Skip to main content

London Part II

Well today was another long travel day but it was never meant to be part of the trip so it’s not really a concern. The trip technically ended in Paris but flying out of Paris was too expensive for most people. Contiki is based out of London so the coach has to come back here anyways and they offer a free ride to anyone else who does too. They should just say that the trip ends in London and bring everyone back with them but they don’t. I’m sure they have a good reason.

We actually made good time and got to London at 3:15pm. We gained an hour when we left France so the total time travelled was around 7 hours with breaks for border-crossing and lunch. I upgraded my room to a single because it was my last night on the trip and I had been sharing my space enough these last few weeks. When I got to my room I had to fight the urge to immediately go to sleep and I met up with Team Canada (Tracey, Lisa, Laura, Jamie) for one of the famous double-decker bus tours of London instead.

The bus makes frequent stops to pick people up and drop them off in different areas and your pass allows you 24-hour access to their services so you can just hop back on wherever and whenever you want. They have lines that run all over the city but we got on the main line which takes you past Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, London Bridge, Parliament, etc. The bus moves pretty fast and doesn’t stop specifically for the sights – it just shows you where they are and then you can hop off at the nearest stop and do your business and get back on later. I didn’t get many pictures due to this fact. Here’s what I got though:

IMG_1298IMG_1302

We rode the bus for almost 3 hours but still didn’t see everything. We had to hop off 2/3 of the way through and walk back to our hotel since the other buses stopped running. It was also getting windy so it worked out for the best. We stopped for hot chocolate on the walk back because it was pretty cold on the bus and also hot chocolate is delicious.

Everyone on our trip who was still in London was meeting at a bar by the hotel for another final goodbye. This was like our third final goodbye but it was the final final goodbye so it was pretty important. There were only about 25 people and all of them were completely exhausted and mildly depressed so it wasn’t as exciting as the other final goodbyes but it was good. And that was pretty much it. Anti-climactic post, eh?

But wait! There’s more! I met up with Tracey around 11pm to return her class photo that I signed and also because I love her. I felt like we deserved a special goodbye because I thought we had a special relationship and for once I was right. Climax! Stay classy folks!

Well I fly out tomorrow and that will be the end of the most fun, action packed, kick-ass adventure that I’ve ever had. I think I spent more money on this trip than I spent on my car but my car drives me to Syosset, NY and this trip drove me to 11 different countries. So fuck it.

Goodbye Europe! Thanks for the memories!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rhine Valley to Lucerne

Today was mostly a driving day. It was around three hours on the bus in the morning with an hour stop in the afternoon before leaving Germany. I believe it was somewhere in the black forest region but I didn’t get the name of the town because I was sleeping. We took some pics with a cool waterfall and I ate some kind of bratensteinwurst and then we  drove the last few hours to Lucerne. Waterfall action: Ashlee always asks to get in my pictures and then she stands there like I have a gun to her back. She’s so weird. Then we get to Lucerne in the late afternoon and stop at another of Contiki’s partners: Harry’s Swiss Watch Center. They sell Swiss army knives, watches and chocolate at excellent prices. I didn’t take any pictures of this shop because it was boring. Then I went outside to get Swiss Franks out of the ATM since we will be here for a few days and they don’t do the Euro thing. Because they’re independent. Or shady. This was taken near the ATM machine. The girls ask me...
10 comments
Read more

Nice to Chateau

Well we have to leave Nice today. And it’s supposed to be sunny and fantastic. Oh well. Adil had the great idea to go down and see the sunrise before we left since yesterday was kind of a bust. Sunrise was around 6am which isn’t that bad – it’s like a work day – but I was up until 2am so I was pretty tired. I thought about just staying in bed but I would have regretted it and I had plenty of time to sleep on the bus so I rallied and went downstairs. We got there probably 20 minutes early and discovered that our lookout point was actually a homeless person’s bedroom. She was just waking up though so she invited us in for some tea and biscuits. It was nice. As the sunrise got closer, we realized that there was a flaw in our plan: Nice is in a bit of a cove (as is evident in my pictures yesterday) and the sun’s path was not something we considered. I just assumed it was more southerly (sure why not) and over the water. Here I point out Nice on the map. There is no way the sun would make ...
7 comments
Read more

Rome

ROMA! Ok today is going to be nuts. We are starting off with a guided tour of the Vatican which will take about two hours and then we have a free day with which I’m going to see as much of Rome as I can. SPOILER ALERT: I get home at 10:30pm tonight with blisters on my feet. IDIOT ALERT: I was wearing knock-off crocs that I bought at a service station. Let’s start at the Vatican because that’s where we started. This is the entrance. Seems fitting. The line to get in the door goes around the building and out of sight. Being in a group and paying for a guided tour gets us past everyone – it’s worth it. We are told that the Vatican museum is the largest museum in the world – It spans 7 kilometers and 1300 rooms. We soon learn that they weren’t lying. Walking around Vatican city was one of the most overwhelming things I’ve ever done. Not from the heat or the size but from the magnitude and significance of the information. It was mind-numbing. I took some pictures although they don’t do t...
5 comments
Read more