Nottingham in a Nutshell: 10 Feet Taller or 10 Minutes Earlier

So the adventures of Stacey and Annette are the next and final installment in my blogs on my Easter holiday. Early Wednesday morning I took a train into London with all my belongings (I would have to bring them back to school at the end of holiday so I had to bring them with me). From the train station I had it all planned out how I would take the tube to our hotel, drop off my stuff and then hop back on the tube out to the airport to pick up my beloved mum. Well this plan sort of worked until I realized that the tube stops I had to transfer at didn't have stairs and I was well, how do you say, not exactly traveling light. Apparently the kind British chaps I encountered took pity on me and offered to help me with my bags. Little did they know my whole life was packed away in my suitcase and even the strongest of them struggled a bit with those last few stairs! By the time I arrived at the hotel I was a bit frazzled and I'm sure I did not exactly impress the people at the front desk with my less than posh demeanor! But then I bolted off to the airport, found my mom, started crying because that's just what I do and then we headed back to the city.

That afternoon we decided to do something I have always wanted to do...take a double decker bus tour! We zoomed across the city on top of that bus and snapped pictures until my mom decided she was putting her hood up and was therefore no longer available for pictures. We saw all that London has to offer and got a coupon for a free river cruise that we took the next morning. That night at dinner at a pub I was approached by a man asking if his friend could come over with the line "so my friends and I have a bet you aren't from England...did I win saying you weren't or did they" and talk to me for just a minute (he was a bit awkward and we all know I'm socially awkward so it was an interesting experience). Yes, I would get picked up in a bar for the first time with my mom as my wing (wo)man but then again, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Thursday we took our boat tour of the River Thames and then decided to get off at the Tower of London to see the Crown Jewels. Dang those things are impressive but I can only imagine the headache you would get after wearing one of those massive crowns for a day. After that we decided to get some lunch in Covent Garden and sit in the park. Boy were we surprised when we got off the tube stop at Covent Garden and discovered that the only green around is the lettuce on a sandwich because the area is really a great area for shopping, outdoor markets, and street performers. Not exactly what we were expecting but we did enjoy watching the street performers and I'm sure mom was entertained when I went to go find us some diet pepsi and returned 20 minutes later because according to the directions I was given the nearest store was "down the street around the corner and then around the next corner and you'll see it then"...haha joke! After our adventures in the "gardens" we decided to head to Leicester Square to see if we could score some half-priced tickets to a show. Low and behold we saw that Legally Blonde the Musical was playing so we decided it was a must see and jumped into the queue to score some tickets. The show started off with a great number...until the curtain stopped rising after 2 feet. The singers kept on singing until the realized they needed to get around the curtain and then the band just kind of died out and the lights turned back on. Mom and I turned to each other and wondered what we had just gotten ourselves into but no worries, the rest of the show went off without a hitch and I for one thoroughly enjoyed myself and am now changing my career path and becoming a lawyer! (kidding about the lawyer part)

Now we had to rest of Thursday because Friday the wedding bells of Wills and Kate would be ringing bright and early...or at least our alarm would be going off at 8:30. Well that we the plan anyways but technology hates me so when I was finally roused from my slumber by helicopters outside my window and I looked and saw it was already 9am I bolted out of bed like it was on fire and hopped in the shower! We managed to get dressed and ready in record time and decided to head to our usual breakfast place- Pret a Manger (a chain in London that does coffee and sandwiches and breakfast food) to grab some yogurt and then head to the parade route to try to shimmy our way to the front of the crowd to catch a glimpse of the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their way from the Abbey to Buckingham Palace. We cut across Trafalgar Square no problem because traffic was blocked from it as there were big jumbotrons set up for people's viewing pleasure. We exited the gates of the square, grabbed our yogurt and then went to enter back in only to find that the gates were shut because the square had hit capacity. How exactly a public square hits capacity I'm not really sure so we followed the crowd where the guards told us to only to find that we could not get in anywhere. Then we were hit with the genius idea to play the "but my hotel is in the square and I just wanted to get breakfast and I want to go back to my room" card to try to get us in but even our cute American accents and my puppy dog eyes didn't get us anywhere. Now by this point I was getting hungry but I wasn't allowed to eat the darn yogurt because without it our story was missing a key component! We decided to head back to where we started but by this time the gate had amassed quite a crowd outside it and we had little chance of getting to the front where we could talk to a guard but we were gonna try, darn it! (if only we had gotten up 10 minutes earlier!)

We encountered some interesting folks in this crowd but I think my favorite was the little boy perched on his dad's shoulder's a few heads behind us. The view from our place outside the square was a bit obstructed by a giant horse statue (if only we were 10 feet taller!) but that little boy would not be deterred. He entertained the whole crowd by giving a play by play of the royal happenings with phrases like "I can see Kate...her hair is down...her dress is lace...the sleeves are see through". SO cute! After making our way through the crowd for a good 40 minutes and getting pushed over by this crazy lady who really wanted to get the front no matter the cost (she pushed me! then complained that she couldn't see over someone's head! and then kept swishing her head so I kept eating her hair. I was like "lady, i already ate but thanks for the concern!") We finally made it to the front, gave our sob story to not 1 not 2 but 3 guards and their supervisor and we were finally let in the gates after 1 hour and 36 minutes of trying! After that we were home free and decided to hang out in Trafalgar Square with the masses that were there and catch the rest of the ceremony and parade on the big jumbotron which really turned out to be a blessing in disguise because the streets were PACKED on the parade route and we might not have seen much. Oh and funny (NOT) we were looking at the jumbotron and guess who made it on...my friend who kept feeding me her hair! SO not okay that she pushed her way all the way in the square and then up to a camera!

After the wedding and parade and first balcony kiss (LAME if you ask me!) mommy and I decided to head to Harrods to check out what all the hype was about. We got a bit lost and were a bit overwhelmed and decided to head to Oxford Street to hit up the "normal" stores. On our way over we decided to cross through Hyde Park where literally a million people had camped out to watch the wedding on more jumbotrons and the atmosphere was INSANE! People were dressed up in wedding dresses, their Sunday bests, or even decked out in the Union Jack flag from head to toe. Newspapers with details on the wedding had already hit the stands and we saw a pack of old ladies reading them and they were SO excited that we decided we better get some so we did! Only to realize that we got a different cover than anyone else so now we had to search for the old cover because it was practically a collectors item! We couldn't find any on the streets but we ran into a man who had one and traded us! Such a nice chap! We decided to stop in a coffee shop and catch up on our wedding news only to get so immersed in our reading that it took us 15 minutes to realize the music had turned off and they were closing down shop because they had already closed. There was another couple in the place so we bolted out so we wouldn't be that last awkward group that just wouldn't leave!

Saturday was our last full day in London so we decided to go out in style. We started the day with a nice tube ride where mom proceeded to get caught in the doors as they were closing, shimmy her way in the subway only to have her backpack get caught and a man behind her have to pry open the doors with his super human strength before the backpack was blown to smithereens by the whizzing subway. Caution kids...don't try that one at home! We decided to head to Regent Street for some retail therapy (it's stressful fighting your way through a crowd all day!) and then decided to experience an England tradition...high tea! We whipped out our guide books and mom discovered that the best place to have tea was the Goring so off we were. We got about a block away when I realized why the name of the hotel sounded so familiar. It just so happened to be the hotel that the entire Middleton family had been staying at for the wedding. I mean we would mistakenly go to this hotel not knowing what it was...it wasn't on the news all weekend or specially pointed out on our bus tour or anything. We walked in, well we were ushered in by a posh door man, and got some raised eyebrows when we asked if we could have high tea. They said "we might be all booked but I'll go check" (meaning: girl you crazy!) and then told "sorry we're all booked but you can have a cup of tea and a scone at the bar if you want" (translation: hahahahahaha............no). It was after we left the hotel that we noticed the lingering paparazzi and the gates up to keep away the crowds. We ended up getting our afternoon tea at Harrods and it was just lovely thank you very much!

On our way back to the hotel at the end of the day we came from a different way and guess what we discovered. Our beloved breakfast chain had another location that was literally around the corner from our hotel and which would not have required us leaving the gated area the day before and thus avoiding our entire debacle of getting back in. That would happen to us! (The next day we discovered a 3rd location across the street...what the heck!). That night we skyped with the boys back home to see Craig all dapper and off to his senior prom. Before that we had dinner at Garfunkels, the one restaurant we were told not to go to (sorry Mr. DeSanti!) but it was one of those things that you want more because you can't have it and so all week I joked about dining there and darn it I was determined!

Sunday when when mom and I were forced to part ways. I'll admit I got teary eyed as we said goodbye but I kept reminding myself I would be home in 27 days (25 days now!). I can't believe my semester has gone so quickly and is now coming to an end!

I'm now back at school. All of my classes but 1 are over and the last one ends this week and then I just have to study for my finals which start on May 19. I got my first paper back today and was a bit shell-shocked when I saw I got a 55 on it because I had forgotten that their grading scale is very different from ours and this grade really transfers back to a B at U of I. So for the next few weeks I will probably be sticking close to Nottingham and studying a LOT for my upcoming exams and getting excited to be stateside again. Thanks for the thoughts and prayers during my month of traveling, I would say if a massive bug bite is the worst I encounter I got off pretty well! Keep in touch and I can't wait to see you all IN PERSON in 25(ish) days!!!

Love from London (with my mommy!),

Stacey