From 4/3:
We left Bridgwater at 8:30 a.m. on Friday. In all honesty, once we left Bridgwater, I think we were all ready to be home. Therefore, if another research trip is in the works, it might be better and more economical to just go straight from the College to the airport. I do think London on the front end of the trip was a good idea. It took our bodies a couple of days to adjust to the time change. Plus, we weren’t “scheduled up” for that mental adjustment. Anything that we chose to do was up to us and our level of energy. It would have been hard to go directly into a homestay with jetlag.
But anyway, as for London…we arrived slightly later than expected, due to a delay of the coach. However, we got to our hostel at 12:30 p.m. and the students headed out into the city after leaving their bags in the secure luggage room (we could not check-in until 2:00 p.m.). Due to lack of sleep and travel, I found myself with a headache and a sore throat. Therefore, I found a café with free wifi and hot coffee/soup. I stayed there until our check-in at the hostel. After checking in, I decided to “run out” my cold. I threw on my jogging clothes and headed out. For some crazy reason, I decided to run over (and between preferably) every bridge in London that went over the Thames. Again, I think I temporarily went insane. There are many more than I thought, what 7 or 8..I honestly lost count...with tons of blocks in-between. I was able to run over all of the bridges (but after bridge #5…I wasn’t necessarily running the whole way in-between - a brisk walk instead. Let’s just say that I was feeling my legs).
And as an added crazy bonus, I decided Tower Bridge should be my final bridge. With every step, I was thinking “ouch, ouch, ouch.” I was also beginning to understand why the Brits sometimes detest tourists. When I started out, bobbing in and out of the tourists was fun and exhilarating. I was able to hone my “running reflexes” so to say. But by London Bridge and Tower Bridge, the tourist abruptly stopping in front of me to look at a map or take a photo was unbearably annoying. Maybe it was because I was tired and my shins were screaming at me, but I made a vow never to do the “touristy stop-short” again. I just didn’t realize how oblivious we can be to those around us when we are sightseeing. But after knocking into the back of two different people (one American and one German) for the typical touristy reasons, I said to myself that I would from now on always have “city awareness.”
But on the bright side, I got a three hour exercise session and saw a lot of the sites at the same time! After cooling down and stretching, Angela and I went to an Indian Restaurant right outside of Covenant Garden. London is known for its curry houses. Unfortunately, our eyes were bigger than our stomachs and we ordered way too much food. However, it was delicious, and we got a good sampling!
Everyone was in bed by 10:00 p.m. to be ready for our 7:00 a.m. departure. But on the downside, we are now delayed by three hours in Heathrow (mechanical problems). We still should easily make our connection in JFK…but sitting in an airport is never fun! Argh! We are definitely ready to be home at this point, even though it was been a GREAT trip! Oh – and just to let you know, my legs feel fabulous this morning. The three hour run/walk ended up being a wonderful thing to do the day before airport/plane sitting.
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