London and Recent Adventures

Wow...already only 3 weeks left. I was telling someone the other day that I think it has yet to sink in that I've been in Europe traveling to all of these wonderful cities for a semester. Each place had only been the setting of fairy tales, history books, and literary genius before this point, and somehow I was able to be a part of them! The most recent city visit was to London where I was lucky enough to get to stay with my cousin, Robbie. All Cafferys will be happy to know how wonderful it was to keep the family connection while in Europe!

Here's a little summary of some of the adventures while there:

*A night bus trip from the airport through the already holiday-lit Oxford Street to Robbie's townhouse.

*Watching the extravagant changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.

*Surviving a weekend in another country without cell phone access (not something I'd recommend, but I did get to know the fun red pay phones very well)

*Visiting Hamley's Toy Store packed with children and parents looking at the newest Christmas goodies

*Window shopping down Regent Street, Savile Row, and Soho (Carnaby Street)

*Taking the London Eye (humongous Ferris Wheel) to the best view of the city!

*Visiting Abbey Road, complete with taking a picture of crossing the street-this was a little dangerous, as it was a busier street than expected!

*Hilarious tour guides on a double-decker red bus, and later a river tour down the Thames

*Riding the famous Tube and receiving the polite reminder to "Mind the Gap"

*Visiting Parliament, Big Ben, London Bridge, and Globe Theatre

Needless to say, it was a wonderful trip!

Here are the facebook albums which you should be able to see with or without a facebook account by using these links:

First Album

Second Album

Later that week I had the pleasure of cooking dinner with Meghan, Amy, and Caroline for our Spain Thanksgiving dinner for our host families. Menu items included turkey, pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie, chocolate chip cookies, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, and more. None of us could believe we were making our first Thanksgiving meal away from home (we felt very grown up). We also managed not to burn the kitchen down...it actually turned out absolutely delicious! The actual meal was as much fun as the two evenings of cooking as we explained the Thanksgiving tradition to our host families, went around and said what we were most thankful for, and of course enjoyed the profit of our work.

The next day I had two friends visiting from BC: Will, who is studying in Barcelona this semester, and Scott, who ventured to Europe from Boston for the week around Spain and Northern Africa. It was wonderful to show them around the city and even experience some neighborhoods I had never visited before while looking for the best tapas restaurants and cut-throughs between historic sights. Some highlights included: visiting the three biggest museums of Madrid-Museo del Prado, Reina Sofia, y Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, visiting the streets of El Rastro (open-air Sunday morning market that goes for blocks and blocks), and attending a Flamenco show and later spanish salsa club.

Also this weekend, we took another BC sponsored trip to a beautiful old palace named El Escorial and later, Valle de los Caídos. The latter was extremely interesting because this weekend was the anniversary of Francisco Franco's death-leader of the oppressive government in Spain that only ended in 1977. As a result, there were many people there to attend mass in the humongous monument/Basilica. It was very interesting to be in a Catholic church that had been used as negative propoganda for such a long time. 

This weekend I'll be going to Portugal with Meghan, Amy, Meghan's mom and her best friend. It should be absolutely beautiful and will mark the last trip I have while in Europe!

Un abrazo y muchos besos (A hug and many kisses),

Clare