Planes, Trains, and Feet

Life as a pedestrian is taking a toll on the tootsies. I got back from a trip to London and Kobenhavn (Copenhagen) last night and I could not have been more tuckered out. Our flights were good, although coming back through Gatwick was quite the ordeal with Easyjet. Not so easy at all. Trains and tube were fun and I'll definitely miss that aspect of London. The English was pretty nice too. You don't realize how ostracized you feel by not speaking the native tongue until you get to a place where you do.

Our first night there, we found our hostel, St. Paul's Hostel, which was situated right next to St. Paul's cathedral. It was so nice to be so close to something so beautiful. We walked around some and I knew the Millennium Bridge was nearby cuz we walked on it in 2005. Knowing Cam is a big Harry Potter fan, I mentioned it and we headed there. It was such a nice night and we took some pictures on the bridge. Eventually we were all tuckered out so we headed to the hostel and passed out on our tiny little stacked beds. We had a crazy girl in our room who got out of bed once while we were there but whatever, the noisy Spanish girls in there were way worse. After digging for the headphones and iPod I fell asleep. Woke up to bells ringing at St. Paul's and a recycling trunk dumping glass bottles at all hours but I made it.

Skip to the next day. Thursday yielded some great sites. We walked everywhere. We headed down Cannon St. to see the Royal Courts of Justice, Trafalgar Square, The National Gallery, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and we walked back along the Thames's north bank. I think we had the best weather anyone could have asked for in London. Not a single drop of rain and hardly a cloud in the sky. Trafalgar Square is my favorite place in London so I was quite excited to get there. I have been there a few times and I always wanted to climb the lions there and I finally can say that I have. It took a bit of effort to get up there but we made it happen. I loved it, like a little kid. The National Gallery was really nice and free is always appreciated. There were kids in their uniforms drawing and sketching all around and it was just so nice. Saw some Monet, Manet, Seurat, Picasso, and many more. It's just a shame we never made it to Tate Modern.

So we headed on down to Parliament and took some snapshots of Big Ben and popped into Westminster Abbey. Cam wasn't feeling too hot and my foot was killing me because I think I had tendinitis so we sped up our visit a bit but we saw so much in there. How many people have seen Queen Elizabeth I's tomb? Mom would've loved to see it and I feel badly that when we were young we didn't let her go in. Shame on us. After that we were dog-tired and walked along the Thames all the way back to our hostel where we took a much-needed nap. That evening we went to the London Eye and ran into Beth and Krista. Worked out very nicely. We flew the Eye and it was such a nice time of day, the sun was setting and it was gorgeous.

Afterward we looked into a restaurant we thought might be good but it was very businessy and too fancy for travelers like us. We walked all over looking for somewhere to eat and ended up going back to St.Paul's to a little place called Center Page. It was so cute and we ate alone downstairs. We had proper English food: fish and chips, and beef pie. It was all really delicious. When we went upstairs to pay for it all, a man from the Jersey Shore, living in London, came up to us, asked why were sitting alone downstairs and then proceeded to take our bill and pay for it if we agreed to do a shot...which he was also paying for. Sounded like a great deal so we all did a shot with the bar staff and got a free meal out of it. Thank you, Matt Day. It was such a nice way to end a very busy day.

Skip to the next morning, we set out to King's Cross to find Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter. It was way down at the end (not between platforms 9 and 10) and we weren't the only tourists there taking cheesy photos, thank god. There were even old people there being silly with the cart. We got some breakfast at Starbucks and McDonald's (how American) and hit the pavement once again. However, our stops for this day were much further apart so we bought a Tube pass for the day, good choice. We definitely got our money's worth that day.

We went to Buckingham Palace and watched the guard walk up on their horses. The palace was open to the public at this time of year so we got to tour the State rooms. It was nineteen rooms of pure luxury, I just wish that we'd been able to take photos because it really can't be described perfectly. I've thrown in an image of the throne room from online just to give you a taste. It was amazing to be a palace though. It really made me wish that the White House was more accessible. I would feel such a historical patriotism if I got to tour it. After the tour through the rooms we ended up out back in the Buckingham Gardens which weren't really gardens at all, just a lot of greenspace.

After Buckingham we went to Hyde Park and walked through a gorgeous rose garden in search of the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens. We found it eventually and walking along the water to get there was not unpleasant in the slightest. The Peter Pan was super cute and we had a nice rest next to it.

Went to the London Bridge and Tower of London next. We didn't tour or walk across the bridge, we just took some photos and then headed back to the hostel for a nap. Walking for 6 hours straight can really take a toll on a person.

That night, at midnight, Cam was turning 21 so we went to Picadilly Circus to find a nice place to eat and a bar to mess around in. We ended up finding a T.G.I. Friday and bars with high cover charges. It was so much fun getting ridiculous drinks at TGIF and having the staff all sing to Cameron. We went to TigerTiger for drinks and dancing afterward but were put off by the cover charge they asked for. Apparently if we'd gotten there like ten minutes earlier, we would've been in for free. Boooo. We walked all around and eventually midnight rolled over and we were on the Tube to Mansion House. Happy Birthday, Cameron. We ended up not drinking at all and got to the hostel earlier than we could have guessed. It was a very great day though, so it wasn't a bust by any means.

The next day our flight left London and the line for EasyJet was insane in the airport. We actually got called out of line so that we wouldn't miss our flight. So much for two hours being enough time to queue. Once safely on the plane to Copenhagen, we relaxed a bit. When we got to Copenhagen it was dreary and drab, much like our dispositions. We walked around for a bit and took pictures in Nyhavn (so cute), a palace, city hall, the stock exchange, and Tivoli. I think the combination of the weather, my stomach and general fatigue from travelling had finally taken over and we decided to head back to Odense a day early. We hopped on the train and ended up the in the family car, go figure, sitting across from a Polish father and son. I was mildly annoyed that this is where we sat but I ended up falling for this father-son duo. They were so cute playing Pokemon and learning to write words. I almost shed a tear at the kindness of it.

Once back in Odense we got some junk food and set off for Jagtvej and our familiar beds. There was a party in The Larmer as well so we headed down there around 1am or so to show our faces. We celebrated Cam's birthday the right way and had some Polish vodka to top it off. There was dancing and cards and shots and it was just an all around great time. Lots of laughter and pictures and we turned to each other at one point and just said, "There's nowhere I'd rather be."

Later.