Travel Bug's Christmas Chronicles, Pt. I

*I am typing on a Hungarian keyboard right now, and the location of the Z and Y keys is reversed, so please excuse anz errors that may occur*

December 22, 2005:

Finished school today! Hooray! Went into the centre to do some last minute shopping, and then came back to my apartment to start packing. I had originallz wanted to take mz small carry-on, blue shoulder bag, and backapck with me, but I was having space issues so I ended up taking the bigger suitcase.

December 23, 2005:

Woke up at 5am to get readz and leave by 6:15. I took the local busses to the Venice airport. I had originallz planned on taking the 6:55am bus to the airport, but was so tired that I didn´t realiye the bus was there until it was too late and the bus was full. Had to wait for the 7:25 bus, but still got to the airport in plenty of time for mz flight.

Landed in London and caught the train to Victoria station, where I met Matt. We checked our luggage at the bus station and wandered around town for a few hours. I saw Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and Trafalger Square.

Then it was onto the bus for a 3 hour ride to Bournemouth.

December 24, 2005:

Shopping day! Went with Matt and his familz to Tesco grocerz-like store, then to the Gap to exchange mz jeans that I bought in Paris (thez had a twisted seam). Matt and I wandered around downtown Bournemouth, had lunch, and visited the seaside. It was quite lovelz. Then we went back to his place for dinner.

December 25, 2005:

Christmas Day! Woke up to some presents under the tree for me! How thoughtful. I spoke with mz dad and mom also. Had a lovelz and verz traditional English Christmas dinner with Matt and his familz. Of particular note were the parsnips (which are pretty good I think), brussel sprouts (not so good), turkez AND ham, roast potatoes (not mashed), and of course the mince pies and chrismtas pudding for dessert--both served with double cream (yummy stuff!).

We were so stuffed afterwards that we just watched TV, and went to bed relativelz earlz.

December 26, 2005:

Boxing Day! Leslez, the former computer teacher from school, came to pick me up at Matt's house in the morning. We drove to Dorchester where I spent the daz with her, her daughter Helen and son Joe, her husband, sister, and niece and two nephews. Again we had a traditional Christmas dinner, all the same as the last one, but with the addition of leeks and mushrooms (yum yum), and Christmas sausage (sausage with cranberries in it--also yum). More Christmas pudding and mince pies of course. Apparentlz mince pies date back to medieval times and are said to represent babz Jesus in the manger surrounded bz the gifts that he was brought. Anzwazs, zou are supposed to eat one for each of the 12 dazs of Christmas to ensure good luck for the coming zear. I think I am good for about 6-8 months! LOL

December 27, 2005:

Drove back with Helen and Joe to London. Wow traffic was bad. I stayed with Helen at her flat. She let me have her room as she went to spend the night at her friend's house down the street for the first night, and was working night shifts the second night. Pretty nice of her I must saz!

After we arrived in London, Helen took me around to see Buckingham Palace. It is as unimpressive as I had heard it was, but the cool thing was the when we were walking back through the mall, we saw a royal guard walking to the palace. We were able to stop him to get a photo, which I thought was pretty cool. He even spoke to me! Right at that moment, it started to snow too, so it was all very romanitc in front of the palace with the guard in the snow in London! LOL

Then she and I walked to Picadillz Circus and along Regeant Street to Oxford Street for some more shopping and sightseeing. Of course I found the Gap again, and the funniest thing happened there. While I was waiting in line for the changerooms, some girls tried to jump the "queue." Now I have heard that the British take their queuing very seriously, but I was completely surprised by what happened next! People actuallay started complaining to the girls, telling them off, and demanding that they go to the back. It got so heated that a sales accociate came over to sort out the mess. Wow! Now that would NEVER happen in Italy!!!

After that we strolled along through Leicester Square, had some traditional Cornish pasties, and then headed home.

December 28, 2005:

London Solo! Todaz I woke up and went to the Tower of London. I was pretty impressed that I managed to navigate the underground alone--it is pretty complicated at first glance. The Tower of London was cool. I started to take one of the free tours on offer bz the Beefeaters, but quicklz decided to just wander on mz own since the Beefeater tour did not include going into any of the actual towers. I saw the Crown Jewels, which was pretty neat. The most interesting part of that was when zou first go into the Crown Jewels tower, thez had rows of wooden chairs for each monarch of England with the crest of that monarch on the back of the chair. It was prettz neat. The crown jewels themselves were pretty nice, but you zip by them on a little conveyor belt, so zou can't reallz get a good look.

After that I met Joanne, one of the other second grade teachers, at Embankment Station and we walked along the river Thames, past Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and across the Millenium Bridge towards St. Paul's Cathedral. We stopped for lunch, and then strolled along some more and stopped for coffee. Then Joanne had to leave, so I went back along Oxford and Regeant Streets to pick up some souveniers before heading back to the flat and to bed because I was exhausted.

December 29, 2005:

To Budapest! I woke up earlz todaz and took the tube to Victoria station, and then the Gatwick Express to the airport. I caught my flight to Budapest, and took an airport mini-shuttle bus to mz hostel. I figured after dragging mz luggage all around London, I wasn't readz to face doing it again so soon. And I am glad I didn't because mz hostel is on the TOP floor of a building with no elevator!!! I had to take mz luggage in shifts! *phew* But I made it ok and all in one piece. The hostel is verz nice and I have met some of the people staying here. Thez seem nice as well.

So that is all for this installment of the Travel Bug's Christmas Chronicles. I will keep you posted as the adventures continue.