Royals Invade Great Britain

After what felt like a quick snooze, I got up to pack up my things to head out again. I think what I keep forgetting is that check-ins for flights take a little bit more time than I plan when I travel by train. I thought I had given myself enough time that morning so I casually strolled to take the metro to Amsterdam Centraal and then to catch a train from there to the airport. When I got to the airport, however, it was another one of those cases of having to rush through security because I was running low on time and of course, the terminal was again on the super far side of where I was. So with a little pep in my step, I headed for the terminal and was again, relieved to see that there was still a line formed to board the plane. When I got there, I was told that I needed to check my bag because EasyJet, unlike Ryanair, only allows one carry-on. Rawr. So I bit the bullet and checked my bag and was again, just glad that I made it to continue on my travels.
With a quick one hour flight, I had made it to Southend airport right outside of London and because of the time difference, I landed at the exact same time as I took off. I had already organized to couchsurf with this couple in Southend-on-Sea because I had found that it was close to the airport and I just needed to get my wits about me since I didn't want to get too lost in proper London.
Gabriela, her husband, Kleber, and their cat, Hermione, had graciously agreed to host me and Kleber gave me really precise directions on how to get to theirs so I got there without much trouble and met Kleber, who was working from home that day. After a quick chat with Kleber and learning what is actually considered London, I remembered that I hadn't eaten yet so I got directions to a grocery store just a few blocks south of their flat which also happened to be right next to the beach! So I walked down to the store and decided on a sandwich that I took to eat alongside the sand. Feeling a bit drowsy, I headed back to the flat for a quick nap before Gabi was supposed to get home from work.

Only two options of where to go - Easy enough

Less than a km from Kleber and Gabi's flat!

When I got up from my nap, I decided to take advantage of being next to the beach so got on my running gear and went off. At that point, Gabi had gotten back from work so I met her and asked her and Kleber what their dinner plans were and we decided that all I needed to get were carrots on my way back from the run. I'm not sure how far I ran but I know it's definitely been awhile since I've done cardio.
Returning with carrots and a zucchini in hand, Gabi had prepared some beef to put into the oven and I helped with cutting veggies and peeling potatoes. While making dinner, I learned that Kleber and Gabi had moved from Brazil a few years ago to Ireland to learn English. Before they moved, they had a house being built for them in Brazil which was set to be done by 2010 but by then, they had decided to move to Ireland. The house didn't get finished until 2012 so now they also have a house in Brazil that they rent out. After living in Ireland and learning English, Kleber's job (he's a computer engineer) moved him to London so Gabi and Hermione followed. Then, they moved to Southend-on-Sea because it was away from all the hustle and bustle of the city. During a hearty dinner of beef, veggies, and mashed potatoes, we talked a lot about the differences of the U.S. as compared to London and Brazil from healthcare to education to the food system and it was actually really interesting to learn how the different countries are run and how the mentalities differ. We continued our conversation well past dessert, which was homemade apple crumble! After we cleared the dishes, Kleber liked to watch this channel called VSauce which has a lot of interesting things similar to TED talks so we ended the night watching some videos and more chatting.

Prepping dinner!

Nom nom nom

Kleber and Gabriela

Hermione!

Apple crumble

The next morning, Heli and Georgia, two of my teammates, were set to arrive in London so I left the flat with Kleber and Gabi with a banana in hand and got instructions on how to get into the city. Tim, my coach, had so graciously allowed us into his flat near Greenwich/Woolwich so we had all planned to meet there. I got to the closest metro station to the flat without a problem and started to walk but it was still a bit of a walk away so I trudged on. When getting the address, I guess I missed the most important part of it which was the postcode so at the main street, I turned in the direction that my GPS had pinpointed as an approximate location. I had walked about a half mile in the wrong direction before asking someone if the name of the place was familiar and after that guy asked another guy, he pointed me in what he guessed was the right direction and his guess was as good as mine so I turned back around.

Off to London!

Random house(?) I passed

I thought this sign was funny

Following the map on my phone...

Laughing all the way...

Finally making it and following Heli's directions to get to the proper flat within the complex, I was so happy to see some familiar faces. After devouring some spaghetti, we went to the nearby grocery store to get us some Oyster cards, which was the main method of using public transportation within London. Other Royals, Jess and Erin, were planning on landing in London later in the day so we had some time to do a quick bus tour before their arrival. Now equipped with our Oyster cards, we headed to Trafalgar Square, named for the victory of Trafalgar by Lord Nelson, whose statue stands in the middle. The first thing I saw upon exiting the metro station was a red phone booth so I quickly jumped in there! It takes €0.60 for one call which doesn't seem too bad but I didn't catch how long the call could last.

Finally! Made it to the correct complex!

Oyster card! And Georgia...

Waiting to catch the Tube

Ring ring ring

We wanted a quick snack before the tour so we hopped into a Pizza Express for some quick food then headed off to redeem our tour bus tickets. Walking through Trafalgar Square, there was a Malaysian festival going on and it was packed! We weaved in and out of there to take in the atmosphere but headed on our way. We took the bus with the set audio commentary so there were a lot of instances of elevator music being played as we were stopped in little bouts of traffic. The next day, the five of us were to take the bus tour again but with live commentary so we got more interesting stories from the guide. On the tour on both days, we passed by so many different things that a lot of photos might be repeating but some of which were Trafalgar Square, Fleet Street, where a lot of business (sometimes sketchy) took place, St. Paul's Cathedral, The Shard which, I believe, is the tallest building in Europe, drove over London Bridge as well as Tower Bridge looking out onto the Thames River, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and Big Ben (named after a boxer), The Monument which commemorates the Great Fire of 1666, The London Eye which, with its 32 carriages representing each of its 32 municipalities, was the tallest open observatory until it got beaten out by the one in Vegas, and J.K. Rowling's house, which is identifiable by a small blue plaque outside, as pointed out by our guide on the second day.

Dough balls

Malaysian Festival in Trafalgar Square

Jamming to the elevator music

I can't remember the significance of this tower...

Fish and chips cafe

Millennium Bridge

I believe this is Fleet Street

Top of The Monument

The Shard

Tower Bridge from afar

Tower Bridge from closer

Signage everywhere!

Riding on Tower Bridge

The Armadillo building

The Walkie Talkie on the left

The Tower of London which was built to keep someone of royalty prisoner I believe

The London Eye

The London Eye again

Big Ben

Amazing skies

So jumping back to the rest of Friday - after Heli, Georgia, and I got a very quick tour on the bus and I kind of made friends with this little Asian girl who I think was counting in German (Asians that speak other languages besides some sort of Asian language or English amaze me), we made our way back to Tim's flat to await Jess's arrival. Side note - London transportation is really easy to navigate! We were using Google Maps to figure out what buses and rail lines (the Tube?) to take but I think real Londoners have an app but either way, super easy because trains come fairly regularly as do buses and there are screens at almost all of the stations (bus and train) that indicate when they are set to arrive. I loved it.

Little Asian girl

She tried to steal Heli's map

Getting back to the flat, we flipped on the TV to wait for the Rugby World Cup opener of England vs. Fiji and for Jess and Erin to get there. Jess finally showed up just as we finished watching England have a very good showing in the opening match on their home turf and Erin made an appearance just as Jess and I got back from the store. With the five of us finally there, we spent the rest of the night eating spaghetti, organizing (mostly Heli) our plan of attack for the next few days and just catching up with each other. Among some other discussions, we decided that during the next few days, we would be taking a lot of "Our Squad - Their Squad" pictures which are just pictures of us in Pasadena gear with others who are wearing things to represent that they're in a group as well (there will be lots of photos of that).

Watching the game

Organizing

We started off our day with the bus tour but this time, while walking through Trafalgar Square, there was a Japanese festival going on so we weaved in and around again before hopping onto the bus. We went on a very similar bus path as we did the previous day with some added sights and live commentary this time. I had packed rain gear specifically for the UK but it seemed like we had brought the California weather with us because even though it was uncommon to see that "big yellow ball in the sky," in quoting our guide, I enjoyed having the warm weather while we roamed.

Leaving Tim's flat

Waiting for the bus all geared up

Snapchat geotag

Japanese festival

Royal seal - Means you're a supplier to the Queen for at least five years

Hard Rock Cafe 

Their squad

Forgot to zoom out

Our squad - Their squad

J.K. Rowling's house

Westminster Abbey

Big Ben again

And again

And again

Winston Churchill

Tower Bridge Station

Wall with indications of bombardment from WWII(?)

Royal Horse Parade

After one full loop on the tour bus, we had timed it so that we could have lunch while catching the Ireland vs. Canada game. We ended up at this bar called The Admiralty which had rugby paraphernalia everywhere. Well, almost everywhere we went so far seemed to be donning some sort of rugby-related things and it was just really exhilarating to be in that atmosphere. I kind of imagined it to be like in those movies where a small town kid moves to the big city and there are quick shots of all the billboards and people and big buildings except the shots are of rugby banners and advertisements and lots of people wearing rugby jerseys and signs outside of bars telling passersby that they are showing the rugby matches live.

So having finally nestled into a booth at The Admiralty and ordered our food and drinks, we watched as Ireland slowly whooped Canada's butt. After that game, we quickly piled out to bar hop somewhere else to catch a bit of the South Africa vs. Japan game and I am so glad that we were able to find another pub, albeit quite packed and with standing room only, because we were able to witness an amazingly glorious win by a hair by Japan. There was one more game (France vs. Italy) that day but we decided to get on our way to catch a bit of The British Museum before it closed for the day and to check out the Rugby World Cup shop in Covent Garden.

Beer and pie taster plate :)

Rugby drinking game

Our squad - Their squad

Our squad - Their squad

Our squad - Their squad car

Without the photobombers

Black taxi

British Museum

Messing around in the European section?

At Covent Garden

Night view

With a full day of exploring and rugby under our belts, we headed back to the flat to decide on what to cook for dinner. Prior to dinner, we decided to run somewhere close by to catch a bit of what was left of the game so we ran up the street to the Red Lion Pub which was super chill. After the last few minutes of the game and a pint of cider, we headed to the small grocery store for dinner things. I thought it was funny because the previous night, we had spaghetti and that night, we decided on chicken quesadillas, making most of my meals so far in London not notably English.

Our squad - Their squad (Blackheath)

Running up the street to Red Lion Pub

Loved these signs

Grocery fun

Interesting...

Lineout!

For Sunday, we had the Warners Brothers Harry Potter tour scheduled in Watford but that wasn't until the afternoon and I wanted to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace so I headed into central London with Jess in the morning (she wanted to get to the Imperial War Museum). There was a walking tour offered by the same company for the hop on-hop off bus tour that we used in the past two days that would lead us to Buckingham Palace, ending in the changing of the guards so I joined the large tour group led by Gareth that day. He took us past the Admiralty Arch which brought us into Royal London on the other side and onto the Mal which is the long stretch of road that leads to the Palace. As we made our way up the Mal, Gareth stopped at certain statues and told us different stories about them such as how crazy and unorthodox Lord Frederick was and how Queen Elizabeth I outlived her husband, King George IV (born Albert but decided on George as his official name on the throne because it was one of his middle names) by more than 50 years and after he died, she wore nothing but black until the day that she died and she had all of the lampposts and taxis painted black so that's why a bunch of taxis are black. I also learned that as of this year, Queen Elizabeth II is the longest reigning monarch on any throne which makes Prince Charles the longest waiting heir.

Admiralty Arch

Lord Frederick

King George IV and Queen Elizabeth I

Along the Mal

So as we waited for the music to start, Gareth told us about the five different types of guards that there are (Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Coldstream, and Grenadier) and how each of the types are recognized by the different plume colors in their hats which are made of bear fur. Apparently, the band can get pretty funky too and sometimes they'll play tunes like Hawaii Five-Oh but that day, they played a regular marching tune. There were police officers on horses getting pretty aggressive about getting everyone to stand onto the sidewalk but I guess that's the only way to really get crowds of people to move. As the guards came closer to our group, we marched along with them on the sidewalk and I have no idea what type of video I took because it might just be the backs of a lot of heads... After we finally passed through the gates of the Palace,we didn't get much closer because Gareth that we'd only get to see the backs of a lot of heads and selfie sticks and the actual changing happens inside the Palace so it isn't seen by the public anyway. So we waited to see the other procession come in from the other side while we were told that Buckingham Palace is actually the Queen's office and her home is Windsor House, which Gareth pointed out to us later. After Buckingham Palace, we mosied on down to the Royal Horse Parade to see the changing of the guards there as well with the guards on horses and we passed by Pelican Island which is where some of the Queen's pelicans, which were a gift, live.

Waiting for the ceremonious changing of the guards

Buckingham Palace up ahead

About to start marching

Each of the different types of guards

Pelican Island

Royal Horse Parade

A bomb shelter that couldn't get taken down but well... it's a bomb shelter

I was able to get closer to the action for the changing of the horse guards and it was all very regimented, of course. After I saw that and took a selfie with a guard on a horse, I walked across the Westminster Bridge, where I saw someone sitting in the middle of the sidewalk drawing a sketch of Big Ben as crowds of people passed him, to find Jess so we could meet up with everyone else to watch the Samoa vs. U.S.A. game before heading to Watford. Right before getting to the pub, I happened to pass by an outdoor food market so obviously I stopped by and decided to get some delicious paella for lunch. With my belly full of paella, I got to the pub and met Jess and it wasn't until the game had almost finished that the rest of the Royals turned up due to some bus troubles.

Selfie!

Welcoming the Dalai Lama?

Sketching Big Ben

Walking across the Westminster Bridge

Paella

Our squad - Their squad

Once everyone had eaten lunch, we headed off to Watford for the Harry Potter tour. Erin, having just started listening to the Harry Potter books-on-tape due to Georgia's influence, didn't join us but she decided to go into Watford with us and spend the rest of the day there. She was able to give us a very good commentary of the other rugby games of the day via Facebook messenger while we explored the mystical movie magic of Harry Potter. The tour ended up taking about three hours, from the opening where we walked through the Great Hall to a little lunch break where we had butterbeer to the extraordinarily overwhelming end where the hallway opened up to the model of Hogwarts. It was amazing to see all of the work that went into making the movies and I remembered how I first read the book when my third grade teacher introduced it to us and I just fell in love with it like so many millions of other people and now it's just a household name. It blew me away to see all of the behind-the-scenes magic because a part of me forgot about how much I wanted to be a part of the wizarding world and in a way, walking through this tour helped me to remember how powerful our imaginations can be and I felt like I was back in grade school when I first started getting sucked into this phenomenon - just so full of childish joy and giddiness.

Getting into the Great Hall

Harry's clothes from Year One

O.W.L.S testing

In the Goblet of Fire

Boys' dormitory

Wands

Invisibility cloak

Leading to Dumbledore's office

Magic knitting

Leading to the Chamber of Secrets

Potions class

The Weasley house

Deatheaters

Ministry of Magic

Professor Umbridge's office

Off to Hogwarts!

In the Hogwarts Express

Harry and Ron's clothes

Butterbeer

On the bridge to Hogsmeade

Phoenix

Dobby

Aragog

Buckbeak

Diagon Alley

Walking into the room with this was overwhelming

After we walked out of the cloud of wonder and stepped back into reality through the souvenir shop, we met up with Erin who apparently couldn't wait to get out of the bar she was in because some guy was getting too friendly or something. By the time we had gotten out, all of the rugby games for the day were over so we didn't want to eat at a bar so bought some frozen pizza and garlic bread and headed back to the flat. Since it was getting chillier at night and we couldn't figure out how to turn the heat on, we all just gathered in the tiny kitchen for most of our evenings because the combination of the oven being on and the four or five people in a small space helped to keep the place feeling warm.

Cool statue on our way back to the flat

Not sure how to use the oven...

The next day was the day we had scheduled our car pick-up but it ended up being a debacle and a half. We made our way into Gatwick which was apparently out of the zones we had purchased on our Oyster cards so luckily the bus patrolman was nice enough to realize that we weren't from the area and rather than giving us a fine, just charged us for the transfer tickets to get into the zone where Gatwick was situated. So getting into Gatwick station, we waited for a while before a shuttle showed up and when it did, we were told that only the drivers for the rental cars could go because the shuttle van wasn't big enough so a lady and her child got left behind with me and Georgia. While we waited, Georgia taught me how to play this card game called Elmo (thank you Thomas for suggesting that I bring cards on my trip) but it didn't take very long before the same shuttle driver showed up to take us to the car rental facility as well. When we got there, we found out that the van we had requested wouldn't be ready until 5PM and passports of the drivers were required and the only person who had brought her passport that day was Erin so they suggested that we rent another car for the day, drive back to the flat to get Heli's and Jess's passports and drive back, at which point, the van would be ready. After much passive-aggressive conversation, we decided that their suggestion was our only option so we did that. Erin was quick to pick up on the left-side driving and even saved us from an accident on our way back.

All crammed into a tiny car

We had planned on going to Cardiff that day which was about a three or four hour car ride away but with the minor setback, we rearranged our plans and headed out to Oxford after stopping at a small restaurant where I got some simple but tasty mushroom soup and a toffee pudding dessert shooter. It was pretty dark when we got into Oxford but we knew we had to have accomplished something that day so we got a drink at this pub called the Lamb & Flag and then walked to campus and saw whatever we could in the dark. We walked by a physics building where we saw a guy working on the computer and after we waved at him, he seemed pretty friendly so I put a paper up to the window asking him to call me maybe and when he got up, we thought he was going around to open the door but the lights went out - rejected! Oh well... I got over it by the time we got back to the flat that night.

Mushroom soup

Toffee dessert shooter

Amazing sky outside the restaurant

Lamb & Flag

Oxford?

Messing around outside the Physics building

With the other Royals headed off to Paris at the buttcrack of dawn, I had planned to go out into London to do some exploring of some things that we missed on our bus tour the first two days. I started the day at Crossfit Central London because I know I've been packing on the pounds and even though one Crossfit class isn't enough to reverse that, it still made me feel better about myself. After the class, I headed on my way to Millennium Bridge because Heli and Georgia had mentioned it and I wanted to see what was so special about it. On my way there, I passed by the Shakespeare Globe Theatre and considered getting a ticket to a show but decided against it because the one that I might have wanted to see wasn't until the next day and I wanted to try to get the cheaper waiting tickets that are sold right before the show. I thought that if I ended up that way again the next day, I would go to a show so I headed out again into the misting rain. When I got to the Millennium Bridge, I saw a guy making huge bubbles with different bubbles wands fashioned from large sticks and rope so I stopped to look at it for awhile. I wanted to give him some change but at this point, I haven't been used to carrying around change so I went into the Tate Museum which was right next to the bridge to ask if I could get some change. I didn't realize that I had stumbled upon this museum until I walked in because it just didn't seem like a museum to me from the outside. Then, it looked more like a train station upon entering because it looked like there was a lot of construction going on and I thought it was just a newer building that was attracting a lot of attention. I didn't stay for long but ended up getting a cup of hot chocolate to break my bill and went back outside to pop some more bubbles. After I gave the guy some change, I asked him how often he does this and I found out that he had just finished law school and he does this as a way to relax and doesn't really set a time limit for how long he does it each day. I also found out that he's trying to get enough money to.move to the U.S. to be with his girlfriend. I thought it was a pretty cool story and it made him more human than just a random guy on the street.

Shakespeare Globe

Millennium Bridge

Bubble came out of nowhere

Bubble guy

The Tate Museum

People could draw their own things in the museum

When I finally got onto the Millennium Bridge, I thought it was just a pretty new age walking bridge until I saw some people taking photos of the pathway. At first, I thought that what they were taking a picture of was old gum on the bridge because it was about that size but as I got a closer look, I realized that there were little stamps imprinted into the metal and some of them made pictures while others had things written on them. Pretty soon, I was the one walking across the bridge with my head down and trying to take pictures of each little stamp that I passed by. There were so many stamps placed randomly across the bridge that I started to walk in a not-so-straight line, I'm sure to some people's annoyance, as I looked at as many as I could while making my way to the other side.
Finally getting to the other side, I guess I had stepped into proper London because there was a sign welcoming me to London with a tourist center a few meters away right at St. Paul's Cathedral. I went into the tourist center to see if I could pick up a map and see what deals I could get and using my student card and taking advantage of the fact that my face hasn't aged much in the past three years, I came out with a discounted dual ticket to The Monument as well as Tower Bridge.

Little stamps in the bridge

More stamps

Got to the other side with St. Peter's Cathedral

I didn't think that the 311 steps up The Monument was going to be too demanding but my glutes were definitely noticing it but the view at the top was definitely well worth it. On our bus tour, we were told that The Monument was built to commemorate the Great Fire of 1666 when a small fire was ignored and ended up burning everything around it for three days and destroyed much of the city. Apparently, if The Monument were to fall to its left, the gold statue at the top would land right where the fire started in Pudding Lane. After taking a moment to really take in the brisk air and to appreciate the fact that I was in London, I headed down the steps to head to Tower Bridge before it closed.

About to head up The Monument

Feeling it in my glutes

All I saw for about five minutes

i_mon_top

The Shard

The Walkie Talkie building 

Tower Bridge

I made it!

The paper I got to certify that I climbed it!

Where's my squad??

There were animals guarding the Tower of London once upon a time

Making my way up one tower, we could walk over this clear walkway to the other tower while looking at all the cars and boats below us. On both walkways connecting the two towers, there were short videos playing that showed the history of Tower Bridge and along the walls were photos of other prominent bridges around the world and some facts about where they can be found and what their designs are like. As I made my way down the second tower, there was a video showing some facts about the building of it and around the corner, I entered the engine room to nerd out on how the hydraulics of the steam engines worked to open and close the bridge when it was first built.

Sitting above the bridge

Engine room

Finally finishing the tour, I made my way to the Borough Market, which the receptionist at the tourist center recommended because I asked her where might be a good place to go near the Tower Bridge. She had told me that it was an open air market which is just my cup of tea so I knew that was my next destination. By the time I got there, many of the shops were closing so I got some fresh juice for half off and bought six avocados, three carrots, and a huge head of cauliflower for less than £5! I walked around trying to find something to eat before heading to rugby practice with the Blackheath team, my coach's old team, so walked towards the train station but on my way there, it started to rain pretty heavily so I made my way back to the Borough Market where I had seen some restaurants. At first, I went into this chocolate restaurant where they make chocolate right there and everything smelled so delectable but the price wasn't right for me so after I took in a little more of the sweet scents, I walked around to this other pub called Wheatsheaf which had a bunch of flags from different countries up and had advertised the outside area as the rugby fan zone. I ordered a half chicken soaked in orange, lime, and thyme overnight and oven roasted with a tangy marmalade glaze with curly fries and a Camden Hell's beer (I had been so used to ordering beer with dinner that for that split second, I forgot that I had rugby practice...). While ordering, I got to talking with the bartender, Lucas, and found out that he was from Paris and upon telling him that I'm from LA, he told me that his dream is to go there one day. I gave him my contact information so that when he gets to LA, he would have at least one friend and as I ate dinner, we talked some more about what there is to do in London at night and I guess somewhere along the conversation, we had agreed on meeting up that night.

The Tower of London

Mmm... Chocolate...

This was a really cool piece where people fill in the blank "Before I die _____"

Dinner!

With my belly full, I headed onto the Tube to get to Blackheath and with a quick two stops, I had made it to the correct station. The Blackheath Rugby Club has their own icon on a map (!!)  so I followed the little blue circle on my phone to navigate to the field but as I got off the train, two girls were headed in the same direction so I walked with them as we quickly chatted about Pasadena and Blackheath. The practice was fun and I didn't die like I thought I would. I didn't want to get in the way too much when they were going over their strategies but I think I caught on fairly quickly and because I think one of them called me slow, I stepped up my game and scored a try when we were playing touch rugby so I was happy about that. When they got together to end practice, I kind of zoned out because I was focusing more on their accents than on what they were saying but I zoned back in to realize that they didn't have an end-of-practice cheer which was kind of sad to me. However, they still looked like a tight knit group so I was happy to see that.

They have their own symbol on the map!

After practice ended, as I made my way back to the flat to shower, I got a message from Lucas so we decided that we'd meet up after he was done work at midnight. I was very happy to learn that even though the Tube stops running at night, there are some buses that run 24 hours so I was able to get back to Central London relatively easily. After meeting up, we went to a corner store to buy some wine, cheese, and crackers and I followed Lucas to a spot that was right next to the Thames River. I had been there earlier in the day but I didn't realize how beautiful it would look at night. So we chatted and laughed and drank and ate and I just sat there admiring the craziness of physically being there and the beauty of Tower Bridge and the Thames, until we had to go because Lucas had to catch a really early flight to Copenhagen. Since my phone had died (I've been having some trouble with my charging cord and my phone catching and keeping a charge lately), it took me a little longer to figure out which buses to take and sometime along the way back, the Tube had started running again and I was extremely exhausted and happy when I finally made it back.

Tower Bridge

Lucas

The next day wasn't as eventful but I wanted to start off the day right so I went to a Crossfit class again before taking up some real estate at the Wheatsheaf for a day of rugby matches. When I first got there, the Scotland vs. Japan game had just started so I grabbed a seat and watched it with a few others in the outside area. By the time, the Australia vs. Fiji game had started, an older man had been standing next to my table so I offered him a seat and we got to talking. I came to find out that he played until he was 18 and is now just an avid follower and he was surprised to learn about the growth of rugby in the U.S.  Later in the day, I found out that his name is John and he's a general physician. We spent much of the match chatting away about the Rugby World Cup and who we were supporting and which games we had watched and all that good stuff about rugby. Pretty soon, the Wheatsheaf was filling up with people in business suits and the image was pretty funny to me. Two other guys, Paul (an Australian) and Mark (a Londoner) joined our table and I got into some lovely conversation with Mark about how he loves to bike all around the world and he's biked from Washington down to San Diego and how nice everyone was in Nepal when he biked through there and various other trips he's taken. I spent the last game of the day, (France vs. Romania) half paying attention and half talking to these three guys at my table. At one point, this magician named Felix came by and did some really cool card tricks and I found out that he's homeless and does tricks for money which I commend him for since he looked pretty young and who knows his life story but at least he's doing something. And the last person that I met that day and got into a conversation with was Olga, the waitress from Russia. I learned that she is studying to be a graphic designer but for some reason, her dissertation is on currency so I asked her to tell me random facts about currency and she taught me some pretty cool things like the various English pence coins are kind of like pieces of a puzzle that make up the shield that is on one side of the £1 coin and that as Queen Elizabeth ages, money containing her face are reprinted every so often to match. I quickly tried to check her facts but I didn't have enough coins or the proper bills so I stored those facts in my head for later. The next time Olga came around with drinks, she shared some information about bit coins but I can't quite remember those facts as readily.  As the day came to a close and I realized that I had been sitting in one spot for way too long, I decided to call it a day and head back to the flat, beating the other Royals by literally a few minutes.

Sad days for USA

John went hiding, Mark, and John

Felix the magician

He found my card!

Olga

The next day was time to finally utilize our rental car and head to Cardiff (which we mapped and found takes the same amount of time via public transportation as it does via personal transportation). Not much to write about except that since I am not over 30, I wasn't allowed to drive so I spent my time sitting in the back, updating a blog post and napping periodically when I wasn't looking out the window at the pretty view. Three and a half hours later, under Erin's careful driving skills,we got to Cardiff and the one fish and chips place that we had wanted to go to was closed due to the Eid Festival which I believe takes place at the end of Rosh Hashanah. So we walked a little bit further down the street to a bar and ended up ordering fish and chips there and since I ordered the big plate (go big or go home?), my plate came with scampi, a sausage, curry, and bread which were all very satisfying. While we waited for our food, I shared the info I had learned about British currency with the Royals so we had coins splayed out all over the table in attempts to get the right ones to fact-check. Turns out Olga knows her stuff!

Shield!

Heads of Queen Elizabeth

Fish and chips plate

After lunch, we had to pile back in the car for the trek home because we had planned on making it back for rugby practice with Blackheath and with the time we had between lunch and practice, it would be just enough time to get us back to the flat to grab our stuff and go. So while our time in Wales was short, it was nice.

I was told it would be cold so wore a cap

Welsh translation of hump

 With other Royals at practice and all of us being forwards, the coach set the Americans versus the English whenever they were practicing some set pieces. It was pretty fun and we got to put on these tackling suits later on that made me feel like I was wearing smaller versions of those big blowup sumo suits. Post-practice, we were invited for a drink at their clubhouse but it looked like many of them were leaving anyway so we got back to the flat to meet up with Jess, Alex (Heli's brother) and Shawn (Heli's "adopted" brother) to get some dinner. We ended up landing upon this Chinese restaurant and I got some pretty good noodles but not anything special to rave about.

Our squad - Their squad with Blackheath!

The next day took us to all pile into the van, sans Alex, to head to Edinburgh. This time, with eight hours in a car ahead of us,we played random games like the Umbrella Game (it has to be played to be understood), Through the Looking Glass (similar to the Umbrella Game) and solving riddles. Before long, we had made it to Edinburgh before the sun went down and checked into our hotel. Erin had been in contact with the rugby team there so a few players met us at a bar called The Globe and we hung out, with a small interruption to go get pie. (I got a pie with haggis, turnips, and mash -good pie but not as good as the pie I had in Galway). When we got back to the Globe, we started playing King's Cup and before we knew it, more players from the men's team had shown up, with only one from the women's team. When it was time to go, the male ruggers definitely outnumbered the women and perhaps I had one too many because something possessed me to want to sleep by the door with only my rugby hoodie as a cover...

The interesting things you find in bathrooms...

An American left this behind

Some evening views of around Edinburgh

Their squad - in kilts!!!

Those damn headlights...

The story of the Pie Maker. Which I read post pie-nomming

How many Royals can we fit into a phone booth?

Trapping Shawn in the booth

Our squad - Their squad (Holly and Aaron)

Random cool house that we passed by in the morning

Saturday's a rugby day!! And it sure was! With only a few hours to snooze, we were back on the road again to Leeds, to pick up Alex from the train station and then to go watch the Canada vs. Italy game live. The atmosphere was electric! There were chants coming from different directions, people dressed up as gondoliers and others dressed up as stereotypical Canadian park rangers and so many flags everywhere! Eventually, we decided we should support our neighbors to the north so we were kind of upset when Canada lost. But overall, it was some good rugby and great to just be in the atmosphere. Coming out of the stadium, I was so glad to see a random person running at me that ended up being a college friend, Joey, who was there with his family. I knew that he had been at the game but I kind of figured that my chances of bumping into him were slim since the crowds were huge but sometimes, things work out and old friends find each other across the pond. After a quick chat, we parted ways and I sorted out my next plan of action.

Found this at the Leeds train station! Getting ready to pass it!

Woooooo!!!!!

Yay! We're inside the stadium!

Not sure who to support so I'll support both!

Italy warming up

Canada warming up

Canadian huddle

Gondaliers(?) and Canadian woodspeople

Halftime photos

Post-game fangirling

Joey!

I had scheduled my flight out of London Stansted Airport (three hours away from Leeds) early the next day and I hadn't planned on the group staying in Leeds overnight so I booked a train back to London but the latest time that I could book without missing my flight was at 7PM leaving from Leeds so I spent the rest of my time with my Royal family watching the South Africa vs. Samoa game on a screen in a bar called the Peacock which was right across from the stadium. Then the time came for me to go so I grabbed an Über to drive me the five minutes to the station to hop onto my train back to London.

At The Peacock with Alex

Now the train got to Stansted Airport at 11PM and my flight wasn't until a little after 6AM the next day so I had awhile to wait but I guess I would finally make it to a departure gate on time. I hadn't had the chance to print a ticket so I needed to wait for the check-in desks to open up again and I wasn't quite sure when that would be. I saw a lot of people along the windows sitting and sleeping and whatnot and I didn't really think too much about why they were there but then I realized that I would eventually be joining them when I saw that the security gates were closed as well. So I grabbed a spot near an outlet and attempted to charge my phone (still hadn't fixed my cord problem) while huddling with my bags floating in and out of sleep.
Finally, at around 3AM, I got up to check out the situation with getting a printed boarding pass but the receptionist told me that an electronic copy was fine (the attendants later made a stink about it though) and the security gates had opened by then so I quickly got into line to go through. Making it past security, there was yet another waiting area with screens broadcasting the flights and their departure gates so I was yet again on standby. So again, holding onto my life in two bags, I was drifting in and out of consciousness, checking the screens every half an hour or so to see if the departure gate was listed yet or not.
Finally, pulling myself out of my few-minute slumber, I saw that the departure gate had been listed and it was a few minutes before the projected gate closing time so I quickly grabbed my things and sped-walked to my gate. It seems like I'll never get to a departure gate with some breathing room... But I made it and I was on my way to Berlin! Finally!!