Day 1
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP….I checked my alarm clock with my eyes half shut, and the time displayed was 2.45am. I felt as if I hadn’t slept more than 10 minutes! Then suddenly I remembered today was the second of April, which meant the History and Geography trip to London was about to commence! A broad smile tickled my cheeks as I stepped into the car, ready to go to Dublin airport; I was incredibly excited for the day ahead of me! Before I knew it, I was bright eyed and wide awake, it certainly didn’t feel like four o’clock in the morning!
Everyone gathered in the airport with carry-on suitcases and heavy rucksacks, and most prominently with beaming faces and smiling eyes. We were given half an hour to get some coffee or stock up on some treats for the day, before we had to board our flight to Heathrow Airport. I took my time sipping on a decadent Butlers hot chocolate with Emma and Carla, and strolled slowly towards the bathroom with the sense that I still had lots of free time on my hands. Suddenly the three of us started to giggle as we heard the airport announcements call Carla Connelly! Imagine that, another person also called Carla Connelly, but then we stopped laughing as following Carla’s name was Sophie O’Riordan and Emma Beashel. That was not a coincident. It dawned upon us we were late for our flight! We ran frantically towards our gate, dragging our suitcases along! I checked my watch, and we most definitely were not late we still had...2 minutes to spare! Well regardless we were one of the last passengers on the plane, what a great start to our trip! The teachers seemed to find it amusing that us three were the ones to be late!
Our hotel was in such a perfect location, it was right in the centre of London (on Queen’s Gate Street to be exact - one of the poshest and most expensive streets in London!) and opposite the hotel stood the famous Natural History Museum. We crossed the road and entered the museum. Immediately I recognised the museum, and recalled I had been here before many years ago. This memory brought to mind how frightened I was of the moving, life-sized t-rex! I personally adored the Natural History Museum, it is amazing to be surrounded by creatures that are extinct and to see a zoo of animals frozen in time. There was an earthquake simulation which I found quite impressive, and the collections of special rocks and jewels was beautiful. I did have a peak of the t-rex, and I understood why a 7 year-old me might have been slightly terrified by it! After gazing around the gift shop and eventually deciding on just buying a postcard, I made my way to the meeting place early as I was cautious not to repeat the mistake from this morning!
The rest of the afternoon was spent meandering around museums, absorbing interesting information and taking a few too many pictures! We got the chance to visit both the Science Museum and the Imperial War Museum. I thought the Imperial War museum was one the best museums I had ever been too. The way in which the information and artefacts were displayed and brilliant, and the exhibition on the Holocaust had a profound impact on me. It was so well explained, with the aid of informative videos and gruesome pictures which were at times difficult to look at, that once I left the information I needed a moment to reflect on what I had just seen.
The next activity of the day was The London Dungeons, and I had no idea what to expect from it. The walk to the venue was lovely, we passed the photogenic London Eye and had a great view of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament from over the river.
I started to have second thoughts as we entered the London Dungeons, and we were greeted by a terrifying lady dressed up as a scary puppet. Some people may have enjoyed the adrenaline rushing experience of the London Dungeons, but I honestly found it awfully horrifying and a little unnerving! As a group we were labelled ‘traitors’ and throughout the 90 minutes we went on scary simulations and we were taken through different rooms and cells where actors and actresses jumped out on us and showed us bloodcurdling things! I know none of it was real, but still I found no enjoyment in being scared out my of skin! The scariest part I think was when we were in a bar, and suddenly the lights went out and it was a sea of darkness. Then the lights started flashing like lightning, and the wind was howling and the windows crashed open and out of nowhere Jack the Ripper appears and starts slashing aggressively and dangerously at us with his knife, I honestly thought he was going to attack us! The flood of relief I felt as we left the London Dungeons and the friendly sun waved at me was immense!
I definitely needed to sit down and eat after that experience! I was grateful when we reached our Pizza Express and even more thankful when a plate of warm dough balls was placed in front of me!
As we reached the 69th floor of The Shard, a 360 degree aerial view of London City unfolded before my eyes. I was in awe at this beautiful sight! We arrived just before dusk so we got the chance to see the unique view of London transform from daytime to nighttime, a truly stunning and unique thing to witness. Discovering that there was actually another 3 floors to go, we raced up the flight of stairs to the 72nd floor and there we saw the naked night sky looking down on us, as there was no roof to shield of from the cool night air.
Our day wasn’t over yet! Last on the schedule was a London By Night Bus Tour! Feeling energised after the magical experience on the top floor of the Shard, we boarded the double-decker bus and began our tour of London. It was a spectacular and very enjoyable tour, I saw parts of London I had never been to before and learned some quirky and interesting facts along the way! It was a perfect ending to an eventful day, I was more than ready to go back to the hotel and sleep!
Day 2
The morning sunlight shone through the window, lying on the wooden floor like sweet honey. Instead of walking through Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace this morning, we were allowed to sleep in till 7.30am! The day looked promising with not a single cloud in the sky, and exciting activities ahead of us.
The HMS Belfast was great, maybe even better than I expected! The weather boosted everyone’s mood, and I think I was more excited to visit an old war ship that I normally would have been! We sauntered through the different levels, from the engine room to the kitchens, the bedrooms to the hospital and finally to the deck. I took numerous photos on deck as the sunlight was encouraging me to!
The HMS Belfast was great, maybe even better than I expected! The weather boosted everyone’s mood, and I think I was more excited to visit an old war ship that I normally would have been! We sauntered through the different levels, from the engine room to the kitchens, the bedrooms to the hospital and finally to the deck. I took numerous photos on deck as the sunlight was encouraging me to!
Following a delightful lunch in the park, where I tried sushi for the first time and socialized with my classmates we went to the Churchill War Cabinet Rooms. I did my leadership project on Winston Churchill and Mandela, so I was keen to visit this museum. Honestly one hour is nowhere near enough time to explore the whole museum, as there is simply so much to see and read! Unwillingly I left the museum, I still had a whole section to visit but I told myself I could always come back another time in the future!
The Tower of London never ceases to impress me! I have been to the Tower of London twice before and actually I think I enjoyed visiting it the most the third time! The intimidating structure of the Tower invites curiosity and interest. My favourite part of the Tower of London was the Crown Jewels and seeing the British Guards in uniform! I am proud to say Emma, Carla and me were one of the first students back at the meeting place at four o’clock, let’s see how long we can keep this up!
Strolling across London City is almost as enjoyable as the activities, the whole atmosphere and energy of the city is mesmerizing. At Spitafield Markets I bought a lovely dress on sale, Mrs Roy encouraged me to buy it and I believe she bought a dress at the same stand too! Spitafield Markets really has a character, something about it appeals to me and it seems like a trendy place! Lots of people bought 1970s style hippie glasses at the market, it was quite hilarious seeing them with their glasses on. We had a tasty and filling lunch at Gourmet Burger and we also meet Mr Jenning’s brother! Emma was convinced it was the tour guide and that he was picking us up for our Jack the Ripper Tour, this made Mr Jennings laugh a lot!
The final activity today was the Jack the Ripper Tour, I was told that thankfully it would not be as scary as the London Dungeons. Meeting our tour guide on a strange, empty looking street away from the city centre, we began our mysterious tour. Throughout the tour we were brought to unremarkable looking places, which secretly had a remarkable significance to Jack the Ripper. The tour guide was great, she really brought the the tour to life with her vivid facial expressions and theatrical movements and dynamics in her voice. It was quite a contrast walking through East London after spending almost two days in the better-known and nicer parts of London City. The funniest part of the tour was when our tour guide was was listing TV programmes based on Jack the Ripper, and Mr Jennings accidently let slip that Anabel was in one of the TV Programmes; the tour guide was thrilled and slightly obsessed with Anabel ever since! The most gruesome part of the tour was when we were shown real pictures of the damage Jack the Ripper did to the bodies of his victims. It was truly horrible, I find it hard to believe anyone could be so cruel and deranged as to do such a thing. It was a memorable tour that allowed us to experience a different part of London, and uncover things about Jack the Ripper we never knew.
Day 3
The London Underground was filled people of different race, different age, different religion, or of different nationality but they all had the common goal of getting the tube to their desired destination. Among the mass of people one could find twenty-two Irish teenagers with bags bobbing on their backs, and water bottles balancing dangerously in the side pocket on their bags, with grinning faces and slightly sunburnt faces. They ran onto the tube and as the tube left, the station was still swarming with people and buzzing with life.
We visited yet another part of London, this time the London Docklands. Obviously we visited the London Docklands Museum while were there, which was fascinating and had great displays as well as physical recreations of the docklands in the past where one could amble through.
We visited yet another part of London, this time the London Docklands. Obviously we visited the London Docklands Museum while were there, which was fascinating and had great displays as well as physical recreations of the docklands in the past where one could amble through.
One of the activities I had been most anticipating was the Thames Rib Blasts, which ultimately was an extremely fast boat surfing on the river Thames! The sky was a little more overcast than the other days, but nonetheless we were high spirited and eager to make the most of our last day in London. The boat ride was in two words: exhilarating and thrilling. I had never been on a boat that fast, it skidded effortlessly across the water and jumped high over the slightest waves in the water! In the background James Bond music was played, which added to the experience. I felt so incredibly happy at this moment, surrounded by wonderful people and being lucky to have such amazing experiences.
Feeling elated after the Thames Rib Blast we skipped towards the Emirates Cable Car, which was a couple of minutes away. The Emirates Cable is essentially a sort of ski lift across London, which is really an incredible thing. On the Cable Car we were given a challenge by the teachers: we had to take turns to wave at people and try our best to get the people to wave back. It was so much fun! Then to make the challenge more challenging we had to dab at people and make then dab back! Although this evoked more laughter from the strangers it proved harder to get them to dab back! It was simply hilarious watching Mrs Roy frantically dabbing at strangers! Also, the views were brilliant from the Cable Car, the world looked so small from up in the sky!
Wiping tears of laughter from our eyes, we made our way to Carnaby street our final stop in London before we headed back to the airport; what a sad thought! You could find me munching on delicious chicken wings in a Jamaican style restaurant with Dillon, Emma and Carla on Carnaby street. Have you ever heard to Bubble waffles? Well if you haven’t you’ve been missing out! They are special waffles that have ‘bubbles’ in them, and you can have very tasty toppings on them, the only problem is you can not get them In Ireland; therefore we made it our priority to get a bubble waffle before we returned home! Miraculously we found the place that makes them in Chinatown, but all of us stood staring at the very, very, very long queue to get a bubble waffle and we uniformly looked disappointed. Oh well, we tried our best but it seems we weren’t the only people keen on tasting a bubble waffle. We spent the last half an hour browsing through the famous ‘Liberty’ shop which was very enjoyable!
As I am writing this blog now, and I am reminding myself of what a fantastic time I had in London, I am astonished how many activities we did and how much we saw in those 72 hours! The trip was truly incredible, I would say my favourite trip so far! It was a great opportunity to strengthen friendships and learn a lot of fascinating things about everything from fossils to Jack the Ripper! I am eternally grateful for having the chance to do all these magnificent things and to create such memorable experiences. This blog and the numerous photos I have taken in London will be a great reminder of the time I spent in London during my Transition Year, and bring make many happy memories.