Cheers!

Well I finished the 'study' aspect of my trip last week in Vienna. We did our teacher evaluations, celebrated with coffee and torte, then we all said our bittersweet goodbyes. After packing up my stuff, then repacking my stuff, I left Vienna for my next adventure.

First Stop: Bratislava, Slovakia
For those of your who are not familiar with the "joy" of Ryanair let me tell you all about it. Ryanair is Europe's budget airline. You can get flights for around 30 Euros all across Europe. The catch is that you have to also pay for luggage on top, you cannot take much luggage and they tend to fly out of obscure airports. Oh, and they have a terrible website that doesn't even work half the time. But, when you are a student who is budget traveling you use Ryanair and are grateful for it.

My whole point of this little rant was that I got to add another country to my list, Slovakia, because Ryanair does not fly out of Vienna but does fly out of Bratislava which is an hour and half bus ride away.

Next Stop: London, England
I had this whole scenario in my head that London would be dirty and full of grumpy folk. It was not like that at all. Instead I found the people incredible witty and kind. And honestly the city is very clean, among one of the best I have visited. Anyways, I arrived at the London Luton airport (about an hour outside the city thanks to good ol' Ryanair) and took an Easybus to Bakerstreet in central London. Because I am cheap and hate paying for public transportation I decided to walk the 3 miles to my hostel with my 50 pounds of luggage. While it was exhausting and I was a wee bit sweaty (tmi?) I am so glad I walked. The sun was golden as it hit the city. I walked mainly through Hyde park (essentially London's central park) and it was just gorgeous! The park is filled with long-grass meadows and has a lake inside called the Serpentine (because of its shape). Definitely one of my favorite spots in London.

Hyde Park and it's lovely meadows//I am missing the smell of evergreens though

The next day I ventured out by myself. I hit up the Natural History Museum, the Victoria Albert Museum, the Peter Pan statue, and Kensington Palace. I loved the Natural History Museum. I had never been to one before and it was so cool. It was like the Pacific Science Center on crack. I spent most of my time in the biology part. The two highlights from the day though were that I saw the Red Arrows fly over Hyde park for the Queen's birthday and that Prince William and Princess Kate drove past me. Yeah, my jaw dropped.

Anyways, later in the day I met up with some friends from my study abroad program. We tried London's famous fish and chips. They tasted delicious although my stomach did not like all the grease that came with.

In the following two days we did all the main 'touristy' things: Changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Parliament, London Eye, Abbey Road, Waterloo, London tower, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, the Globe Theater, Millennium Bridge, the British Museum, Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus.

There is so much to see in London. I feel like I just skimmed the surface. I would love the chance to go back one day. I am honestly a wee bit burnt out of travel at this point though so three full days was plenty for me.


Hm. I think I will write about the next stop, Northern Ireland, in a separate post in the next few days.

Cheers!
Stacie Marie