Monday morning I had to get up early, as I had a flight to London at 13.05pm. So at half 10 I checked what time the bus would go to the airport and discovered I wouldn’t make it in time as there are only 2 buses, one at 25 past and one at half, the first taking 30 minutes and the second taking 50 minutes (and it’s only 24km). So to make sure I wouldn’t miss my flight I took a taxi instead, more expensive, but at least I was on time this way.

I had already checked in online, so I could go straight through security and to the gate, where I had priority boarding. Nice! Once at Gatwick I took a train to Victoria station and from there the tube to Edgeware Road, where our hostel was. Checked in, got a text from Linda that they were at Notting Hill Gate, so took the tube there. Walked around Notting Hill for a couple hours, then took the tube back to the hostel where we had some dinner (hostel was above a pub, The Green Man). Stayed there the rest of the evening and had some drinks while having a craic with some people working there.

Tuesday we went to Oxford Street and did some shopping there. My favourite shop: Borders!! Never seen a bookstore this huge! So yeah, walked around all day, went to Picadilly Circus to meet Linda and Felicitas who went to Madame Tuseauds (no idea how you spell it).

Fountain at Picadilly..

And view from the fountain..

We bought some tickets for the Lion King musical, went back to our hostel, had some dinner and took the tube back to Picadilly..

On the escalator in the tube..

Lyceum Theatre in West End. One of the many, and I mean MANY theatres, in this area of London. The musical was absolutely wonderful, and at the beginning I almost started crying (didn’t, but almost). I definitely don’t regret going here, and I want to go back to London to see more shows (like Lord of the Rings).

That night we were in the pub of our hostel till half 3, playing pool with Andre and Julian, two Romanian guys (and brothers) who were working in the hostel and pub.

Wednesday morning we went to Camden Town, which is really my kind of place! Lots of alternative stores, shoes and clothes. But also very expensive, so the only thing I bought was a scarf, which was 3GBP.. If only I had the money…

Having some food at Camden market (hmm.. falafel!)

Waiting for the tube.. (we spent a lot of time waiting for the tube, but still.. it’s better than walking the distance)

After Camden we went to the British Museum, and after about 5 minutes I lost the others, so I walked around for 2 hours on my own. Only seen the Egyptian parts of the museum, and then I didn’t feel like absorbing any more information any longer, so I went out.

British Museum main entrance..

They also had this small exhibition about the Divine Cat, which I thought worth taking a pic of..

And of course, mummies!! Lots and lots of dead people who had their brains and intestines cut out, and then put back in in packets, and after that being wrapped in cloths and displayed behind glass.. Nice!

They also had mummified cats, and the sign said that some people even broke the necks of their cats to have them mummified as this way they had some divine meaning.. Poor kitty! The small one is a kitten.

And, weirdest of all, a mummified fish.. Not kidding.. Then again, there were also crocodiles and even a baboon, so yeah, people were really fond of dead animals back then.

As I didn’t know where the others were and I didn’t have any money on my phone to text or call them, I decided to go to Harrods to pass the time. Walked around for about 3 hours, bought a few small (and not very expensive) things, and was again amazed by the things they have here. Even went to the Christmas department, as I wanted to buy some crackers, but after seeing the prices (6 for 499GBP were the most expensive) I decided not to. When I went back out at 5, the lights were on and they even had a snow machine on the roof to get everyone in the Christmas atmosphere.

I went back to the hostel, sat downstairs in the pub for some time, until the others returned at half 6. We had some dinner and been sitting in the pub the rest of the evening. When we went to bed around 11 it turned out that one guy in our room didn’t have a reservation for that night, and we were a bed short. It took about an hour and a half to solve the problem, and then we could finally get some sleep!

Thursday we packed our bags, put them in the basement and went to Oxford street again to have some breakfast at Starbucks in Borders. Did some more shopping, went to Soho and Chinatown and then returned to the hostel to get our bags and say goodbye to the people with whom we’d been hanging out during our stay in London. Exchanged email addresses, Facebook accounts and finally took the tube to Victoria from where we would take the bus to Stansted Airport.

Andre, Julian and Alex..

We were back at Shannon around half 11, took a taxi back home and then my fob didn’t work! So I had to call Ron out of bed, get my fob reactivated and then I could finally get into my bedroom and go to bed.. The first descent night’s sleep I’ve had in a week!!

And this morning my alarm went off at 9, cause I wanted to get a shower first and we had our EFL exam at 12pm. The exam was piece of cake, and the essay part was 450 words of complete bullshit about Ireland. And when we got back around half 2 I sat down at my laptop and didn’t really do anything else, except clean my room a bit. And now it’s already 10pm, and you’re all up to date again

Tomorrow we’re going to Galway to party and we’ll be back on Sunday. On the 13th of December I have my next exam, Early and Medieval Ireland, the 21st Léann Dúchais. So in between the exams we have parties almost non-stop, as the Akili is already leaving us on the 16th! We’re no longer going to Apocalyptica, as we want to spend as much time as possible with the people here and not waste a single moment. Just 2 more weeks and 3 days and then I’ll be back home as well..

Yeah, and now I think I’m going to catch up on some sleep…