So what have I been up to since India? Nothing too exciting in comparison. Although, I did turn 24 in England this March. It was a bittersweet birthday as on one side I was living the dream and turning 24 in the UK; however, I was away from my friends and family. Although I still did have an amazing birthday! My actual birthday was a Wednesday so I had to go to work during the day. It was a great day at work though. During the year, our school has internal audits to observe teachers and their progress in the classroom with students. Over the week of my birthday, my school was being audited and of course, the day I was observed was on Wednesday! It went very well though and I was given my best observation grading thus far:)
After school, I left as quickly as possible (as most teachers who had already been audited did but also because it was my birthday). To celebrate, I went for Thai food at my favourite Thai restaurant and got my favourite Thai dish- Chicken Pad Thai. After thai dinner I went for milkshakes at a delicious ice cream parlour that makes milk shakes from real chocolate bars. I even got some great gifts from friends- books, Swedish Berries imported from Canada, the game Cribbage (travel addition), a gift card to the cineplex and finally an assortment of convenience store gifts ranging from string to a carrot peeler from my rather intoxicated friends on Friday night. Which brings me to the final part of my birthday celebration- Friday night. I invited all my Canadian friends-which are pretty much all my friends- to my house and then we went out to the pub to celebrate!
The next exciting thing that happened since India was the following weekend when my mom arrived from Canada for a visit! She arrived Saturday morning and we had a 10 day travelling trip in London and Barcelona Spain. Here is a little glimpse of what we accomplished:
London- Day 1
I picked up my mom from the airport early Saturday morning and we went straight to London. We stayed in an area of London that I had not been to yet- Kensington (near Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens). Our hotel was very posh and the people there were very friendly. Our room was not yet ready so they let us leave our bags there until later that night. Once we were all sorted, we headed out and got straight to business. We spent the day doing a boat tour of the Thames River all the way to Greenwich where we got off and walked around for a bit. We ended up in the underground tunnel that crosses the river- I think mom was a bit freaked out when she realised what it was- but was nice to see things on the other side as well.
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| Greenwich |
London- Day 2
On Sunday, the weather was not as nice as Saturday so we started the day at the Sealife Aquarium. It took us a few hours to get through but we saw some awesome sealife! When we finished, the weather was still overcast but not raining so we took a walk across the river and through St.James Park and past Buckingham Palace. After we walked up past Picadilly Circus, Carnaby St, and down Oxford st where I went shoe shopping.
London/Luton- Day 3
Monday was a travelling day for us. Our hotel room was checked out around 10:30, so we left our luggage with reception again. We walked the Kensington area and went through Kensington Gardens. After we got our luggage and headed to Luton. I was able to show my mom my house, the mall and the school I work at. By the time our tour finished, we started getting ready to head back into London to see Les Miserable at Queen's Theatre. It is by far one of my favourite musicals and was so amazing to see on stage.
Luton/Spain-Day 4
Tuesday was our day to go to Spain. We spent Monday night in Luton and Tuesday morning we went for breakfast and walked around Luton Town Centre to show my mom some more of where I live. We then came home and began packing!
We flew out of Luton airport and arrived in Barcelona later in the night. We then made the horrible mistake of taking a taxi from the Barcelona airport to our hotel. It cost us a fortune! We could have taken a train but it was late at night and we were not sure of the metro system yet. We finally got there with a little less weight in our wallets. Our hotel in Barcelona was beautiful! It was in a great location- walking distance of many main attractions and gorgeous inside!
Spain-Day 5
As we planned to do a lot of site seeing while in Barcelona we decided to pay for the Hop On/Hop Off tour so we could get transportation from each site in an easy and accessible way. We started off Wednesday at La Sagrada Familia and then saw Parc Guell (where I indulged in Sangria for lunch) and finally went to Mount Tibidabo. Our Hop On Hop Off tour bus, dropped us at the bottom of a large hill near Mount Tibidabo. We then took the public bus up to where the tram took us to the top of the Mountain. At the top there is a theme park and a large church. I walked up to the very top of the church and got the best views of Barcelona!
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| Sagrada Familia |
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| Parc Guell |
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| Mount Tibidabo |
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| Mount Tibidabo |
Spain-Day 6
We continued our Hop On/Hop Off tour for a second day and went to see La Pedrada where we then walked the short walk to Casa Batllo, Cataluyna, La Catedral Gotic and La Rambla (where we indulged in Sangria).
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| La Pedradra |
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| Casa Batllo |
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| Cataluyna |
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| La Catedral Gotic |
Spain- Day 7
We only paid for two days of the Hop On/Hop Off tour so on Friday we took the metro system to Mountjuic- a famous site that at one point mass executions of people accused of treason occured. We took the metro to the bottom of the mountain and then a cable car up the mountain. When we finished touring the Castle at the top of the mountain, it had started to rain a bit. We decided to head to the Glories shopping mall for about 30 minutes. By the time we finished, it was sunny and warm again so we headed to the beach for the afternoon! LOVE THE BEACH!
Spain- Day 8
Our last day in Spain :( We had planned to spend the whole day at the beach but when we woke up it was quite overcast and gloomy. We stayed at our hotel until check out and then headed near the beaches but went into a museum of Catalan instead. After about an hour or so in the museum we left to get some lunch and then it was sunny and warm again so we headed to the beach. We stayed at the beach for most of the afternoon and only left when it was time for us to go the hotel, collect our luggage and head to the airport. Goodbye Barcelona, I miss you already!
Luton-Day 9
We spent our full last day in Luton where we went to Wardown Park (my new favourite place in Luton) and got lunch there. We then packed up moms things and headed to Gatwick Airport. Her flight did not leave until the next morning, but it was early in the morning and the trains did not run early enough for us to get there in time. We stayed at Premier Inn at the airport and woke up early for breakfast and then I saw her off.
It was an amazing vacation and so good to see my mom for a weeks vacation. It was sad saying goodbye but thankfully to technology we can skype all the time and in no time it will be Christmas and I will be coming home again!
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