I had an extended trip planned for the beginning part of our spring/Easter break here. I left on Thursday, April 14th after classes with my friend Chelsia to fly to London. I think it took until we were landed and driving to our hostel that it finally sunk in for both of us that we were in London! We had a little bit of culture shock when we got there as London is much more fast paced than Sevilla – we felt like the slow walkers there where in Sevilla we always seem to be the ones walking fast. It is a bustling city, but so beautiful as well. We weren’t settled into our hostel which was in Piccadilly Circus (highly recommend this location) until around 7:30-8:00pm and we had to find internet to make some plans and print some things so that first evening we didn’t get to do much. Thankfully we had a great roommate in the hostel named Jason who was actually from London and he gave us a bunch of tips. Also, I had a bunch of information from Cousin Suzanne from her many trips to London which was super helpful as well. We were left with two full days (Friday and Saturday) and then Chelsia would leave for Paris in the morning on Sunday and I would have part of the day for myself until I left for the airport around 2:30. In those two days we packed in a lot, but also found out that it was not nearly enough time to get everything done that we wanted.
We started out Friday by going to Leicester square to the booth called “tkts” where you can buy discounted, same-day tickets to the theatre. We were told that they would for sure be open by 10, but we wanted to get there a little earlier just in case they opened earlier so we could make it to our free walking tour at 11 that was a little walking distance away. We were there at about 9:30 and they weren’t opened yet. A little before 10 they put out the list of shows they had tickets for and how much they would cost. We immediately saw Billy Elliot (a musical I have wanted to see) and it was on a good discount too! It was about quarter after 10 and we were wondering why they weren’t open. Another older couple had come by this time and were waiting with us. When one of the workers came out Chelsia asked him if they were going to open (because we had to leave really soon to make it to our tour on time). He gave us kind of a weird look and said “yes, at 10:00.” Just then it hit me – we hadn’t changed our watches back! So really it was only 9:15!! We were so embarrassed! We realized that now when we thought our plane was late and we weren’t going to make it for our bus to the city within an hour of our scheduled time (we were running in the airport) and we’d have to pay for another ticket – we were actually exactly on time for our bus. We also realized that we could have slept another hour (which would have been nice because we hadn’t had much sleep the night before and went to bed kind of late that evening)! So many things began to make sense! Oh funny! It turned out to be a good thing in the long run though because we were first in line for the tickets and a long line formed fairly quickly before 10:00. We also met some nice people at the front of the line. We went to get our tickets for Billy Elliot thinking that the seats might not be good and then we’d have to decide if they were worth the cost. I asked the man “We’d like two tickets to Billy Elliot, but how are the seats?” His response: “How does third row sound?” WHY YES!!! THANK YOU!! :) We were VERY excited after this!! I think anything could have happened after that and it wouldn’t have been able to ruin my day :) Live theatre will do that to me.
We had our free walking tour of many of the royal buildings in London. Our tour guy was Irish – I thought that was kind of funny…getting a London tour by an Irish man. We saw Hyde Park corner, Buckingham palace, Clarence house (where the Prince of Whales lives), St. Jame’s Palace (home of Henry VIII), Trafalgar Square, Horse Carriage Parade (and saw 10 Downy Street), Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the House of Parliament. We didn’t enter any of these buildings of course, but we saw them all and learned a little about them. After the tour we headed to the London Eye where we had tickets to go on at 3:00. If you don’t know, the London Eye is a huge ferris wheel looking thing that you can go on and it’s the highest point in London – so you can see a lot of the city. It was quite amazing to see. After that we slowly walked back to the hostel, stopping to watch some street performers, get some sandwiches from a supermarket, and sit in Covent Gardens (an area with markets and street performers) to eat. We stopped at our hostel briefly to get ready to head to the theatre for the 7:30 performance. Billy Elliot was showing at Victoria Palace theatre which was near Buckingham palace and a little over half an hour walk from our hostel. The show was three hours long and yet did not seem long enough :) It was AMAZING!!! The choreography, singing, dancing, actors, story – all good!! I wanted to watch over again right away! :) We decided we wanted to try to go to another musical the next night – why not? We are in London! :)
We woke up the next morning to get tickets for another musical. We decided on Grease because we knew where the theatre was and we couldn’t get tickets for Wicked from this place (our first choice). After getting tickets (9th row center – perfect!) we headed to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. If you ever plan to do this – get there early! We were lucky and were there at 10:30 because we thought it started at 11:00 (but it actually didn’t start until 11:30). This was a good thing though because at 10:30 there were already a good amount of people and they came quickly after that. We wouldn’t have been able to see anything had we come five minutes later. The changing of the guard was interesting to see – very ceremonial and I think it would have been even more interesting if I knew the significance behind some of the things they were doing. The actual changing of the guard is very easy to miss as it is done kind of behind the scenes while a band is performing and other things are going on. I just happen to look back as the changing was going on – otherwise I’m sure I would have missed it! :)
After the changing of the guard we headed back to Westminster Abbey because we thought we might like to go inside, but the line was VERY long and the price was pretty expensive. So we took some more time to see the outside before heading back to our hostel to move to our second hostel for the last night. Our second hostel was in the northern part of London and a lot farther away from everything. Thankfully I had become a master at the metro system and the map – so we were fine getting there. After checking into our hostel we had a meal at a little local café and then were figuring out our plans. We wanted to go to one of the open markets, but the one we were planning on going to was much farther away than I thought and we didn’t have time. So, we just headed straight to the London Tower and the Tower Bridge. Many probably know this (but we did not) that the London Tower is actually a castle – not just a tower. :) Also the Tower Bridge is beautiful with some fun blue accents. We were able to go on the Tower Bridge and from there we could see the London bridge – nothing special to see about this bridge, but we of course had to sing “London bridge is falling down” while we were looking at it.
We passed through Covent Gardens again on our way to the theatre for Grease. Our seats for Grease were amazing – probably even better than Billy Elliot. Though I think it was hard to have Grease follow Billy Elliot because Billy Elliot was so good. Grease was very good too – live theatre, amazing voices, but it was a little on the cheesy side on how they did some of the acting. Still live theatre -- I could go to a theatre performance every night!! The next morning we had to wake up early so that we could leave the hostel before 8 as Chelsia had to be at the train station before 9 for her train to Paris and we wanted to stop and see Platform 9 ¾ from Harry Potter that was at the King’s Cross Station. After Chelsia left I had some time where I tried to go to the British Library, but it wasn’t open until 11 and I already had plans to go to the Palm Sunday service at St. Paul’s Cathedral at 11. I took my time getting there and then looked inside before the service. The service began in the square next to the Cathedral where we all had crosses made from palms and there was a procession with the pastors, boys/men’s choir, two donkeys and many children with palms. I respectfully did not take pictures as was asked in the bulletin, but many people did. I had an great view from a monument in the center of the square and it was interesting to think about how it would be if Jesus entered this city in this present time – I think it would be like I saw with many hands raised up with cameras and video cameras trying to capture what was going on, everyone moving to try to get a look. I have to say it was kind of refreshing to have a service again in English and with a bulletin so I could participate. The choir was phenomenal! I also had a great seat in the Cathedral and during the sharing of the peace I’m pretty sure everyone I shook hands with was from a different country or had a different ethnic background – it was an amazing feeling! I had a smile on my face and such a peaceful feeling after that…wonderful. So much to reflect on after that service, but this blog post is getting pretty long so I’ll leave it at that for here.
After the service I looked around for a little bit, and then headed to Hyde Park which was near where I would be taking a bus to the airport at 2:30 to leave for Slovakia to visit a family that I got to know my first summer working at Mount Carmel. I bought a picnic lunch at a supermarket to eat in the park and spent some time near a fountain eating my lunch and writing in my journal. It was very relaxing after the other two very busy days.
I arrived in Bratislava, Slovakia at around 9:30pm and Adrian was waiting for me at the airport. We had a little bit of a drive to Martin, Slovakia where they live and didn’t get there until around midnight. Of course we went to bed right away. Monday morning I had breakfast with Natalia and Timko (the son) and then had a tour of the apartment, Bible School, and part of the city of Martin. I was able to see other friends from Slovakia that were at Mount Carmel last summer as well – Gabika who worked with us and Jozef, Mlada and their children who were a family that came for a couple weeks. That was a lot of fun because they didn’t know I was coming so it was quite a surprise for them when I ran into them! The Bible school and city of Martin is so beautiful, peaceful, and welcoming. I really liked it. We walked around the city a little bit with Natalia’s friend Viviana and her baby and stopped at a restaurant that had an outdoor jungle gym for Timko and I could try the Slovak equivalent of coke called Kafola. It was pretty good for a coke type drink as I don’t usually drink that. It was great just to sit, relax, and talk. Natalia made us lunch of chicken and this delicious rice and Viviana brought a yummy cake for dessert. I was also able to go see their houses that they are building together in the village near by – what fun! Also, that afternoon there was an Easter concert with the children of the Bible school and Terezka had a solo – so of course we went to that. SOO adorable and it brought me back to memories of camp with the guitars and the singing. Terezka sang the second verse of “Jesus Loves Me” adorably and had a huge smile on her face when she saw me. The last song was “Lord I Lift your Name on High” sung in Slovak—absolutely amazing. :) After the concert I had Terezka on my arm for the rest of my visit and I loved it. We played together with her friend (I was a horse named Buttercup) and colored/drew many pictures to share with each other. We ended the night with a bedtime story and nighttime prayers before the little ones headed off to bed. Then that evening Viviana and her husband Bohdan came over for a little bit. We talked and ate – it was fun. Bohdan made the comment that he felt bad that here I was sitting with 4 “old people” for any evening – “how boring.” I assured him that I actually really liked it! :)
Tuesday we went on a little trip together. We left around 10:30 to see the castle Bojnice which was about an hour away. The ride over was a lot of fun because I was in the back between the two car seats and the songs they played for the kids were the songs I listened to as a child (My Brother Eats Bugs, There’s a Cow Parked in my Driveway, etc.) that they got when they were in the US. We were clapping and singing the whole way there! :) The castle we visited is done in the French style and has many things in it from the 16th century. The tour was in Slovak, but Adrian translated for me. I think I ended up getting a more fun tour with his translations as a little comedy was added in ;) A funny/sad story about the castle is the last owner was in love with a French woman which is why he had it redone in the French style and it took 20 years. By the time it was completed, she was already married to someone else! After the castle we had lunch at a nearby restaurant and I had the Slovak National meal called bryndzové halušky which is potato dumplings noodles with sheep cheese. It was very good – it kind of reminded me of a very fancy mac and cheese but a little different. We headed to the zoo that was right next to the castle. That was a lot of fun for Timko and Terezka. You would have thought that it was their first time there with how excited they were, but they have actually been there several times (which you could also tell because they knew that place like the back of their hands.) We came at a great time because there was really no one else there, which I guess is unusual because usually there are so many people there that you can’t even see all the animals. On the way home Timko and Terezka fell asleep quite quickly so I had a quiet trip home to think. It was in that car ride that I officially made my concrete plan on how to get back here in the nearish future. I have been thinking about how I have to get back, but after this trip and visit with the Kacian’s, I KNOW I have to get back. So, the saving will begin once I get back to the U.S.
There was more coloring and playing to be done that evening and just a few tears from Terezka when she thought about how I was leaving the next day. It’s hard to explain to a 7 year old why you have to leave when you also want to stay. That was the end of my trip with them as I had to leave at 6am to get to the airport in time for my flight that left at 10. This is the first trip where I wasn’t ready to come back to Sevilla – of course I’m happy to be back here and all, but most other trips I was ready to get back “home”, but I could have stayed on this one a little longer. :) I traveled all day Wednesday as I flew from Bratislava to Málaga and then had to get a train from Málaga to Sevilla.
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