Hey everybody! We've had a bit of a break between our last post and this one so we're going to be combining these last three days into one. We departed London for a few days to spend time in Bath and Canterbury. We just got back to London for two final days before we leave for Belgium.
Saturday in London was pretty spectacular and exhausting; those two adjectives seem to be describing the trip fairly well so far. We woke up really early and got a quick breakfast, packed up our bags, and were out the door in just a few minutes. We ended up arriving at the Tower of London about 45 minutes before it opened, making us the first in line!
Once we got in we booked it straight to the crown jewels and OH MY GOD they are ridiculous. I'm fairly positive I will never be around that much wealth ever again in my life unless I visit again. One of the diamonds called the Star of Africa is 560 carats. That's not even the crazy part, in addition to that one stone there are hundreds and hundreds of other diamonds, sapphires, rubies, aquamarines, pearls, opals, topaz and every other precious gem on every crown there. It was a very weird and strangely exhilarating experience. Amanda and I (Gabe) went through several times because there was no line at the time.
Later in the day the line were hundreds of people long and took at least 3 hours to get to see them. I was glad we got up early.
After the crown jewels we took a walk with one of the Tower of London tour guides called a Yeoman Warder aka Beefeater. Not even the tour guides are sure of the history of the name. It was a pretty funny and informative tour. We saw the highlights of the tower's bloody history and learned a bit about medieval military tower design, arrow slits, and boiling oil aplenty.
Along that vein we went into the armory later and saw some really cool plate mail including two special pieces next to each other, The Giant and the Dwarf.
The giant is a piece of armor built for a 6'8'' person while the dwarf is made for someone 92 centimeters tall. The rest of the armory contained "gifts" to the tower from various places, some from ancient civilizations while others were more recent such as the swarovski revolver. (the gun that is covered in diamonds)
Side note, the British were really short back in the day. Those doorways were tiny!
While the crown jewels were probably the highlight, walking along the walls came in a close second.
The views of the Tower Bridge and the rest of the Tower were really beautiful;
however, by the end of our 6 1/2 hour walk through cobblestone streets and narrow stairs we were exhausted. We ended up walking back to the hostel and getting to bed early because the next day we had to get up and out and to the train station by 8 in the morning.
Next Day: Sunday March 31…
After our long previous day at the Tower we were both so tired that when our alarms went off it kind of made sense that we didn't wake up right away. Unfortunately the train wasn't as exhausted as we were. It was still going to leave at the same time so we had to get the station very quickly. We ran to the station and Amanda went straight to the ticket booking machine while I ran on over to the customer service agent and asked him where the train was. He looked at me like I was crazy then said follow me and we ran across the station dodging in and out of people while amanda ran to catch up. I could see the train doors closing from down the station and when we got to the gates the guy had to yell down the platform for them to hold up for us the only door still open. We yelled back a thanks to the guy and jumped on the train. Seconds later the doors closed and we were off. Needless to say we have decided to be a little bit more careful when we need to get out of the hostels early.
We were on the train for a couple of hours before we got into bath and man it was pretty. The whole city is comprised of tree lined townhouses made of beautiful cream colored stone.
Unfortunately when we got in we had a bit of trouble finding our hostel. When we finally found the place we realized we had passed it several times because the sign was tiny and it was located upstairs of a pub. After a short break of eating some carrots and apples we took a walk on over to the Bath Abbey and Cathedral.
It was amazing. When we went into the square outside of the Abbey we were greeted by multiple people playing guitar and singing next to the Roman Baths and this beautiful huge Cathedral.
Walking through it we were able to take some pictures and it was more of the cream colored stone and huge stained glass windows.
Afterwards we made our way back towards the hostel to regroup and make a game plan. Somewhere in taking the time to sit and gather our thoughts we attempted to address why neither or us was feeling particularly motivated to explore this beautiful city we were in. Its a complicated thing, homesickness. There are feelings of immense guilt because we have worked so hard for this trip, and on the whole we are so excited and amazed at the opportunities ahead of us every day, but to ignore the fact that culture shock does exist would be ignorant of us. Finally labeling what we were going through helped the healing process along and let us get back to the wonder of travel.
One way that made me (Amanda) feel better was in going to the Jane Austen museum.
I'm not sure that everybody else (Gabe) was quite as excited to be there but learning about one of my favorite author's life was fascinating. I like to think that if we had lived at the same time we would have been gal pals :)
Upon leaving the Jane Austen museum we made our way to the Roman Baths. We had one hour to make it through before closing so we did a rapid fire tour. I would listen to audio tour info on one headset while Gabe listened to the other and then we would briefly summarize for each other at the end. Yeah teamwork! The baths were really spectacular.
There was one in particular where the romans built two stone blocks under the water line. They would place statues of their gods and it gave them the appearance of walking on water. Those baths were reserved for the most elite.
Another cool tidbit was that the water had been drained over the years when the british started coming to Bath for medicinal purposes. They lowered the water so that patrons could sit and be submerged to their necks in the pools. You can see where the water once was by the red deposits that are still on the walls.
On our way to find some dinner we walked past this man. He just stayed in that position for an impressively long time. In the 5 minutes we observed we caught one blink and a subtle hand movement.
After grabbling a meal in the pub we enjoyed a leisurely night stroll along the river avon, the circus, and the royal crescent. The river was beautiful and we met a few ducks.
The architecture of the buildings were by far one of our favorite aspects of Bath.
Back at our hostel we spent time talking with a student from Missouri, an au pair from Germany, and a fun loving canadian who was looking for a party. We have been fortunate to meet a lot of friendly people along our way. We left by 6 to catch our early morning train. Our canadian friend must have been successful in his quest because there were still no traces that he had made it back to his bed…
Next Day: Monday, April 1st…
Canterbury may have some of the nicest locals that we have come across. We were examining a map in the train station less than a minute after our arrival and a friendly man asked where we were headed to. He gave us directions, which was great because the road we needed was not labeled on the map. Unfortunately we still managed to get lost. We have come to the general consensus that getting lost is usually a good excuse to pause our quest, sit down, and enjoy a cup of coffee. The man at the coffee shop was also exceptionally helpful and gave us information on other places of interest in the town. We had the pleasure of staying at a hotel so I (Amanda) thoroughly enjoyed soaking in a bathtub for what will probably be the only time during these next few months. The healing powers of a nice warm bath never cease to amaze me. After some restorative water treatment we sought out the Canterbury Cathedral. MASSIVE. By far one of the most beautiful structures we have yet had the pleasure beholding.
Much to our dismay the inside was closed and we were not able to go inside. However, just seeing the outside and grounds was awe inspiring.
We continued our walk through the town.
The inner city of Canterbury is encased by large stone walls, originally to protect the city from invasion. We were able to walk all along the edge and eventually came to the ruins of Norman Castle.
The castle was originally built for William the Conqueror when he took over Canterbury, the first English city to be taken. The original castle was built of wood and later erected of stone. Eventually the castle was converted to a prison and in its later years the city took possession to preserve it. After using our sleuthing skills we determined that it looks like the local place for the youth of Canterbury to steal away from some drinking and smoking. Never the less, the castle was really beautiful. It is almost getting to the point where the awe is wearing off and that we are like "oh yea, another structure built in 1200, old news" (pun lol). Almost, but not quite. Later we got to Skype with the Rineharts and it was so lovely to touch base with home, especially after recent waves of homesickness. Feel free to email us at any convenient time, hint hint :) Much love to everybody!!!
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