It was a short night.
I set my alarm for 7 or 7:30 AM but I woke up at 6:30 because I was
worried about getting everything done.
We waited until this morning to do laundry and it slowed down my packing
process quite a lot. All my classmates
were gone by 10 AM but we didn’t leave the flat until 11:30 AM. We put our luggage at the reception area and then
headed to Portobello Road Market. We
were there for a couple of hours but we just didn’t really enjoy it. It is a tourist trap, literally. There are so many people there you can hardly
move. And you feel trapped like you will
never find the end of it. We stopped at
a Café Nero and bought gluten free brownies so that we could use the restroom
and then sat there and ate our sandwiches and brownies before making our way
back to the Tube Station. The directions
on-line for how to get to the market are get out of the Tube Station and follow
the crowd to Portobello road. That was a
very accurate description there was a river of people just walking to and from
the market.
We then went to St. Paul’s to try to get into the
cathedral. We did! We only had about 45 minutes so we decided that
instead of getting the headsets and listening to all the history and facts of
the Cathedral that we would just climb to the Whispering Gallery and if we had
the strength and/or time to the Stone Gallery. The
Whispering Gallery is a balcony that is at the bottom of the dome. The stone gallery is closer to the top of the
dome but is outside. So we climbed 257
steps to the Whispering Gallery. They
were short wide steps, so it wasn’t as bad as it sounds. We sat for a moment in the Whispering Gallery
to catch our breath and look at the dome.
Then we climbed 376 steps to the Stone Gallery. This were thick spiral steps, we went
considerably slower and were even more out of breath when we got to the
top. It was very windy at the top.
The only thing that we haven’t doen this week that we really
wanted to do was ride a double decker bus.
Mostly because I don’t really know the bus routes in the city. But the underground train that would have
been quickest and most convenient for us to get from St. Paul’s to my flat is
down for the weekend for maintenance. So
we found a road on the map that looked like the most direct route and decided
to try a bus. It worked! We got on a double decker bus on the top
deck, of course and road for a bit. The
bus didn’t go as far as we needed to but it took us about half way and then we
walked the rest. Angela popped into the
British museum to get something at the gift shop that she had seen yesterday
and I ran to my flat to get our bags, turn in my key and check a couple of
things on-line for our journey to France.
We got to the train station an hour before the train
departed, which eased my travel anxiety considerably. We traveled to Poole tonight to stay in
Charly’s mum’s house. Early in the
morning we make our way to the Quay to get on a ferry that will take us across
the English Channel to Normandy, France.
We are very excited.
I can’t believe that my time in London is over. It has been so amazing!!!! I love England and
I love the English people. I just can’t
say enough good about my experience here.
I feel so blessed. I am so
grateful for this once in a lifetime opportunity. It went by fast but it was full, busy and wonderful!
France Ho!
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