Musical binge in London's West End...

Given that I did most of the London attractions last time (not that I didn't do them again this time), I will refrain from elaborating too much about them. However, what was different about this trip was that I splurged on musicals and shows, and took advantage of what London's West End had to offer. I feel like this blog post will be more about the different shows that I saw, so apologies in advance if that doesn't interest you. I did see some new sights, so I will also speak about Hyde Park, Science Museum, Greenwich and the Harry Potter Studios.

Viva la France...

Day 56

Slept through my alarm so didn't leave the apartment until a bit after midday. Given that my Musuem Pass expired today, I dedicated today to mainly museums, as well as a few attractions which were covered. Climbed up the towers of Notre Dame to check out the view as well as the stone chimeras. Apparently gargoyles are used for water drainage and since these beasts were purely for decoration, they were chimeras. I was also up there when Quasimodo rang the bells which was quite an experience.

Paree 'olds ze key to your 'eart...

 Day 51

Another travel day. Honestly it is so draining after a while. At least today was only a 90 minute flight (as opposed to train or bus), but throw in all the airport procedures and the time drags out. But hey, I should just be thankful that I even get to travel. And my destination was Paris, one of my favourite cities, and be surrounded by so many people speaking French!! Sexy. And I would get to see Tash and Aniqa again which was even more exciting!!

Meatballs, ABBA and oh so many photos...

Day 29

Pretty much just a travel day. Didn't really do anything today. Checked out of Warsaw hostel, walked to the coach station, and caught a coach to the airport. Had a lot of time to kill since I'm very paranoid about missing flights so I usually get there way too early. Was felt up quite thoroughly by a big Polish security guard after going the metal detector. After that moment of intense physical contact/heat, it was just boring waiting at the gate for my Ryanair flight to Stockholm. Soon enough it came time to board (walking onto the tarmac as usual) and an hour and a half later, we were preparing to land in Stockholm. As I stared out the window, I had no idea how much further we had to go. It was only once we descended below the intense cloud cover that I realised that we were pretty much landing. Visibility was just that poor. Anyways, at least the pilots were able to do their stuff and get us down safely. Caught an airport shuttle into the city (took about 90 minutes...we were pretty far out from the city) and checked into my hostel. Despite having done nothing all day, I was exhausted. Early night.

Not the last time I'll see Budapest...

Day 21

Time to leave Croatia and head to Hungary. Got to the station and was so confused with the train. All the carriages were labelled differently indicating that somewhere down the track they would be splitting off and heading to different destinations. For anyone planning to travel Europe, make sure to check where your carriage is heading. Don't just assume that the by being on the right platform that you'll end up in the right destination. After finally finding the only carriage heading to Budapest, we were off.

And that concludes my USA trip...

Day 18

Honestly these last few days in the US were pretty empty/slow since after Jersey, I was really mellow and going at a very relaxed pace. Day 18 was pretty much dedicated to souvenir shopping. Loaded up with chocolate from the Herscheys store, as well as a few Friends memorabilia from the NBC store, I went and waited in line at TKTS in Times Square for discounted tickets to Avenue Q (40% off). Ended up waiting in line for about 75 minutes before I got my tickets, but thankfully, once you buy once, if you decide to go see another show in the following seven days, you get to go straight to the front of the line. Definitely was going to use that advantage.

In the land of Monopoly...

Day 10: As usual, I did some exploring of the city. Was planning on catching a bus down to London Tower and walking back but I couldn't find the bus stop that Van had told me to take, so I just kept walking. In the end, I found myself at Leicester Sqaure so I knew I had gone too far. Had a look at the half-price tickets available, and sadly Wicked wasn't on the board today. Guess I'll have to come back another day. From there, I continued down the street until I hit Trafalgar Square. Spent some time inside the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery admiring the artworks, before heading back out and admiring the beauty of Trafalgar Sqaure. Nelson's Column is impressive, as are the two large fountains beside it. In the distance, I saw turrets and the British flag flying so I knew that's where I needed to head.

Tapas, here I come...

It's now 3pm on Day 8, and I'm waiting to head out on my tapas tour. I haven't really had much Spanish cuisine since I've been here. Had some paella the first night I got here, but that was included in a buffet (for only 10 euros!!). So I guess today will be my first true experience of a Spanish meal.

I got an offer for dentistry today. It's a weird feeling. I kinda made my peace with not getting in, and now that I've received an offer, there isn't really feeling associated with it. Just neutral feelings. I guess it was always meant to be a back-up option. Now if I get an offer for Masters in Org Psych, then I'll be overjoyed. Judging by the date that they said they would annouce offers, I should be in either Slovenia or Italy. But as for dentistry, I'm supposed to accept within 10 days via email. Still working that out because it's a bit weird and everything is so confusing right now.