10 Day Break (Part 1)

Finally getting a chance to write about my 10 day break. Things were pretty busy right when we got back.

The usual travel crew had their trips planned out since their parents came to Italy to see them, so I had to find a new group to travel around with.  There were some girls I spend a little time with going first to Paris and then to Amsterdam and I thought about it, but I've had my Thanksgiving Paris trip planned since almost the beginning of September so I didn't know if I wanted to do that twice.  The other group of girls I get along with well were headed to London first and then to Barcelona.  I ended up deciding to go with the 6 of them even though I had just been to London.  It would be Stephanie, Lindsay, Katie, Paige, Shauna, Marissa and myself. 

We were all supposed to meet at the train station Friday evening.  I got there first and when I looked up at the departure board, next to our train it says Soppressa… My heart just sank.  Was that another freaking strike? or is it cancelled or what?  The girls weren't there yet so I texted Jerrod and was like whats this mean? He writes back,  "Surprise".   Jeez.. How typical Italy.  We had decided not to take the hour earlier train because we didn't really need to be at the Pisa airport that early at all.  Once everyone got there I pointed it out and we figured out we could take the train headed to Florence and make the switch in Empoli to our right train.  The Florence train was leaving in like 2 minutes. We didn't have tickets yet. So we got on the train anyway with Marissa reassuring us that you really can just buy tickets once you're on.  I wasn't completely convinced and its a huge fine if you're caught without a ticket or without verifying your ticket before.  We got to Empoli without the ticket lady coming by, checked the board for Pisa and the train was leaving in about 15 min.  We could have bought tickets then but I never trust the trains anymore about when they're leaving so we got right on.   The lady did come by this time and we ended up being able to buy tickets.  They were a little more expensive than normal, but at least we were on the train and headed to where we needed to be.  

Got to the airport in Pisa and everything went smoothly from there til London. Except that I was convinced we were going down upon decent into London.  Thats the most turbulence I've experienced on a plane.  We met this guy in the airport before we took off and he was from New York and has been studying in Florence.  He was headed to London as well and ended up flying with us.  He said that his friend living there told him the subway stops running at 12:30am.  What?!  The airport is an hour outside of central London and we had an Easybus reserved at 12:45am to get us into the city, but from the drop off point we were counting on the subway to get us to our hostel, Restup London, which was in Elephant and Castle.  The site online had subway times running until around 2 or later! Liars.   I was worried it would cost us a fortune to take a taxi, but it ended up not being that bad at all.  We got to our hostel which seemed very clean and a little more modern, but they didn't have the 6 person room we reserved.  Something was wrong with that floor I guess… 

We got put in a 12 person room and they told us that we'd be alone there for the first night but that maybe after that we'd have other travelers with us.  So far, not so bad.  Since we had booked a 6 person room for 7 of us (to be cheaper and to keep us all together) 2 of us would be sharing a bed.  I offered to since I didn't really care, so it was supposed to be Steph and I.  Since we got moved into this bigger room with no one else in it we ended up not needing to.  It would have been a tight fit, the beds weren't as big as they looked online.  

The next day we decided not to take the subway in like we thought we'd need to.  It didn't look as far from the main part of the city as we originally thought.  It was chilly out, but very refreshing.  Definitely not in Italy anymore!  We only walked about 15 or 20 minutes before we got to Big Ben so that wasn't bad at all!  We went to Westminster Abbey first.  A couple of the girls went in, but it was very expensive and they wouldn't give any reduced price for our international ID cards. Poo.  I was kinda on a budget so I didn't go in, but the rest of us went into the church next to it and walked all around the abbey.   Next it was onwards to find a Starbucks.  The girls were all craving it as was I!  I had had my fix earlier the first time I was in London, but its so nice to get a large coffee in a go cup that you can carry and keep your hands warm and sip on for a long time.  I mean I have very much gotten used to drinking shots of espresso in Italy, I like it now, but you can't find a large coffee or even a "go cup" anywhere.  Maybe there are places in other cities outside Siena, but I haven't seen them yet.  So it was really nice to get a latte.  Even more nice to get a Pumpkin Spice Latte.  MMMMM so delicious! 

Next we went to Buckingham Palace.  The guards actually had their furry hats on this time!  Last time I was there they didn't and I was really disappointed thinking that maybe they didn't do that anymore.  Maybe it has something to do with it being cold now tho. Makes sense.  We took a walk through the beautiful park next to the palace and it was nice to see the leaves all changing colors.  That hadn't started at all in Italy before we left.  

We started walking towards Chelsea in hopes that we would find a store to buy Chelsea soccer shorts for my host brother who had asked and soccer sweats for Katie's host brother.  No luck, but on our way there the girls realized we were seeing people with Harrods bags.  I didn't even know what Harrods was but they were like Oh we have to go in! Its a giant famous department store here! 

Holy crap they weren't kidding.  That is probably the biggest store I've ever been in.  It was really neat to see tho, there's a whole room for just the chocolate area and a whole room for just the perfume and then one for lingerie and another for evening gowns.  And it just keeps going and going and going and there's probably about 6 floors or something.  It was crazy looking at the prices of some of the things there.  I've never even been in a store that sells 13,000 pound dresses.  Thats like $22,000 dollars.  Wowzers.  It was an experience.  Fun to look, its like being in a museum almost haha.  Look, don't touch, probably costs more than  all your life savings.  

By then it was already about 5 so we decided we should probably start wandering back in the general direction of our hostel.   We had gotten ourselves a long ways away.  Probably an hour walk or so.  It's more fun to see the city that way tho, taking the subways you miss a lot.  

It ended up just pouring rain about the last 10 minutes of our walk.  No umbrellas of course.  We were absolutely soaked. When we got back to the hostel there were 4 other girls in our commune bedroom. The lights were on when we came in, and they were kinda laying in bed reading. We were trying to dry off and change clothes and we were talking and giggling a little when all of the sudden one of the girls shushed us and told us they were trying to sleep and that we were being disrespectful.  It was 7:30 at night! and they were reading!  Ok sassy pants we'll move this party elsewhere.  As soon as we're changed at least!  

We ended up staying in for the evening and hung out in the hostel commune area and shared a bottle of wine.  It was nice after walking across half of London.  

The second day we headed  back to the palace to see the Changing of the Guard.  They only do it every other day in the fall.  There was about a million and a half people there watching.  It was kinda neat, but pretty anticlimactic.  Afterwards we went into some art museum, not really sure what it was exactly, but most of it was sorta lost on me because a lot of it was paintings of historical figures in the UK and I don't know anything about England.  There was also a photography part though and it had some photos of the royal family and such which was more interesting for me.  Not really in the area at all, but we headed towards the Tower of London and Tower Bridge next.  On foot.  We were literally making a lap around London.  It was a really pretty walk along the river and  really didn't end up taking us as long as I thought it would.  I wanted to go into the tower since I didn't get to last time, but its so EXPENSIVE. I tried to get her to lower the price with my international student card, but she said that didn't matter here.  So far that card hasn't helped me anywhere yet!  I'm hoping it will be accepted in Paris at the museums there.  I didn't end up going in because I didn't want to pay.   

We crossed Tower Bridge and I got to see the 406 sticker Jerrod and I put on last time.  I was hoping it was still there and it was! We placed that thing perfectly, its the same color as the turquoise on the bridge and you would probably never notice it unless you were looking for it. 

The time change happened the night we got to London and I'm still not used to how early it gets dark.  It was only about 4:45 and already lights were starting to come on and it was getting kinda dark out.   We headed back to our hostel and ended up coming up on it from the opposite way we left.  We really did make a giant circle around town. 

We went out to a Wetherspoons for dinner.  They are this line of restaurants all over London and they've got pretty tasty food. We ate at 2 different ones last time I was in London and they were very inexpensive.  Oh and I found out after I ordered and paid that the other girls used their international student cards and got a discount! Damnit I missed my one time to benefit from my card!  

It was a very funny night, we were there for probably over 2 hours and I think I was laughing the whole time.  Marissa is always saying the weirdest shit, but its absolutely hilarious. My abs hurt by the end of dinner. 

Room to ourselves again that evening.  That was nice.  

Our last day there we were going to meet up with our friend Joe who was getting there that day.  We headed first to see the Olympic Stadium.  That one was going to be a far walk, so we finally resorted to a subway ride.  Ended up getting a day pass for hardly anything at all which ended up coming in handy for the evening.  We got all the way to the stadium and found out that its considered a construction site for the next 18 months and no one's allowed in. What?! who planned that out? In 18 months the excitement of the Olympics is going to have worn off and it won't be as cool!  So we got to look at it from a third story window in a shopping mall.  I was disappointed, I really wanted to see it. 

We ended up meeting our friends afterward and while trying to find a place to eat dinner, with the help of one of the girls that was studying in London, we ended up in a very sketchy part of town.  It wasn't china town, it was like Indian town.  All the restaurants have guys outside of them that yell at you and try to sell you deals to eat at the restaurant. Its strange.  Oh and its pouring rain at this point.  

Finally we got out of that part of town and ended up at a bar and grill type place.  We all got our food when this guy came up to us and asked if any of us would be willing to be on a tv show. What??  Apparently they were filming a British version of  The Bachelor or something. Anyway, Shauna and Marissa agreed to and pretty much this guy came up to them all dressed in a tux and would try his moves and sweet talk on them and they just had to kinda turn him down or something.  They told the rest of us to not really look at the camera, but it was so hard not to.  Me and Lindsay are probably in the back of that scene awkwardly eating our nachos. No big deal, I'm just on tv. 

It was a really fun night.  The girls signed their releases to be on British television, and we headed out trying to find out way to the nearest tube station.  We made all of our transfers, which was kinda a miracle since we'd all had just enough to drink that it could have been interesting.  

We get back to our hostel and open the door to our room… In the very first bed is on of the biggest black ladies I've ever seen.  She is passed out with one leg, one arm and her bare stomach hanging over the side of the bed.  The room smells awful. Next to the bed is a huge box of like powdered laundry detergent… why? and on top of this box is a knife. Yep. just sitting there.  All seven of us just stood in the doorway dumbfounded like, what do we do now?  Someone grabbed her knife and brought it to the front desk and just kinda was like, Uh… we can't really sleep with this.  The guy walked into the room and turns right around, hands us a bottle of Febreez and says "we'll have her removed, Good luck".  

What a night… 

I had to be up at about 6:30 the next morning to get myself to my plane.  I was flying out differently than the other girls because they were headed to Barcelona and I was headed back to Siena.  

I walked to the tube station, got on the right tube, got across London, found my bus to take me to the airport and made it!  All by myself.  I was so proud haha.  That was my first time really being completely alone trying to travel, being at the airport and flying. 

Success!

I got back to Pisa and realized I would have to start speaking Italian again… It was kinda a strange feeling. I went from speaking only English for the last 5 days to traveling alone in Italy speaking only Italian.  

I made it back to Siena in one piece.  One very exhausted piece.  I ate dinner with my family and went to bed super early.  I had one day to recuperate and then we were headed to their beach house for the last part of my trip…