Week 12!!!
Door: Bente Hoogeveen
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Bente
27 November 2014 | Verenigd Koninkrijk, Londen
Monday November 17 2014. DAY 78.
Today Karlijn, Sanne and I are going to do the Free Walking Tour. This lady from that organisation comes to the hostel every morning at 10.30am, to pick up people to go to the meet-up for the free walking tour, so that’s how I knew about it. However, I decided to go to the meet-up place in Green Park myself, because Sanne and Karlijn were going by tube.
I was at the wrong park though. Green Park and St. James’ park are right next to each other, and I was in the latter one. Instead of meeting at the park, I met the group at Buckingham Palace. I joined the group and apologised to the Tour Guide. He said: “Doesn’t matter. The more women following me, the better.” It broke the ice, and we’ve had so much fun with this tour!
He showed us so many things, and told lovely stories. We saw the change of the guards, and heard the orchestra play the James Bond theme. We also learnt why everybody drives on the left side of the road in England. This is why, if I remember it correctly:
Way back, before Napoleon’s time, everybody drove on the left side of the road. So it is actually correct when British people tell other people that they are doing it wrong! They did this because the soldiers were taught to fight with their right hand as sword hand. To do that they would have to carry the sword on their left hip and to avoid clinching the swords into each other, everybody would drive on the left side of the road. However, Napoleon was left handed and carried his sword on the right hip. And because he was so idle, he wanted everybody to do that. So all the countries that he conquered had to adjust to his way of carrying swords and this drive on the right side of the road. Napoleon wasn’t really good at conquering oceans though, which is the reason why Great Britain never changed their way of driving.
During the tour we saw Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Green Park, St. James’ Park, Westminster Abbey, Victoria Tower, House of Parliament, and many other things. When the tour was over, Karlijn, Sanne and I set out on our own. We went to see the London Eye and walked along the Thames. We ate at Mac Donald’s in Waterloo Station, and then I went back to the hostel. I took a shower, because it was quite chilly outside and I needed to warmed up. After that I went to sleep!
Tuesday November 18 2014. DAY 79.
Woke up early, took a shower and had breakfast while waiting for Karlijn and Sanne. However, they had some plans for their own today, so instead of hanging out with them I went to explore London on my own.
I visited John Soane’s Museum, which was absolutely weird but very nice! A guest to whom I speak to frequently recommended me to go to this museum. John Soane used to be an architect, about 200 years back, and he made so many beautiful things. Apart from an architect, he was also a art collector, and his house, which is just a small terraced house, is full of paintings, sculptures, there’s an Egyptian sarcophagi in the middle of it all, and the walls are like pages of books that you can open and then there’s a whole new collection of paintings behind it.
After that I went to Somerset house to see the ice skating rank, and I also saw an exhibition on war veterans pictures. It was scary but intriguing to see.
I went back to the hostel at around two o’clock. I said goodbye to Karlijn and Sanne because they were going home today. After that I went upstairs and finished reading the Hunger Games... SUSPENSE ALL THE TIME!
I also skyped with dad and had a nice chat with one of my roommates. She gave me a few Christmas Pudding cupcakes. Very sweet of her!
Wednesday November 19 2014. DAY 80.
I had a day shift today, which wasn’t really that interesting. I did have a great chat with a guy named Thomas. He’s very nice!
After work I went to my room to do some schoolwork and clean some stuff up. And after that I went to see ‘Wicked’ the musical. It was really good!
Thursday November 20 2014. DAY 81.
Today I had a day off. I met Thomas in the evening and watched scary videos on his laptop. I also went to see Highgate cemetery. At this cemetery Karl Marx is buried, and also Douglas Adams, the writer of ‘the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy’. When I entered the cemetery I got the map with all the famous graves on it. It looked like a treasure hunt to me. I only found 3 out of 7 graves that I wanted to see. It was so difficult and everything was broken, faded away, or overgrown by plants. Really creepy and mysterious!
Friday November 21 2014. DAY 82.
After my day shift I went to see a Darwin Exhibition with Thomas. The exhibition was all about crossbreeding of chicken, and it was made by an artist from Belgium called Koen Vanmechelen. He called the exhibition the ‘Darwin Exhibition’, because Darwin was the philosopher who asked the question: “What came first? The chicken or the egg?”
The exhibition was really nice! After that we went to see the Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park in London. It was just as magical as I expected it to be. And it gave me that wonderful Christmassy feeling. Thomas got mulled wine and I had hot chocolate, and we really had to resist the urge to roast marshmallows above the fire.
Later today we went to the ‘village’, which is a gay bar in Soho, London. It’s great! We met some friends of Thomas, James and Steven. Steven is a linguist, so I had a great time talking to him about languages and what it’s like to teach it. And James is just crazy!
Saturday November 22 2014. DAY 83.
Thomas and I went back to Regent Park. He hadn’t seen it before and last time I went there I only saw a small part of it. It was really cool. We saw the part of ‘Queen Mary’s Gardens’, and took a lot of pictures of the roses. Most roses weren’t even blooming, just some of them really beautifully. Can you imagine what it’s like when it is summer and fully blooming! I have to go back by then!!!!!
I had a late shift, so after visiting the park we went back and I got myself ready for work. The shift was really stressful, because there was a big football game on (Manchester United vs. Arsenal) and a lot of people came over to watch it at our bar. I was busy and stressed with serving everybody beer, and when I did something wrong they would laugh at me, which wasn’t nice at all. It ruined my evening, but Bob was really comforting and even said that he would kick the people out who did that. It was great Thanks Bob!
Later that evening, after work, I went to the pub with Daniel, Bob and a friend of Daniel called Nina. Nina is from Germany, and she’s really nice. We all had a great time. When I got back I hung out with Enrico and Michele at the reception, because they were having night shift. I’m so happy to have such nice colleagues!
Sunday November 23 2014. DAY 84.
Thomas and I went for a walk around London. We walked past the Thames, saw the Big Ben again, and Buckingham Palace. We also saw some guards on horses posing really quietly. Really impressive!
It was very rainy and windy, but we had our umbrellas so we thought we’d be alright. However, these London Showers don’t care about umbrellas. They’ll get you soaked anyway. We came back frozen, so I quickly changed into dry clothes. I started my late shift after that, and this one was way better than yesterday. It was also my last official shift!!!
After work I skyped with dad and hung out with Enrico and Michele.
Today Karlijn, Sanne and I are going to do the Free Walking Tour. This lady from that organisation comes to the hostel every morning at 10.30am, to pick up people to go to the meet-up for the free walking tour, so that’s how I knew about it. However, I decided to go to the meet-up place in Green Park myself, because Sanne and Karlijn were going by tube.
I was at the wrong park though. Green Park and St. James’ park are right next to each other, and I was in the latter one. Instead of meeting at the park, I met the group at Buckingham Palace. I joined the group and apologised to the Tour Guide. He said: “Doesn’t matter. The more women following me, the better.” It broke the ice, and we’ve had so much fun with this tour!
He showed us so many things, and told lovely stories. We saw the change of the guards, and heard the orchestra play the James Bond theme. We also learnt why everybody drives on the left side of the road in England. This is why, if I remember it correctly:
Way back, before Napoleon’s time, everybody drove on the left side of the road. So it is actually correct when British people tell other people that they are doing it wrong! They did this because the soldiers were taught to fight with their right hand as sword hand. To do that they would have to carry the sword on their left hip and to avoid clinching the swords into each other, everybody would drive on the left side of the road. However, Napoleon was left handed and carried his sword on the right hip. And because he was so idle, he wanted everybody to do that. So all the countries that he conquered had to adjust to his way of carrying swords and this drive on the right side of the road. Napoleon wasn’t really good at conquering oceans though, which is the reason why Great Britain never changed their way of driving.
During the tour we saw Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Green Park, St. James’ Park, Westminster Abbey, Victoria Tower, House of Parliament, and many other things. When the tour was over, Karlijn, Sanne and I set out on our own. We went to see the London Eye and walked along the Thames. We ate at Mac Donald’s in Waterloo Station, and then I went back to the hostel. I took a shower, because it was quite chilly outside and I needed to warmed up. After that I went to sleep!
Tuesday November 18 2014. DAY 79.
Woke up early, took a shower and had breakfast while waiting for Karlijn and Sanne. However, they had some plans for their own today, so instead of hanging out with them I went to explore London on my own.
I visited John Soane’s Museum, which was absolutely weird but very nice! A guest to whom I speak to frequently recommended me to go to this museum. John Soane used to be an architect, about 200 years back, and he made so many beautiful things. Apart from an architect, he was also a art collector, and his house, which is just a small terraced house, is full of paintings, sculptures, there’s an Egyptian sarcophagi in the middle of it all, and the walls are like pages of books that you can open and then there’s a whole new collection of paintings behind it.
After that I went to Somerset house to see the ice skating rank, and I also saw an exhibition on war veterans pictures. It was scary but intriguing to see.
I went back to the hostel at around two o’clock. I said goodbye to Karlijn and Sanne because they were going home today. After that I went upstairs and finished reading the Hunger Games... SUSPENSE ALL THE TIME!
I also skyped with dad and had a nice chat with one of my roommates. She gave me a few Christmas Pudding cupcakes. Very sweet of her!
Wednesday November 19 2014. DAY 80.
I had a day shift today, which wasn’t really that interesting. I did have a great chat with a guy named Thomas. He’s very nice!
After work I went to my room to do some schoolwork and clean some stuff up. And after that I went to see ‘Wicked’ the musical. It was really good!
Thursday November 20 2014. DAY 81.
Today I had a day off. I met Thomas in the evening and watched scary videos on his laptop. I also went to see Highgate cemetery. At this cemetery Karl Marx is buried, and also Douglas Adams, the writer of ‘the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy’. When I entered the cemetery I got the map with all the famous graves on it. It looked like a treasure hunt to me. I only found 3 out of 7 graves that I wanted to see. It was so difficult and everything was broken, faded away, or overgrown by plants. Really creepy and mysterious!
Friday November 21 2014. DAY 82.
After my day shift I went to see a Darwin Exhibition with Thomas. The exhibition was all about crossbreeding of chicken, and it was made by an artist from Belgium called Koen Vanmechelen. He called the exhibition the ‘Darwin Exhibition’, because Darwin was the philosopher who asked the question: “What came first? The chicken or the egg?”
The exhibition was really nice! After that we went to see the Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park in London. It was just as magical as I expected it to be. And it gave me that wonderful Christmassy feeling. Thomas got mulled wine and I had hot chocolate, and we really had to resist the urge to roast marshmallows above the fire.
Later today we went to the ‘village’, which is a gay bar in Soho, London. It’s great! We met some friends of Thomas, James and Steven. Steven is a linguist, so I had a great time talking to him about languages and what it’s like to teach it. And James is just crazy!
Saturday November 22 2014. DAY 83.
Thomas and I went back to Regent Park. He hadn’t seen it before and last time I went there I only saw a small part of it. It was really cool. We saw the part of ‘Queen Mary’s Gardens’, and took a lot of pictures of the roses. Most roses weren’t even blooming, just some of them really beautifully. Can you imagine what it’s like when it is summer and fully blooming! I have to go back by then!!!!!
I had a late shift, so after visiting the park we went back and I got myself ready for work. The shift was really stressful, because there was a big football game on (Manchester United vs. Arsenal) and a lot of people came over to watch it at our bar. I was busy and stressed with serving everybody beer, and when I did something wrong they would laugh at me, which wasn’t nice at all. It ruined my evening, but Bob was really comforting and even said that he would kick the people out who did that. It was great Thanks Bob!
Later that evening, after work, I went to the pub with Daniel, Bob and a friend of Daniel called Nina. Nina is from Germany, and she’s really nice. We all had a great time. When I got back I hung out with Enrico and Michele at the reception, because they were having night shift. I’m so happy to have such nice colleagues!
Sunday November 23 2014. DAY 84.
Thomas and I went for a walk around London. We walked past the Thames, saw the Big Ben again, and Buckingham Palace. We also saw some guards on horses posing really quietly. Really impressive!
It was very rainy and windy, but we had our umbrellas so we thought we’d be alright. However, these London Showers don’t care about umbrellas. They’ll get you soaked anyway. We came back frozen, so I quickly changed into dry clothes. I started my late shift after that, and this one was way better than yesterday. It was also my last official shift!!!
After work I skyped with dad and hung out with Enrico and Michele.
Reageer op dit reisverslag
Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
