Friday 15 February 2013

NFL weekend London

October 22 - 26 /12
Another week of antibiotics, doctors visits, and relaxing.


Saturday October 27 / 12


Took the train to London and met up with my previous host, Christoffer, from Malmo, Sweden.
We met at the train station and headed into the centre for the NFL pre-game rally.

There were tons of people there, all sporting their favourite teams jersey. There was representations of all 32 teams.


We listened to different players and people talk on stage and just embraced the atmosphere.

We bought tickets to the show, We will Rock You, featuring Queen.

So after we had seen the rally, we went for dinner then to the show.

The show was incredible; great story, acting, music and singing. It was fantastic.

After the show we went back to the station to get our luggage and then we had to find a hotel because our original couch surfing host ditched out on us. We found one just a little ways out of town and settled there for the night.


Sunday October 28 / 12 GAME DAY!

Up early enough to head to our next planned hotel to drop off our luggage.

We got breakfast / lunch then headed to Wimbley Stadium.

We picked up our tickets and checked out the tail gate parties and rally.

 The stadium was great and the atmosphere was amazing.

As you can see, Chris and I had great seats.

The game started exciting, as the St. Louis Rams scored off the opening drive.

Unfortunately they did not score again and the New England Patriots just kicked ass.

I got to see Tom Brady in action, throwing some nice passes.

It was great to see the game. The stadium was roaring with excitement despite the blowout.




Monday October 29 / 12

Walked around a bit of London and did a bit of shopping with Christoffer.

Then took the train back to Cambridge.

Feeling healthy again, I had only 2 more days in England before heading out for the next part of my journey, starting in Turkey.




Wednesday 6 February 2013

Bristol, England

Saturday October 20 /12 continued.

Made it to Bristol in good time. It was still light enough to get a couple hours of site seeing in.


The Bristol Cathedral was founded in 1140.

A Gothic style architecture that took approximately 700 years to construct.


St. Mary Redcliffe is an Anglican parish church constructed from the 12th - 15th centuries.

Also featuring the Gothic style architecture.



We walked through some beautiful parks and different city squares, including the Millennium Square that featured this silver globe thing and some fountains.



We got some dinner then after going back to the hotel briefly, we set out to the pubs and clubs where I continued to enjoy my fruit juices (slight sarcasm).

Ross and I went to one very big and happening night club. We checked our coats and Ross convinced me to give him my ID instead of leaving in my coat. So we did that and went on exploring the club.
It had several different levels and dance floors. Ross and I enjoyed watching the many many drunk people and enjoyed dancing to all sorts of music.
It was a good night but just as we were leaving the club, Ross realised that he lost my ID. We searched the club for it but had no luck. Luckily on Monday Ross called and had my drivers licence ID sent to us in Cambridge.

Sunday October 21 / 12

One last sight before hitting the road.

The Clifton Suspension Bridge.

The idea originated in 1753 originally for a stone bridge with later plans for a cast iron structure. An attempt to build in 1831 was stopped by the Bristol Riots, and a revised version was completed in 1864.

The bridge is 245ft above water level with an overall width of 31ft and span of 702ft.

The Clifton Suspension Bridge was well known as a suicide bridge and  between 1974 and 1993.

127 people fell to their deaths.

In 1998 barriers were installed on the bridge to prevent people jumping.

A short drive down from the bridge was a great viewing point of the cliffs, river and bridges.





Then we were off to the famous Stonehenge.


Stonehenge is marked as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The sites was said to be built from 2600 to 1700 BC.

The audio guide tour was interesting as it spoke about how the people back in that day could lift and move these stones.

 It was interesting that the stones and formation are so old, but in the end.. it was just a bunch of stones.

So we listened and learned and walked around the stones in about 30 minutes then jumped back in the car and headed to Cambridge.

Tuesday 5 February 2013

Bath, England

October 15 - 18 / 12
Spent the week at various doctors appointments. Back on antibiotics, I did a lot of sleeping and relaxing at Ross's house.


Friday October 19 /12

Off to Bath with Ross, arriving in the late evening. We checked into our hotel and set off for some dinner. We found a nice restaurant with Spanish tapas, which were delicious. We hit up a couple pubs, Ross had a couple beers and enjoyed some different fruit juices.

Saturday October 20 /12

Up early to see the beautiful city of Bath.



This is the Bath Abby. An Anglican parish church founded in the 7th century.  Rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries and major restoration work was carried out in the 1860s giving it its Gothic architectural look you see in this picture.

Next to the Bath Abby is the famous Roman Baths museum.

Ross and I did an audio guided tour through museum.

The temple was constructed in 60-70 AD and the bathing complex was gradually built up over the next 300 years. The baths were modified in the 12, 16 & 18th centuries.

The museum houses artifacts from the Roman period including objects which were thrown into the Sacred Spring, presumably as offerings to the goddess.

It was an interesting tour.


After, we walked around the city.

An area called the circus, was highly rated on trip advisor's top things to do in Bath.
So we checked it out, but it was not so exciting. Just a circle of buildings.

An example of Georgian architecture from 1754 - 1768.





Not really knowing what else to do, we checked out the Herschel Museum of Astronomy.

A small museum in Herschel's former home.

The museum opened in 1981 and is dedicated to Herschel and his major contributions to astronomy.








William Herschel manufactured telescopes and made his most famous discovery, the planet Uranus in 1781, using a telescope of his own design.




Next stop, Bristol, England.