Transportation: David
Accommodations: John
Natural Activity: Jeanna
Cultural Activity: Meghan
Monument Activity: Brendan
Sport Activity: Brent
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September 24, 2010: Day 1 in England
After just a week nobody was really ready to leave Iceland, but we're interested to see what London has to offer. While Iceland was a blast, we have nine countries left to visit, and none of us really know what lies ahead. Some of our group members have had the opportunity to visit London, but this is going to be a new experience for me and I can't wait to see the sights.
We were all dreading waking up early after a full week in Reykjavík, but we had to get an early flight out of Keflavík International Airport. Our flight leaves Iceland at 7:50 am and the airport is about 50 km outside of the city. My first international flight from JFK to Iceland was hell, so I am really not looking forward to getting back on one of these flying death-traps.
John also hates to fly, and we all like to drink so the guys decided to leave Iceland with a bang and pregame the flight. We went to a local bar called Gaukur a Stong, which was less than a mile from our hotel. It is the oldest pub in Iceland and has a live band every night of the week. All of the locals we talked to highly reccomended it and early flight or not, we couldn't turn down this opportunity to really get a taste of Reykjavik before we left. We dropped 1000isk each to get in the bar and another 20,000isk in drinks, but it was worth it for a great night that we will never remember.
We stumbled back to the hotel at about 3:30 am, just in time to drag the girls out of bed. They weren't necessarily happy about their rude awakening, but everyone is so excited to get to London that they soon forgot. We all packed up our belongings and got ready for the next leg of our trip around the world. Everybody piled onto the Flybus, which takes you from the city to the airport in about 30-40 minutes. The bus cost 1950isk per person, which is around $10 USD. We arrived a little early for our flight and decided we needed to buy something to remember Reykjavik by. The girls in the group wanted to go to Epal Design, a shop in the airport that offers customers Scandinavian giftware and crafts, along with the work of Icelandic designers and craftspeople. Everyone got their authentic keepsakes ranging from jewelry to ornaments, costing around 5000isk each. I bought this, but I'm not really sure what it does:
...Guess I was still a little drunk
About an hour and 30,000isk later it was time to move toward the airplane...I don't think I can do this 8 more times. Getting through security was a little more interesting this time around with John and I still feeling last night, but we eventually got everyone on the plane in time for our departure on Iceland Air.
The plane took off on time and even though it was a relatively short flight, John and I immediatly ordered a beer to sooth our nerves. After last night we both passed out in our seats before they even brought our drinks. We were both happy to wake up only to hear the pilot announcing that we were only 30 minutes from touching down in London.
We arrived at London Heathrow Airport at 11:45 am local time, and were thankful to have our feet back on solid ground. The flight cost $418 USD per person, which added up to $2,508 dollars. This translates to about 455,377isk. We have got to stop going out, or we are going to be stuck in Cape Town at the end of our journey.
When we landed we decided to grab a quick lunch at Pret A Manger, a relatively cheap sandwich shop in the airport. While paying we realized that we all still had a lot of Icelandic króna, and we're going to have to find somewhere to exchange these for euros. We went to Heathrow Airport's bureau de change and we were good to go! We spent about 45 euros at lunch and were ready to explore London on a full stomach.
We got through customs with no problems and found a limo ready to take us to the house were we are staying...I am beginning to like London already.
post by David Hinkle
After our long flight, the ready limo service set us off to a great start, champagne and wine already waiting for us. As we are riding to the house, we realize that we are being driven by the family driver who had a very elegant British accent. Brendan popped open the first bottle of champagne and started pouring glasses. I, of course, waited for glasses to be poured and grabbed the bottle. Brendan rolled down the window and started to tell the group as a whole to not act like tourists and to blend in as best as possible. He then promplty decided that we should refer to our driver as "Jeeves", great way to fit in. The ride from the airport to the guest house that we were staying in was about half an hour. I should probably explain the car service and our accommodations. A very close friend of mine is a dual citizen of the US and the UK and her family is very well off. Her father offered us a full house and three cars as well as the car service, free of charge. This is a very nice family that promised to take care of us, and they did. The house is fairly new and in the suburbs of London, a short ride to anywhere we wanted to go.
So we arrived at the house at about 1pm local time, unpacked and got comfortable. Brendan and I are the only ones sharing a room because we were told by the group that they thought we were going to be "trouble." Knowing this to be true, we did not argue. The house we were put up in was bought this past spring by the family as a guest house for visitors and we were quite impressed. After a tour of the house from "Jeeves", which included 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, a huge kitchen which had been stocked with fresh food and plenty of alcohol, we thanked our driver and settled in. In our house, we also had a jacuzzi on the second floor balcony which faced a large common area where we could interact with the neighbors.
After we had rested, it was time to grub. We decided that since we had food at the house, it was best to snack there and save our money for a night on the town. We decided to be adventourous and walk. We wlked a short distance and found a small neighborhood bar named The Arab Boy, which was named after an Arab would be slave that was bought by an Englishman and eventually owned the pub. We decided to try some of the local beer on tap. We started with Green King Real Ales' Abbot Ale, which was on special, by the pitcher. After we had all shared four pitchers at 7.6 Pounds a pitcher, it was on to the Green Kings I.P.A. which we all had a pitcher of at 6.7 pounds a pitcher. By this point, it is starting to get dark and we had a long day so we decided to take our party back to the house. Our total bill at The Arab Boy was 120 pounds (roughly $190).
Accommodations by John Olive
As our cultural activity, we decided to investigate the ZSL London Zoo. How is this cultural? Well, the word “zoo” in American terminology means inhabited and caged animals. In the European culture, zoo is used in similar to “conservation.” The London Zoo offers an interaction with the animals, live events, animal exhibits to bring visitors closer to the animals, giving them a unique experience.
We arrived at the Zoo around 10:15 am, received our tickets, and entertained ourselves to greeting some animals. Our time at the zoo was packed with many memories, some including: during our time in the Aquarium exhibit, Brendan insisted on tapping the glass of fish tanks, certainly the one’s that looked funny and had odd personas such as glowing in the dark. During the Gorilla Kingdom exhibit, John was ultimately insulted by a gorilla when it picked its nose and simulated throwing it at John, I’m pretty sure it made everyone’s day! In the Penguins exhibit, when Brent walked up to the furry penguins, they all insisted in waddling away from him, must have been something he ate!
We continued touring the London Zoo and viewing most of the exhibits. Before leaving we stopped at the café’s and kiosks to grab some drinks and quick snacks to last us on the boat ride back. We departed the zoo around 4:15 pm in order to catch a boat that was arriving at 4:35 pm. We returned to Camden Lock around 4:50 pm and returned to the hotel to relax and prepare for dinner.
Total trip time: 9 am – 4 pm
Total cost for group: $150.00 including food
After resting at the house for a few hours, we decided upon a restaurant to go eat some dinner. I made a reservation for dinner at the No Ten Bar and Lounge, with this reservation you can receive 30% off your food tab, leaving us with more money to spend on booze. No Ten is located at Ten Manchester Street Hotel, Marylebone, London, W1U 4DG. Their cuisine type is modern European and their prices on average are 35-44 euro’s. This lounge is part of an elegant hotel, this just happens to be the restaurant. This lounge was absolutely stunning, made for a really mellow night of chatter and laughs. With its low light setting and mellow atmosphere, this restaurant was perfect for a long day at the zoo. The group shared a bottle of wine, ate some classic European dishes, and all did a round of shots for just the heck of it!
Food Cost: 100 EU
Activity and meal by Meghan Dees
September 27, 2010: Day 4 in England.
Today we all decided to get out and burn some calories, so we looked up places where we could run around and be active and we stumbled upon Hyde Park. This park is huge! We found out that this is actually the site of some of the event for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. We showed up around ten in the morning and played some soccer, than we started throwing the football around. This was an unusual sight for people to see in England seing as soccer is their main sport and football is not so popular of a sport in England. So a lot of natives seemed to gather around and watch us throw the ball around. All and all it was a good workout for everyone, as we finished around one in the afternoon and headed out.
We also saw a sheep!!!! 
We then headed over to Chelsea (An area in Central London, Emgland) to watch the Chelsea Futbol Club practice in the Stamford Bridge Stadium. The stadium sits 43,000 people even though their were only about 500 hundred watching practice. Nevertheless, It was a really fun experience watcing these guys practice. This is a beloved team in England, they are the Defending Champions of the Premier League, which is like the NFL of England. We all were amazed at how good the players are, which makes sense since soccer is the most popular worldwide sport and very popular in Europe, especially in England. We stayed from 2 until 4 and it was free to watch which made it even more fun.
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Stamford Bridge Fulham Rd, LONDON SW6 1HS, United Kingdom 0871 984 1955 |
Posted by Brent Schwartz
After our trip to the park and to the practice, we decided it was dinner time. We decided as a group that we wanted to go somewhere interesting, so I suggested a restaurant merely based on it's name, The Admiral Codrington. It's a small restaurant that has only been open for about 4 years and features a retractable awning outside and a beer garden. After I told the group about the beer garder, all were on board. We were surprised about the prices being low compared to much of what we had looked at in other restaurants. We called to make a last minute reservation and luckily we were able to secure a table. We called a taxi bus to save time rather than call our driver.
The beer garden was awesome, though Brent was not amused with a small statue of a 'little person'; we have still not figured out his phobia of little people, but oh well. We dined on traditional British food; most of us ordered fish and chips because the restaurant uses a local beer in the batter. We debated as a group as to whether or not we should go out that night and the debate lasted for hours. By the time we decided to not go out, it was already late and we were quite intoxicated. Brendan and I started comparing which beer we preferred and it quickly turned into a drinking match. Trying to outdo each other, we ordered drink after drink of our preferred type of brew and made the other drink it. We were becoming belligerent by the end of the night and the rest of the group was thoroughly enjoying watching us drink a pint of every beer the restaurant offered. Meghan asked our bartender about our tab and immediately told us to stop ordering if we wanted any money for food during the rest of the trip, so we listened to her advice. The rest of the night was a blur, but I was told that after repeatedly asking our driver to say "Jolly Oh", we were taken back to the guest house where we called it a night.
Meal by John Olive
September 27, 2010: Day 5 in England
One of the luxuries of staying in this house is that we have complete access to the family car and their driver. I have never experienced such decadence before and probably never will again so I plan on taking full advantage of this at every possible opportunity.
This morning, we awoke rather late and after a few rounds of strong bloody marys to stave off the ills of the night before, we decided to hit the city for some site seeing. I was able to convince the driver, whom I respectfully refer to as “Jeeves,” to drive us to Temple Court and drop us off.
Today, I was in search of Roman ruins. I know what you’re thinking, “But, you aren’t in Rome?” Well, no, but the Roman Empire at its highest point stretched into the United Kingdom and some of their ruins still exist. In the area of Walbrook a Temple of Mithras was discovered in the 1950’s during an excavation for a new building. Due to the need to continue the great expansion of the city, the temple was fully excavated, uprooted and moved from Walbrook to its current location.
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| not worth the trip |
This was the most boring pile of rubble and ruin I have ever seen in my life. Luckily, there was no admission so we did not feel completely ripped off. Apparently, the London Museum removed anything of value and importance and left nothing but some foundation stones and a few educational plaques. I was expecting to see a cavernous temple with sculptures of deities and shrines for the dead; instead all we got was an ancient foundation sitting among some random buildings in the middle of modern London.
Irritated and hungry, I saw a large glowing sign advertising a “perfectly poured Guinness” and being that it is always a good time a Guinness, or 12, we left our great view of the rubble to the other tourists. O’Neill’s was awesome, or at least what I remember of it. After devouring some Guinness battered fish and chips, I thought it would be nice to have round of Irish car bombs for everyone. After a few more rounds, John and I decided that we must see the rest of the Temple of Mithras before the day was through come hell or high water. Somewhere after our ninth or tenth pint, Meghan informed us that after speaking to the bartender, not only did she know the way to the London Museum, admission was FREE! David ordered yet another round of Guinness, and Jeanna not to be outdone, ordered everyone a Jamison’s double. Throwing back the golden water of my homeland, we exited the building hoping Meghan actually knew where she was going.
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| Danger Will Robinson! |
Somewhere around the second or third block the alcohol kicked in and the next thing I know I am laying on a bench outside the museum with John sleeping underneath of the bench and no one else around. After waking up John, we found Brent sitting on a bench across the courtyard from us. He informed us that after being denied entry into the museum for being too intoxicated, there was a great debate as to what to do with us. Apparently, no one else wanted to go to the museum after listening to John and I drunkenly argue about the Roman invasion of Egypt, the Protestant Reformation, and the greatness of a good icee for the past mile while continually holding up the group to “rest.” The rest of the group was angry enough that they bailed on us and Brent stayed behind to make sure we did not get arrested or mugged. It was now 5:15 and the museum was set to close in less than an hour.
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| Clearly a great place for a nap.... |
Feeling amazing well rested, we followed Brent through the doors of the London Museum and quickly made our way to the Roman Collection. The artifacts that had been removed from the Temple of Mithras were incredible. They had an entire wing devoted to that site alone and claimed that this discovery was one of the best preserved ever found. We were then reverently ushered out of the museum and back into the streets of London. While we watched evening fall over the city of London, John called the house and had Jeeves come pick us up. The others may disagree, but as far as I am concerned, today was a success.
BA
September 28, 2010 Day 6 in London, England
After getting our fill of the view, we then headed towards the Kew Gardens. We were pretty bummed that they charge an admission fee for the actual gardens, however people have been constantly telling us we have to go see them. While the gardens were gorgeous, the Palm House and the Xstrata Treetop Walkway were two of our favorite spots. The Palm House is actually a victorian glass and iron greenhouse for exotic plants, hence why it was called the Palm House. The Xstrata Treetop Walkway, which did bost amazing views, was a nice hike up 118 steps to the very top. However, once we got there it was definitely worth the effort! Some of the male group members didn't seem to agree, however me and Meghan just ignored them and continued to enjoy the breeze and the view of the treetops. Since it was late afternoon, and all of our stomachs were making noises and scaring away the birds, we stopped at The Organery for much needed food and a place to rest. Total cost for lunch was $21 (Euros) and total cost for the admission to the gardens was $69 (Euros).
JEL
September 29, 2010 Day 7 in London, England
On our last day in London our group decided to head into the city to see all the classic tourist attractions. Some of us may never get the chance to come back and it would be a shame not to take advantage of this opportunity.
We woke up around 9:00 am and drove to the Tower of London to start our day. We parked at Tower Hamlet parking for 2 euros an hour and set out to see the city. To get around the city we purchased day passes on the classic double decker red bus for 24.50 euros a person. Here is the tour map offered by The Original London Sightseeing tour.
We started our day by going to the London Visitor's Center for a free walking tour of around Buckingham palace. The tour group set out at 10:30 to see the changing of the guard, a once in a lifetime experience. After spending 30 minutes trying to get the guards to blink, we gave up and set out to see the rest of the city.
We rode the bus to Big Ben, but quickly realized that you cannot actually arrange a tour unless you are a UK resident. While watching a clock for hours sounds thrilling it got old very quickly. Everyone was hungry so we set out to find a quick lunch. We wanted something fast and healthy, so we made our way to Leon. It was about a 15 minute walk from Big Ben and offers a fast, healthy lunch. They offer wraps, vegetables, etc. and we spent about 80 euros between the 6 of us.
After a healthy lunch we hopped back on the bus and rode it to the river Thames. Our bus pass includes a free boat tour, passing the London Eye, Shakespeare's Globe, and the Tower of London. We decided it was the most efficient way to see as many landmarks as possible on out last day. The river tour ends at the Tower of London, where our car was parked. After a full day everyone was ready to head back to the house to make plans for the night.
http://www.sightseeingtourslondon.com/original-london-sightseeing-tour-p-32.html
http://www.londontown.com/LondonInformation/Restaurant/Leon/a771/
http://www.londontown.com/LondonInformation/Restaurant/Leon/a771/
post by David Hinkle
After getting off the tour, John, Brent and I decided to go find a gift for our hosts. We told everyone else that we would just meet them back at the house and hoofed it back to the Museum of London as quickly as possible. The other day while “visiting” the museum, if you can call it that, we were ushered out at closing time without a chance to go to the gift shop. However, we did walk by and see the most amazing thing staring at us from the window and knew that it would make a perfect gift for someone that already had everything.
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| What to buy the man that has it all.... |
Who doesn’t want a replica Roman Centurion Helmet sitting on their mantle? After making our purchase we headed up the block for the Barbican Underground Station. After wandering around for a bit we finally found a ticket booth to purchase our fares and boarded a train for East Putney. The subway or “Tube” as the Londoners call it was surprisingly clean. I guess the government understands that they need to keep it well kept to keep tourists happy; something that the NYC transit authority should pick up on. Honestly, we were the weird ones who were freaking people out. Not only were we the only Americans in earshot, it was heavily crowded from rush hour and Brent was wearing the Roman Helmet. To say we got some weird looks is an understatement.
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| Amazingly clean |
We got off at East Putney and walked the final block back to the house. The group was pretty pleased with our gift and thought it was very appropriate. Now, time to get some dinner.
BA
Meal by John Olive
