Los lugares lujos

Even though I may be losing command of my native tongue, I still remain devoted to alliteration, hence the title. The past two weekends I visited London, England, and Lanzarote, one of the charming Canary Islands.

We decided to go to London because 1. it's cool 2. they speak English and 3. 120 of our closest friends from ND are studying there. As it turns out, ND decided to beat out the French embassy for a building right off Trafalgar Square in the heart of London. And our friends get to attend classes there. So I guess we know where all our money is going to...

Anyways, we planned our trip using a Spanish guide book we checked out from the Toledo library. It was a bit strange, but for the most part, it's about the same. When we arrive, an ND friend met us at Victoria Station and took us on a walking tour of London. She led us past Buckingham Palace, where we were lucky enough to see the changing of the guard!

As we found out later that day, the guards really don't smile!

We kept running into ND kids on the way to the "flats" where they live - it was so much fun to see everyone and made us feel like we were back in the USA for a little bit. Once we dropped off our stuff, my friend Lauren from school took us on a VIP tour of Parliament. She's interning for an "MP" (Member of Parliament), so she's basically like the queen. And as such, I received a very impressive badge:

Apparently it is the right of every British citizen to get a tour of Parliament, but it's very difficult for other people (i.e. Americans) to get in. Lucky for us, we had connections so we got to see the House of Lords, the House of Commons, and much more. It was really cool because we know we'll be able to see things like the Tower of London or the London Eye when/if we come back, but a tour Parliament isn't such a sure thing. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures except on the grounds and inside Westminster Hall, where the coffins of people like the Queen Mum are set for public viewings and where people like Thomas More were tried long ago. We decided to act this out...

Of course we took the requisite phone booth pic, and with the help of our friends from London, we were able to get Big Ben in the background:

We tried to go to Westminster Abbey for a service, but it was a Holy Day of Obligation so they politely informed us that we could go in, but we'd have to stay for 3 hours. We'd slept in the airport the night before, so our answer was a hasty NO. We instead went to Ben's Cookies, which are far and away the best cookies I have had in several months, if not years. We got a box of eight, 'cause that's how we roll.

The ND students live near the Farringdon stop of the "Tube" and are about ten minutes running from the Thames, which makes for great running trails (and we were able to wear shorts without getting the same weird looks that we receive in Spain). That night, we went out to some of their favorite pubs and crashed early in our FREE hostel

The next day we went to Boroughs Market, which gives Pike Place Market a huge run for its money. It has amazing food and most seems pretty American, a welcome change from Spanish food. We ended up getting a yummy freshly made chicken burger and pesto sauce to make dinner later, plus lots of free samples! As if that weren't enough, a scene from Harry Potter was filmed there; it was the Leaky Cauldron in the Prisoner of Azkaban movie, if that means anything to you (Megan and Amelia, if you're reading, I hope this elicits a squeal of excitement).

We then proceeded to go on a walking tour of London where we saw the London Bridge, the Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, the Millennium Bridge, the Globe, the London Eye, and Platform 9 and 3/4 (for those of you who don't know, that's the platform Harry uses to get to school).

While some girls split off to grab a good seat for the Cambridge-Oxford Boat Race, I've seen plenty of regattas in my day, and I know no one gets good seats. As a result, my friend Margaret and I decided to go to the British Museum for a quick minute. It was free, and thank God, because whatdya think we are, "¿hecha de dinero?" That means made of money (if you're talking about females), but don't quote me on that... we use a lot of English phrases translated directly into Spanish, like "Nada much" = Nothing much, "¡Ratones!" = Rats, "EB" (Eh - Beh) for "Estoy Bromeando" = JK or Just Kidding. They might not make sense to our host families, but you better believe all the kids at the Fundación understand them! I digress... we saw lots of cool stuff at the museum: the Rosetta Stone, King Tut's tomb, other mummies, Greek and Roman statues and vases...

The only let down was the mummified cat. I think that because it was so hyped, I'd pictured a mummified tiger instead of a puny house cat. Well, we got the latter. I don't really understand why anyone likes cats, let alone enough to mummify them, but to each her own...

We caught a double decker back to the flats, made dinner, and then went out to another popular pub with all different flavors of beer, including strawberry, raspberry, and chocolate. One thing we did notice about the pubs and dance places in London is that they close SO early. Not by American standards, but by Spanish ones for sure. We'd go out at 11 and get kicked out at 12! This assures us that all the Spain kids will be out next year til 5am, wondering where everyone else is....

We caught a flight back to Madrid the next morning, but not before we had a wild adventure on what is known as EasyBus. EasyBus, among other companies, ushers many cheap people like ourselves to the airports outside of London that low-cost airlines fly into. We arrived at 5:30 for our 5:45 bus, which decided not to show up til 6:15. It was a tiny little bus, and we were wondering how everyone was going to fit, but it turns out most of them didn't have tickets for the 5:45, but for later ones. We got on no problem, but the driver had a few altercations. He was running around like a madman, trying to get us out of there as quickly as possible but doing it in the completely wrong way. One woman thought she could take the bus, but he kept yelling, "Dahhhlin' you gawt the six fohr-tee fiveee bus, eh? Nooowt the five fohr-ty, yea? Alright so geroff, luv." After convincing this lady to get off the bus and being verbally abused by the British equivalent of a hippy, he shut the door and barked at us, "Pipe dowwwn. Got yer seat belts on, eh? We're late!" Forty-five minutes later (the bus was supposed to take 80 minutes), we arrived at the airport. All in all, I'd say it was a success.

Once we got back to Toledo, it was very difficult to switch back to Spanish or any language without a British accent. Still workin' on that one, mates.

Fast forward through a week of school and it was time for our beach weekend in the Canary Islands. Four of my friends (Kathryn, Margaret, Emily, and Caitlin) and I got a "apart-hotel" for 8euro a night each. It's crazy what deals we find in the "off-season" of only 80-degree weather! Lanzarote has a volcano on it, in addition to having some pretty beautiful man made beaches and what many call "the best climate on earth." We pretty much laid on the beach all weekend, watched chick flicks, ate gelato, and bonded. So much fun:

That's all for now. Love you lots,

Maria