Sunday, November 25, 2012

Traitors, Beheading, the Crown Jewels and... Fish?

Today I was able to let out my inner history nerd by visiting the Tower of London, and my inner child later when I visited the London Aquarium!

I went to the Tower by myself, since all of my friends visited it during Reading Week when I was in Germany. I really enjoyed the walk to the Tower, because I was able to walk on the coolest bridge in London (my opinion, at least).


I purchased an audio guide for my visit of the Tower, which I really enjoyed. There were five tours that you could listen to and they delved into the history of the different parts of the Tower, like how it's been used as a jail, castle, and storage area. Speaking of, I got to view the Crown Jewels today and let me say... they are just as beautiful as you'd expect! I walked around for a good two hours and saw and learned so much. 

This is Traitor's Gate, where prisoners would arrive by boat to be put in the Tower. Anne Boleyn would come through her the day before her coronation and only three years later, as a "traitor" to her husband.


This is a statue of a King Henry III's polar bear. 
Yes, the king had a pet polar bear.
He kept it on a long leash so it could go fishing in the Thames.



King Henry III's throne that stands in the meeting hall of St. Thomas's Tower. Henry and his son Edward I built the medieval castle that is part of the Tower and was used by many monarchs as a place of residence and business.


This is a monument honoring those who were executed in the Tower itself. Most prisoners were executed on Tower Hill. Some of the privileged prisoners to be executed here include Anne Boleyn and Lady Jane Grey.


After the Tower I grabbed some lunch and ate at a beautiful park across the street. Then, I made my way to the London Aquarium where I met up with my friends Matt and Kalee. I didn't get any pictures at the Aquarium, because my camera is broke and I couldn't tell if they were turning out well enough. But my friend Matt got some really great ones and I'm going to steal them from him! The Aquarium was super cool; I got to see sea turtles, and Nemo's, and penguins!

Overall, it was a really great day in London! It's days like today that make me never want to leave :)

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Ireland! Ireland! Ireland!


So, I visited Ireland this weekend with my friend Kalee.
And it was definitely one of the best weekends I've had here!

We arrived around midnight on Friday... or I guess you can say Saturday! We took a bus from the airport to our hostel. I was a little worried about what going to a hostel would be like, since I've only ever been to hotels, but luckily ours was clean, easy to find, and the staff was very nice! We went out after we arrived and found our way to a late-night rock bar! Where I drank my first beer, a Fosters, and my first Irish cider called Bulmers. Both were very delicious. We went back to the hostel afterwards and headed to bed.

Saturday we explored Dublin and did some shopping! Our hostel was very close to the city centre, where there is literally everything you could want. Shops, restaurants, bars, you name it. At night, we went out to a pub where we both ordered the Traditional Lamb Stew. I had never ate lamb before, but that stew was sooooo delicious! It definitely hit the spot. We then traveled to Temple Bar, a street (and also a pub) that is very famous in Dublin for all the pubs on it, as well as the abundance of street performers on there. It was an energetic and fun place to visit on a Saturday night! We even met a couple of cute Irish boys at our hostel who we talked with for a while! ;) Later that night we met a middle-aged Irishman who was really into American politics and had a discussion with him about the outcome of the election and such. It was a really fun night and Dublin is definitely a city that comes alive at night!

Sunday we visited St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Castle, and Trinity College. St. Patrick's was nice and it had some cool statues and artifacts, but it was small and didn't have as much to look at like St. Paul's in London. Dublin Castle turned out to not really be a castle... or at least not like Buckingham and Windsor so that was a little disappointing. Trinity College was a treat though, because we visited the exhibition on The Book of Kells in their Old Library. We also got to go into the part of the library where they house the oldest manuscripts and books they own, so that was neat!


Monday was definitely my favorite day. We visited the Guinness Storehouse and the Old Jameson Distillery! Both of them are definite must-see's if you ever visit Dublin, even if you don't really drink. It was awesome to see how both Guinness and Jameson whiskey is created and all the backstory behind both of these legendary drinks. Both exhibits were very well-done and were a lot of fun to visit! And, of course, if you happen to like Guinness and Jameson, you get a free drink at the end of the tours!





I absolutely loved visiting Dublin. The people were so funny and animated, the drinks were great ;), the city was fun and easy to walk around, and it was such a great experience. I definitely have to go back to Ireland and visit the countryside someday!

Sadly, I have no more big trips planned while I'm here. I still have lots of places to visit in London though, so I'm going to definitely enjoy my last five weeks here!

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

My week in Berlin!

I flew back to London yesterday after spending a great week in Berlin with my friend Kubra and her family and friends! I went to the zoo, tried new and different kinds of food, learned a little bit of German (my favorite phrase isn't appropriate to put on here...), experienced the German nightlife, went shopping, and caught up with Kubie. It was a relaxing week off from school and I really enjoyed Berlin. It was different from London in a lot of ways, some good and some bad.

Germans appeared to be friendlier than Brits. They usually always greeted you with a hug and they talked a lot... The subways and trains were always noisy with conversation. The food was also very, very good. Being a Turkish German, Kubra took me to a lot of Turkish and other ethnic restaurants. My favorite was definitely Wonder Waffel, where I made this delicious treat.


However, Berlin was definitely dirtier than London. London and it's surrounding boroughs are actually quite clean for the amount of people that live and travel here. But Berlin streets were littered with trash, so that was slightly unpleasant. And they don't sell cider there. I was very upset about that.





There's definitely a lot more I want to see in Berlin, and of Germany, so I'm excited for future trips to visit Kubie! :)


On Friday, I leave for Ireland with my friend Kalee until Tuesday. I won't have my laptop with me, so expect a long blog all about that trip! I can't wait! :D