to St Paul's Cathedral. Unfortunately, they were charging ridiculously high rates to go in and there was a huge line so by those two factors combined, we made do with the outside views. After that we went over to Buckingham Palace (by underground, not walking) and spent some time around there, then walking down to Trafalgar Square to get a better look at things than we got from the bus. The sky over London during those two days was just incredible in the evenings and made for some great moody-looking pictures, particularly there at Trafalgar. After all of that Cat and I were pretty tired, so we had some tea then called it a day and headed back to her house for dinner.

After those few days of running around and seeing lots of things, we took a lazy morning on Sunday and relaxed a bit before having to hit the road to come back to Bangor. It really was a fantastic few days away. Much-needed comfort and distraction before hitting the ground running with the second semester. And a great excuse to play with my new fancy camera!

There are lots more pictures where these came from too.... stay tuned for the albums on facebook!