Tuesday, 4 May
Grandpa and Grandma got here and I planned to meet them at 6 PM, after my final. My final actually ended at 6 so I literally ran across Hyde Park to their hotel to meet them. I got there a half hour late, though. The man at the front desk told me they were upstairs on the second floor, so I headed upstairs. When I knocked, no one answered and I thought that they must have already left for dinner. I didn’t know what to do, so I wandered around the block, checking inside every restaurant to see if they were inside. After about 20 minutes, I wandered back to the hotel to check with the man at the front desk to find out if he had seen them come back at all. He then checked the rooms and realized that he had given me the wrong number. They were actually in the basement. Great. I finally found them down there, waiting for me while I searched for them! We were starving so we headed to a pub down the road and had fish and chips. I’m going to miss that at home!!
Wednesday, 5 May
I had two finals on Wednesday, my last two, so I didn’t see G&G until dinner that night. We went to a pub across from the one we ate at previously, which was good!
Thursday, 6 May
G&G hopped on the tube over to Gloucester Road to see where I lived. I showed them my room in the dorm, and then we walked around the general area where I lived. We stopped at Buttercup to get cupcakes but decided to eat them after lunch at Le Pain. Yum! After a lunch of scones and berries, we walked through Hyde Park. After that, they went back to the hotel and I went back to the room to finish up packing before going out with Katy, Emily, and Bess! We decided to go out to dinner and see Jersey Boys for our last night together. Dinner was awful as it took us an hour to get our appetizer, and by that time, we had to leave for the show. It was not a good experience at all. The show completely made up for it, though; I think Jersey Boys is my favorite show. I LOVE IT! I’ve seen it twice now and both times I was blown away. Absolutely amazing. Also, after the show, the four of us split the two cupcakes Grandma and I had bought before, because she decided she didn’t want hers because she was too full. Chocolate red velvet and chocolate purist—no doubt the best two choices!! All in all, a good night!
Friday, 7 May
The next morning was sad because we had to say goodbye to everyone!! I mean, Katy and I will see each other in a week, and Emily will be at Drake, but Bess will be all the way in Pennsylvania!! That was really depressing. Thank God for Facebook! Anyway, I took a cab to G&G’s new hotel (they decided that the three of us would stay at a hotel across the street from their original hotel when we got back from Scotland) to store my luggage with theirs, and we got dropped off at Paddington station. We took a train to the airport and made it in plenty of time for our flight to Scotland! When we arrived, we took a taxi to our hotel and after settling in a bit, we headed to the bus stop to get on a Hop on/Hop off bus tour of Edinburgh. It wasn’t the greatest bus tour I’ve been on but it was interesting and helped us get our bearings and sort of figure out the layout of the city. For dinner after that we wandered around to pubs until we found one that had a table for us to sit at. Fish and chips was my meal of choice, of course, and I was not disappointed.
Saturday, 8 May
We woke up at had breakfast at the hotel before hopping in a taxi to the castle in the middle of the city. There was a parade going on, though, so we watched that first. The whole city welcomes home the troops from Afghanistan with a parade; it was quite moving. People had “Welcome Home” signs and there was a lot of cheering! It was a great sight to see. After the parade, we walked up to the castle and took a guided tour. It was really great. I love seeing castles and palaces so I enjoyed it. It was really beautiful and the views from the top were breathtaking. After quite a long time in the castles (and the gift shops), we walked to the Elephant House coffee shop for lunch. Significance? The Elephant House coffee shop was J. K. Rowling’s café of choice while writing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. SO COOL! Plus, the food was really tasty! We took the bus to Holyrood Palace next, which is the royal palace in Edinburgh. Queen Elizabeth and family generally come up here in the summer and stay at the palace. It was really beautiful inside and the audio tours were quite helpful in explaining each room. Both buildings were definitely worth the visits. Dinner that night was at the pub down the road from our hotel, and it was a really fun place—very homey. I just love pubs.
Sunday, 9 May
After a hotel breakfast, G&G and I took a taxi to the train station, where we quickly bought tickets to Leuchars, which would get us to St. Andrews Golf Course. When we asked a ticket man which platform we needed to get to, he pointed us in the right direction and told us to get off at Haymarket because there was construction on the rails, so we’d need to take a bus for a bit of the trip. We jumped on the train and settled in, only to arrive at Haymarket three minutes later! We jumped right off the train and followed a Canadian couple as they were going to St. Andrews as well and knew where to go. When we finally reached the bus stop, we rode that for an hour until stopping at a train station, at which we jumped on another train. The train ride was an hour long and brought us to Leuchars, which was our final destination since it’s the closest train station to the town of St. Andrews. Our taxi ride was short and we were at the golf museum in about ten minutes. We walked through the museum, which was very interesting, but the highlight was definitely walking on the course. Apparently, visitors are only allowed on the field on Sundays because there is no play on Sundays. The course is right next to the North Sea, which was beautiful, and I really enjoyed myself! I’m not a huge golf fanatic but I can appreciate how big of a deal the course is. It was exciting to be there. We ate a quick lunch and headed back to the shops to pick up a few things. We took a cab back to the station, where we missed a train by minutes! The next one came in an hour, so Grandma and I worked on a few crossword puzzles. We had the same long, drawn-out journey on the way back, but we finally made it! We grabbed dinner at a pub nearby before wandering back to the hotel. We printed off our boarding passes, too, so we were all set for Monday!
Monday, 10 May
Grandma and I went shopping in the morning quick before we left for the airport. We hadn’t bought anything yet so we headed to the cashmere shops. I ended up with one cashmere scarf as well as a lambswool scarf. I’m already excited for the winter (sort of)! After that, we took a cab back to the hotel to pick up Gramps and go to the airport. The flight back to London was much smoother than the ride to Edinburgh, which was definitely good! We went to the pancake house for dinner, which was a huge hit with Grandpa and Grandma because they LOVE pancakes… and breakfast in general! It was a good end to the day.
Tuesday, 11 May
After breakfast, we headed to the train station to get on our train to Bath! I’d been there earlier with a school trip but I loved it there so I was glad to go back. We took two bus tours of the city and the surrounding areas, which was cool. After lunch at the oldest pub in Bath, we went to the abbey and Grandpa and Grandma went inside the baths while I wandered around. I met them afterwards and we grabbed an ice cream before walking back to the train station to go home. It was a really fun day.
Wednesday, 12 May
Our last day! In the morning, I met Katy at St. Paul’s Cathedral while Grandpa and Grandma checked out Wimbledon. Katy and I climbed all the way to the top—500 stairs!!! It was worth it though—the view was spectacular!! It was like being on the Eiffel Tower in Paris! Plus, we were able to plan our walk to Covent Garden as we could see all the streets. When we finally made it down, we began our walk. It was actually quite easy and close by! We stopped at a Starbucks so Katy could get a Mango-Passion Fruit smoothie, but when she got it, it was a different color than it usually was at the Starbucks down the road from our dorm. It tasted really strange, too. We both tried to gag it down but no luck. It ended up in the trash :/ oops. Katy and I were on the lookout for a store called Cath Kidston because she wanted to buy her friends gifts, so we found that, and I ended up with a little wallet sort of thing for myself. Anyway, we parted ways after that because she was meeting her parents at the British Museum and I was meeting my grandparents at the National Gallery, both of which were within walking distance. Grandpa and Grandma and I had lunch at Café Nero, which was excellent as always. They went to the National Gallery after and I went to the National Portrait Gallery, since I’d already seen the Gallery. We met after and had drinks at a pub. Then we wandered around Leicester Square because I think it’s such a fun place to see. We ate in a different pub nearby before getting back on the Tube to go back to the hotel. We packed up and got totally ready for the next day before promptly getting sucked into a murder mystery on TV! It was quite the drama. By the end, we all thought we knew who the murderer was and everything! Exciting!
Thursday, 13 May
I woke up at 3:50 that morning to catch my taxi to the train station. I met Katy and her parents at the station where we got on the Heathrow Connect train to the airport. When we finally arrived, checked our bags (SO HEAVY!), and made it through security, we had plenty of time to kill and a few pounds to spend. We bought stuff from Starbucks (including two more gross Mango-Passion Fruit smoothies!), bagels, and multiple bottles of water. Somewhat pointless BUT we got rid of our money! We got on the plane soon after and began our longest leg of the journey home. The flight was really smooth, but very long and both the movies I watched were not ones I’d recommend. I watched “When in Rome” with Kristen Bell and “Did you hear about the Morgans?” with Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant. They were just uninteresting and a little too cheesy even for me. Oh well—they passed the time! When we finally landed in Chicago, we discovered that my flight had been cancelled, so I went to the American Airlines counter and they put me on the next flight to Minneapolis, only an hour later. It ended up being delayed a few times, but I finally made it on the plane! The ride was quick, and I became one of THOSE people who talks the WHOLE WAY. I felt terrible! The guy sitting next to me must have been so glad to get off the plane. I mean, he was talking back but I suppose he had no choice. I didn’t mean to do it, but once I started, I just couldn’t stop! What a disaster. I practically ran away when I got off the plane. I found my mom at the baggage claim and we grabbed my checked bag and found the car. Never have I been so glad to be home! I didn’t even know I missed Minnesota this much until I got here! I’m definitely sad to be away from London but there’s no place like Minnesota.
:)
Jackie
