Weekend Roundup: Dover and Hampster Teeth

Well, this weekend has been full of surprises and adventures, which makes for good times.  My flatmates and I had plans to go to Glastonbury on Saturday.  All weekend we said to each other, "Yeah, we'll figure out transportation on Friday. No problem!" But then Friday came, and it was 1:00 in the morning, and we realized that transportation to Glastonbury was either A) super expensive or B) only at night.  So we had to plan an entirely different day trip for the next morning, which was in a few short hours.  We had talked about going to the White Cliffs of Dover, so we quickly decided that was our best bet.  We bought tickets simultaneously, which for some reason was quite stressful.  But with our tickets purchased, and were ready to go the next morning.  

Saturday

We left with plenty of time in the morning to print out our tickets and get to the coach station.   When we got off the tube, we started walking in the direction of the buses, and were very confused about where we were supposed to load our bus. A kind bus driver came over to us and asked if he could help us. He looked at our tickets and said, "Oh, you need to be on the opposite side of that clock tower."  We looked in the direction he was pointing, and in my head, I thought to myself "That teeny tiny clock tower way in the distance that we will never be able to get to in 10 minutes?" But instead, we just thanked him, and then started tourist running.

Tour-ist Run-ning: (n) The act of a person that moves at a quick pace while wearing a backpack.  Often in a foreign state or country.

When we finally got to the clock tower, we looked around for our bus, but still couldn't see it.  So we ran inside the coach station, asked the person at information where to go, ran to our gate, and made it to the bus just in time.  When we handed the bus driver our tickets, she said, "Are you guys sure you want to go to Dover?" Which made me instantly worry that we had booked a bus to the wrong Dover... But we just smiled and laughed and took a nap on the 3 hour bus ride.

When we got to Dover, we realized it was a shabby town.  But we made our way to the visitor information and bought a lovely map for 10 pence, which was worth exactly that.  It had street names where ever the heck it wanted to, and  big colorful lines marking walking trails.  We followed the map to the beach and ate a picnic lunch.  We decided to put our feet in the water, but the problem was that it was a rocky beach, so walking back to our shoes was the devil.  Man, it hurt so much, my feet still feel it.

View from the beach

Dover Castle in the distance

Those darn rocks.  I have a legit bruise on the bottom of my foot. Because of them

My cute flatmates.

Isn't she a beauty? (I'm talking about me, not the cliffs.)

After our trip to the beach, it was time to hike the cliffs.  We followed the well-designed map all the way to a dead end, and then realized we missed a turn.  So we walked back and began our hike.  It was BEAUTIFUL! The cliffs with the green vegetation everywhere was just absolutely stunning.  We hiked, took pictures, and chatted along the way.

When we got to this picturesque light house, we just wandered inside and started looking at some informational plaques, and this charming old woman came inside and said, "May I help you with something?"  We asked her if it's okay that we were in here, and she basically kicked us out of the lighthouse because you had to buy tickets and it was closed.  But she was just so darn sweet about it, we  were happy to get kicked out.

On the way back we kept talking about how fun this was, and how we were right on schedule to get back to our bus in time.

(Hint: that was foreshadowing)

We found a pub where we grabbed some dinner (a delicious burger with chips) and again, were just talking about how perfect our day was.  When we had finished, we left and started walking back toward the bus station. We were just talking and laughing, and kind of lost track of where we were going.  We looked around at our surroundings, and realized we had passed the station.  And it was 10 minutes until our bus was going to leave.  You think we would have learned when this happened to us less than 10 hours ago.  But no, it was back to the ugly tourist running.  We tried to consult our 10p map, but it was basically useless.  We ran into some locals, so one of my friends asked them where the train station was.  Luckily, this time she told us it was just around the corner.  Not a 8.5 mile sprint.  So we ran around the corner and found the bus with 3 minutes to spare.  We all passed out on the way home after a long day of hiking, walking, and tourist jogging.  But overall, it was an awesome way to spend a Saturday.

Sunday

On Sunday morning I woke up bright and early to make it to church.  And I am so proud of myself for finding my way from my flat to the church all by myself!  I'm basically a real Londoner.  After church, my friends and I headed to Hampstead Heath.  The director of the FSU Study Abroad program talked to us on the second day we were here, and kept telling us that we need to go to Hampstead Heath because it is so pretty.  But with her adorable accent and the inflection, it sounded like she was saying "hampter teeth".  So it officially has a new nickname.

We took a double decker bus, and now I understand where the inspiration from the Knight Bus from Harry Potter came from.  I mean, it felt like we were about to hit every other car, bus, person, and bicycle on the street.  It was a little terrifying, but thrilling.  When we got dropped off at Hampstead, we stopped at a transit station, because we were headed to the Alternative Commonwealth Games.  One of my flatmates walked up to the gentleman working there and asked about the Commonwealth Games.  He answered charmingly, "Uh, those are in Glasgow."  Okay sir, we're not that stupid.  We then modified by saying the alternative Commonwealth games, and he still made us feel stupid and said that there is nothing going on.  So we went out to prove him wrong.  We walked through Hampstead Heath, which is just a huge open space with ponds, a lido, playgrounds, and an athletic track.  We walked around, played fetch with a dog, and then started walking around trying to find the games.  

We eventually heard some Scottish folk music playing and followed it until we found the games (Sidenote: the band that was playing was Mànran, and they were actually quite good. Look 'em up!) We wandered around and played some Welly Wanging, Jukskei, and watched some guys play the Scottish game of Shinty and an official tug of war game that was so official, it even had a referee.  

Look at that form.  I got 2nd place with that form.  It's all in the outstretched foot.

Isn't he a cute referee?

The South African game of Jukskei.  You have to throw a stick and try to hit a peg.  And I hit it spot on.  Again, it's in the extended back leg.

A guy in a kilt.  Need I say more?

To top the day off, we got an ice cream cone, and I even sprung for the chocolate flake.  It was worth it.

It was such a fun Sunday afternoon, and it was all FREE! Except for the ice cream.  All in all, a fantastic weekend in London.