London Calling

So, it´s true! I got to go to London! Everyone in Spain talks about how awesome London is so I really had to see it for myself. I went alone last friday through Monday to the beautiful city. I stayed at a hostal which was a very strange experience. When I got in there on Friday night, there were two French people and four Spanish girls. I was already exhausted from quite a bit of walking throughout the day so I went to bed when the Spanish girls were just going out for dinner.  After dozing off for an hour or two, an elderly gentleman entered the room and announced quite loudly, ´I guess this is the last one!¨ He said this in reference to the one bunk on top of mine. After scurrying around for about 20 minutes to get situated, I felt my bed begin to shake as he started to climb the ladder, but being quite elderly, this took him awhile. As he was about in the center of the ladder, all of the Spanish girls burst in and busted out laughing. I opened my eyes to see what was so funny, and this poor guy was in the middle of the ladder in his boxer briefs. I was quite tramatized, and I felt bad for the fella. I´m sure he hadn´t counted on a bunch of young girls coming in right when he was in his undies. This was an interesting first night, and one I wished had not been spent alone with a bunch of strangers. 
On Saturday, I had bought a London Pass which meant I could get into many attractions and all forms of public transport without additional payments. The pass was kind of expensive: 54 pounds. But, I figured out where I wanted to go so I could get the most for my money, and I ended up spending 110 pounds so it was worth it. I went to St. Paul´s Cathedral which was really nice to get a tour of a protestant church and then right after I went to Westminister Abbey so I could directly compare to a catholic church.  St. Paul´s was really awesome. Their audioguide was really good, and the history of the church is really interested. When I took the double-decker bus to Westminister, I got to see Trafalgar Square and then of course Big Ben, Parliament, and the London Eye are right there as well. Big Ben and Parliament was of course really cool because we get to see it in the movies all the time so being there feels a lot cooler. I then took another double-decker to the Tower of London which is an old fort that holds a lot of history as well as the crown jewels which were AMAZING!  I then went to the top of the Tower Bridge which was great because it gave me a great view of the city on either side of the Thames River.  Next stop was the Globe Theater which is a remake of the theater where Shakespeare´s plays were originally shown.  This was a nice tour and something I wouldn´t have gone to see without my London pass so I´m glad I saw it.  I went to the Millenium Bridge on my way to Tate Modern Museum. This museum was great and even though I could hardly stand by the time I got there, their audioguide made it really interesting.  Sometimes modern art is hard to get, but when you have a good description from the artist of what they would like to convey to you through the scene, it all starts to make sense.  When I made it outside, the earth was suddenly COVERED in snow. Apparently, it had started right after I went inside, and it continued to dump well into the night. This was a nice taste of the Michigan winter I, somehow, had been missing.  Needless to say, I collapsed in bed that night. It was only about 8 o´clock so I figured I´d read for a couple of hours, but in reality, I couldn´t keep my eyes open for more than 10 minutes after I layed down.  That night at the hostal, I was joined in my room again by the two French people. Then, at about 1 in the morning, a group of people speaking some eastern European language came in and got all settled. Again, a night with many interuptions, but when it´s so cheap, you get what you pay for.
On Sunday, I went back to Big Ben to see the view from across the river which is the one more commonly recognized and I walked to Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately, Prince Harry did not see me standing among the crowd or I´m sure he would have come bursting out of the palace to try and woo me.  However, that didn´t put a damper on my day. The palace was beautiful along with the park it´s set in.  I then walked to the Victoria and Albert Museum. I had extremely misjudged the distance so I walked at a rapid pace for almost an hour to get there. I only spent about 45 minutes inside because I had to rest.  I then went to the Natural History Museum and later took a bus to the British Museum. The British Museum was my favorite because I love to see all of the things collected from Ancient Egypt including the Rosetta Stone which is a giant slab of rock in which is engraved a speech by a ancient pharoah in three languages giving scientists the tools they needed finally translate Egyptian hieroglyphics. They also have a lot of mummies. I think a scene from The Mummy Returns was supposed to based there.  Anyways, after three museums and hours of walking I had seen as much of the city as I could.  That night I was alone at the hostal which was great because I had to get up at 4 am to catch my plane.
For those of you that don´t know, traveling within the EU is really easy. You don´t even have to go through customs when you land...for countries that are a part of the Schengan Agreement.  However, I didn´t know that England is not so I was a little surprised to have to go through customs when I came back from London. Well, you know how when you´re near the end of the line on a full flight they take your hand luggage because there isn´t enough room in the overhead bin? Well, they took mine which is no big deal in itself, but when I got to customs luckily I had my passport in my pocket. I gave it to the man and chatted with him for a few seconds before he told my visa says I needed to be out of Spain in December. He spoke only Spanish, by the way.  I was a little surprised, but quickly remembered that it´s completely fine because I have my NIE which is my Spanish ID which approves me to be here until the end of June. He said, ´O good, may I see your NIE then?¨ Well, I had completely forgotten they took my hand luggage which contained my wallet with my ID. He announced to me this would be a 400€ fine to enter the country. I was really flustered and panicked and trying to speak really quickly in Spanish to explain myself.  He finally caved because I´m a student and it´s my first time forgetting. Luckily, I slipped through without a fine, and I will be careful not to make this mistake again. 400€?! That´s about 3 more trips to London right there! Thank goodness I didn´t have to pay it.  It was a great trip, overall. I wish I could´ve shared it with someone, but had a great time regardless. I´m hoping to get a couple of trips within Spain into my itinerary into the next couple of weeks.