LONDRES

Yes, this is Spanish for LONDON!!! My friend Camino and I had been wanting to go to London basically since I got here and after getting ALL the Rotary permission I needed we took flight on our photography trip to the UK. For any Rotary students reading this I do not recommend planning a trip outside of the country until spring. Getting permission was a very difficult, long and frustrating process and I couldn't have done it without the help of my host mother who knew how badly I wanted to go and fought for me even after permission was denied oh about three times.

So Ryanair is a wonderful thing - my roundtrip flight costed forty euros. We left Tuesday November 23rd in the afternoon from Biarritz France, less than an hour and half away, and soon we were two eighteen year old girls walking the streets of London at night trying to find our hostel. The bus ride from the airport was an hour long and from the stop the lady said it would be a twenty minute walk to Russell Square. With our maps we were able to find Russell Square, in forty minutes, but the street our hostel is on was not on the map. Nor did anyone know where it was or recognize the name of the hostel and helpful road signs or street signs just don't exist. After close to another forty minutes wandering around the Russell Square area we finally decided to call the hostel. The man was oh so helpful; "well you should find the President hotel, it's on that same street and there is people outside the door." yeah. We did find it but only by the people outside because the sign for the hostel is actually the size of a cue card. We checked in and went to our room; a nine person dorm which we apparently were upgraded to from a fifteen person dorm. We found our room and met some of our roommates, Jessie from Australia was sleeping beneath Camino, she is a nurse and working at a walk in clinic where that day they had forty abortion clients which was a weird concept to grasp for all of us but our conversation quickly turned to her past five months of traveling around europe which was a lot happier. A man from Zimbabwe slept above Camino, he was very nice but we didn't get to know him too well because he had found an apartment and moved in the next few days. Fogil from Paris slept under me and we got to know him the most during our stay there. He was trying to find work but when we asked why he was in London his response was that he had a choice; sit with his computer at home or sit with his computer in London. He's some kind of engineer but after explaining it in English French and discussing it in Spanish we still couldn't figure out what he did. While we were there he hung out and watched football. There was another guy in the bunk above me but we never met same with the other three people in the room. The hostel was actually not bad, it was huge but clean and just for a place to sleep it worked out perfectly.

Day one we went everywhere. First we went to Harrods because Camino wanted to. It was crazy, they actually close the store in the afternoons for private shoppers - like Elton John or the Queen. All the security and high priced things didn't make me like it any more and everything was organized by designer and even though I've been an avid Fashion File viewer I couldn't bring myself to enjoy this store. Probably because each item costs more than my whole budget for this year. I did get to try a macaroon through for free, it was good. The sales man said it was the best flavour I didn't ask the price but I've had better desserts. These are the macaroons Blair eats on Gossip Girl though so I enjoyed my free sample. Then we went to the Museum of Natural History which was really neat. I think I'd like to work at a museum sometime, they're fun. After the museum we made our way to the Parliament buildings and BigBen. This was interesting because as we cam out of the metro there were police officers everywhere at the exit ready to close the doors to the metro. We stepped out into the street and right into the middle of photographers and swat teams and people gathered around some wort of protest. I thought this was kind of cool but once we noticed smoke in the centre of it all Camino decided it was time to leave that specific area. Then to the Tower of London but we didn't have time to do a tour that afternoon so we went to Starbucks and hung out on Tower Bridge (not London Bridge). Our next metro ride was long and took us to the outskirts for sure, kinda sketchy. We arrived finally at Camden market where you could bargain for clothes and get chinese food for three pounds. After we went to Covent Garden. The whole city was getting me into the Christmas spirit.

Day two we went everywhere else. First we returned to the Tower of London to go inside and get a little tour which was very interesting. We went to the actual London Bridge which really wasn't all that interesting, then to Hyde Park for a stroll which led us to a very rich part of the city. Then to some of the main streets of the city where we checked out the National Geographic store and Liberty and Picadilly Circus. To end the night we splurged on the cheapest tickets we could get for the Phantom of the Opera. Twenty-five pounds and behind a pillar but it was awesome.

Day three we decided to relax a bit and not spend another six pounds on a metro ticket. So we walked. We went all through Soho and to Leicester Square where I stumbled upon the Canadian embassy, well it's hard to stumble upon it it's kind of huge with all the provinces flags and CANADA engraved in huge letters. Then we walked along the river to the Tate Modern museum and back all the way to the Hostel. That night we took a bus, yes we sat on the upper deck to meet Kristin for dinner. Kristin is a friend of Mark from the New Minas Rotary Club, she has an amazing story and is an awesome person, you really should check out her charity and story at coppafeel.org. This evening is really my highlight of the whole trip. I loved seeing all the things in London but this was just a really cool experience - Park Lane. This street I believe only has Indian restaurants and there's tons of them and everyone has an Indian guy standing outside trying to get you to come in. They do this by promising free bottles of wine or three corse meals for a certain price and THEY DON'T STOP. I can see how this would get annoying but I was enjoying it too much. You need to tell them you're not hungry or pretend you don't understand but they actually will walk with you the three meters until the next guy takes over trying to sweet talk you into eating in his restaurant. The food though was great and even on our way out these men really wanted us to eat at their restaurant.

Finally it was Saturday, a day solely devoted to traveling - walking back to that bus stop, hour long ride with a crazy driver to the airport, waiting in the airport and flying home then driving home. I really loved London and want to go back. I feel like we visited most of the places you "need" to see but I really want to adventure around and find more hidden secrets like Park Lane. I could actually see myself living in this city - can't wait to go back.