London, Scotland, Wales

First, let me apologize to everyone about not being extremely good at keeping my blog up-to-date. I don't exactly have the best situation. However, it is official that I will be purchasing a new computer on Tuesday. It will be my coming home present to myself. ;) This next blog will try to dive into three wonderful, beautiful places. These are MUST SEES for everyone. Enjoy! LONDON: London is such a massive city that no one could honestly believe one could see all the sights in a single weekend. However, with the power of Camp organization, we did just that. Walking out from the tube, we were called over by a lady selling tickets to something called the Big Bus Tour. This was no cheap ticket. It cost roughly $45.00. This ticket did, however, allow us to go and see any sight we wanted around London by taking a sight seeing, double decker bus. Indeed this was a pretty sweet deal. To think this day could not get any better. I then began to exit the tube and walk up a flight of stairs. As I approached the light, I felt a feeling of overwhelming excitement. Walking through a tunnel and looking out I saw the London Eye. To my right, I was overwhelmed by Parliament and St. Stephen’s (Big Ben) Clock tower on my right. The bell inside is Big Ben…not the tower. After taking a few photos and looking beyond the tower, I saw Westminister!! This has been the location for many coronations of England’s traditional monarchy. Following Westminster which housed many burial sites of some very famous people in the large English history including Issac Newton and Charles Darwin, we took a trip to our Hostel. This hostel was not near as “scary” as the previous one the night before. We were in a room that was extremely small - as with all hostels - and having an Australian backpacker that is coughing up a storm. We say “Hi” and start making our beds for the night when she makes a comment about how she is just trying to get over her sickness. Then she pops out a statement…”I have Swine Flu”. WOAH!! Jacey and I both looked at each other in horror. Then she said she was only joking…followed by a, but, I could have it. Throughout the night she coughed and coughed and with each noise, I pulled the sheets tighter and tighter around my mouth. Following the London trip, I got sick - it was a mere cold. After we had dropped off out bags at the hostel, we caught a glimpse of Greenwich - the CENTER OF TIME!! Greenwich housed the clock that all clocks around the worlds are set to. After arriving back closer to the sights of London, we decided to got to the Tower of London to see the fortunes of the British Royal Family. After paying 15 pounds, we entered the Tower of London. This tower is a strong hold for the Crown Jewels. I will tell you, I have never seen so much “bling” in one room. IT WAS MIND BLOGGLING. The English own the 1st and 2nd largest diamonds in the world and they put them in a crown to be worn during the coronation. It also housed maces and orbs of gold. The doors to the vault were MASSIVE. After spending a few seconds looking at the beauties, we realized we did not have much time if we wanted to do the Big Bus Tour. After waiting a while, we finally got on the Big Bus as it began to rain. On the bus, we saw everything London has to offer. It was a very informative tour, but I do not recall half of what they had told us. I am typing this 4-5 weeks after the trip. After returning to our hostel and waking from a goodnights sleep, we were off to Buckingham Palace to witness the changing of the guard. This was quite a long experience and the whole changing of the guard is way hyped up, however, we did get to hear the guard band play THRILLER while I recorded it. That was pretty sweet! Buckingham Palace is truly a massive building. I look like a shrimp next to the smaller gate and there are three! After Buckingham and watching the London 10K, we took a stop at Winston Churchill’s War Rooms. This was his hideout during WWII along with other powerful, English leaders. Yes, I got pictures!! J After this we spent a large amount of time getting to the British Museum! THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITES. It was completely free and has some really treasured artifacts. It also houses the Rosetta Stone which is the reason for us understanding Egyptian Hieroglyphics. Needless to say about the superiority of this building, I bought three books!! One includes almost all items A to Z and a write-up about each. If anyone is ever in London - GO SEE THE BRITISH MUSEUM…we only spent 3 hours there and didn’t take the time to read one-fourth of the information.That is basically my London experience. I REALLY LIKE LONDON. I still want to see Harrold’s, China Town, London’s Piccadilly Circus, Primark, and St. Paul’s Cathedral.WALES:Entering Wales we were introduced to an entirely new language. WELSH! This language is not easy to comprehend. The people of Wales basically eliminate almost all vowels. It is insane. For example, “in” is “yn“. After dropping our bags off at the hostel, we entered the castle. The castle of Cardiff, Wales had a splendid view upon entrance. The castle keep was located upon a green hill with the castle walls all around. After touring the castle wall, we decided to take some very amazing pictures overseeing the a massive green area. It was a very nice day out and I especially enjoyed seeing the American Flag flying next to the Union Jack. After viewing a few more rooms within the castle, we stopped at the gift shop and headed towards the Love Spoon store.The Love Spoon store housed the largest love spoon in the world. Now, I bet you are wondering what a love spoon is? A love spoon is a traditional Wales gift given to the one you love. Over the years, it has grown into a tourist souvenir that can be given to anyone you care about. After getting confused trying to read Welsh, we began our journey toward the shopping point of Cardiff. After spending a large amount of time in Primark and also trying out H&M (these are two very popular shopping stores. I really enjoy Primark. This place has high class stuff for a low class price. I did buy a few things here and there. J On Sunday, we decided to hop on a bus and get a tour of the city. We got to see the Bay, a huge Rugby Stadium that was holding a convention for Jehovah witnesses, the Cardiff Centre for the Arts, and after feeling exhaustion, we had Sunday roast at a local pub. This is probably a good time to mention we celebrated one of our counselor’s B-Day at a sweet restaurant called New Orleans. Cardiff was a nice city, but I would have loved to go see the country side of Wales. When one thinks of Wales, they often think of beautiful hiking spots and national parks galore.SCOTLAND:AMAZING!!! After traveling straight north for Edinburgh, Scotland, I could not believe my eyes as the train rumbled along the coast of the North Sea. As the train pulled into the capitol of Scotland, I looked to the west noticing a huge, grass covered mountain. I honestly thought this was going to be the best part of Scotland - an amazing sight, however, I was proven very wrong as the day continued.Beginning with the train station, I was shocked to find out that Scotland has a separate design for the pound. The pound of the Bank of Scotland uses many darker greens within the bill. As soon as we got to Edinburgh, we joined a FREE walking tour around the city. We saw tons of places and had a tour guide named Andra. She was an amazing tour guide and topped the whole tour off with a dramatic interaction of the history of “The Stone of Destiny”. She was also a very funny tour guide telling story after story that made us all laugh. On place in particular is the most photographed statue and visited sight in Edinburgh. Well, it is a dog…yes, a dog by the name of Greyfriar Bobby. Greyfriar Bobby has apparently been the inspiration for many Disney films where the dog is the main character. Also on the walking tour, we saw the outside of Edinburgh Castle. This castle is placed on a hill…a very rocky hill….it highly resembles HOGWARTS. Many say it was J.K. Rowlings inspiration. I mean, she did apparently write most of the first novels in a coffee shop that I did indeed see! After buying some souvenirs, got to see something that only a very few will ever see. If I did not see this now, I would have to wait another 100 years. It is something called “the Gathering” and is basically a celebration of Scottish heritage calling all Scottish clans back to Scotland. I got to see the parade with bagpipes, kilts, and a whole lot of other things. Another event going on was the highland games! These are very ancient games that include TUG - o - WAR!! The next day in Edinburgh, we got to Edinburgh Castler early and missed a huge line. In this castle, we got to see the STONE OF DESTINY and also the crown jewels of Scotland that are no longer used. After the castle we had a traditional English Breakfast - FINALLY. It was really good. The best way to describe Edinburgh is not through words, but through pictures. Soon, they shall be up on this blog and/or Facebook.