Buckingham Break-ins

During my Sandeman tour of the city we visited Buckingham Palace. This is where the Queen of England lives. When the Queen is home there is a special flag that is raised about the Palace. When we visited she was not home. Our guide told us some stories about the best Buckingham Palace break-ins. I thought I would share them with you:

1.       Two German men came and visited London. Instead of paying for a hotel they decided that they would sleep in Hyde Park. After a night on the town they found what they thought were the park walls and decided to climb them. They set up camp and even built a fire and then went to bed. When they woke-up they tried to find a way out of the park but they couldn’t. They walked until they found someone (one of the palace guards) and when they asked where the exit was they were told by gunpoint. Obviously, this was Buckingham palace and the men had spent the night in the Buckingham garden.

1.       

There was a mentally unwell Irish man that had been living in the park across from Buckingham palace. One cold night he decided how unfair it was that he had to sleep on a park bench while the Queen got to sleep in a big soft bed. He climbed over one of the palace gates and broke in through a window. He knew he was going to be found by the guards so he ran from one end of the first floor of the palace to the other so he could see as much of the palace as he could before he was caught. The guard saw all the alarms for each room going off at the same time; because of this he figured the system was messed up. It was late at night and he didn’t want to wake up the Queen because of a false alarm so he turned the machine off. When the Irish man realized that no one was coming for him he decided to get something to eat. He found one of the Queen’s kitchens. He couldn’t find a light switch so he grabbed the first thing he could find to eat. It was a can of luxury dog food. He couldn’t find a can opener so he used a knife but when he tried to cut the can he ended up slicing his arm with it. He also found one of the Queen’s bottles of Port. After all the running around the palace, food, and alcohol the man began to get tired. The bedroom he found to sleep in ended up being the Queen’s. The Queen woke up to see a dirty man covered in dog food and smelling of liquor in her bedroom. She is trained for high risk situations so instead of freaking out she had a conversation with the man. They talked for a while and he asked her for a cigarette. The Queen said that, because she didn’t smoke, she would call and have one of her employees bring one up. The guard was called and she told him to bring a cigarette for her friend. The guard instantly knew something was wrong and the police were called. At this time the Palace was considered “public property” even though the Queen lived there so the man couldn’t be charged with breaking and entering. The only thing he could be charged with was stealing a bottle of Port and can of luxury dog food.

London Trip Outline

I was having a lot of trouble writing my blog because I had soooo much to write about. I saw so many sites and learned so much. I have a lot of fun and interesting stories to tell about the history of the sites. Instead of writing and posting a novel, I decided to just post the outline. 

Day 1, Wednesday February 1

I.                   Travel and Arrival

Big Ben and Parliment

Day 2, Thursday February 2

I.                   Sandeman Tour

a.       Wellington Arch

b.      Buckingham Palace

                                                              i.      Where the Queen lives

c.       Clarence House

                                                              i.      Where Prince Charles and Camilla live

d.      St. James’s Palace

                                                              i.      Built during Henry VIII’s reign

e.       Duke of York’s Column

f.       Apollo Gentleman’s Club

                                                              i.      Had members such as Roald Dahl and Winston Churchill

g.      Trafalger Square

h.      Nelson’s Column

                                                              i.      War hero

                                                            ii.      Under column are lions

1.      Made of melted ammunition of the French

i.        Parliament Square

                                                              i.      Where jousting had occurred

                                                            ii.      Secret tunnels underneath

j.        Westminster Abbey

                                                              i.      Built for the Pope

k.      Houses of Parliament

                                                              i.      Story of Guido (Guy) Faux

l.        Big Ben

II.                Picaddilly Circus

III.             China Town

IV.       Ate fish and chips

London Bridge

Day 3, Friday February 3

I.                   London Bridge

II.                Tower of London

a.       Bloody Tower

III.             Millennium Bridge

a.       Walking bridge over Thames river

b.      Was in one of the Harry Potter movies

IV.             Globe Theatre

V.                British Museum

a.       Rosetta Stone

VI.             The musical Wicked 

VII.     Ate Bangers and Mash

Platform 9 3/4

Day 4, Saturday February 4

I.                   Harrods

II.                Science Museum

III.             Camden Market

a.       Amy Winehouse was born here

b.      Biggest market in London

c.       Favorite part of trip

IV.             King’s Cross Station

a.       Platform 9 ¾

b.      Harry Potter

V.                London Eye

London Eye

Day 5, Sunday February 5

I.                   Travel/ Return

London Trip Day 1 (Wednesday February 1)

Hi everyone! I ended up doing a crazy amount of stuff during my trip to London. It is too much for one post so I will be doing separate posts for each day I spent there. Now I will start from the beginning:

The past week or two a few of us students had been planning a trip to London. This was the first time that we went on a trip planned by us and without any of our program directors. We were a bit nervous. From the very beginning there were mishaps. First of all, our tickets ended up getting booked for the wrong day. We were going to leave Thursday night and miss class on Friday but our tickets actually got booked for Wednesday night. In order to switch our tickets it would cost nearly half of what we paid for the tickets; instead of paying the fee we left on Wednesday.

            After school on Wednesday we ran home, finished last minute packing, and then walked to the Salamanca bus station. Then we got on a really nice coach bus that took us to the Madrid airport. We went through security, found our terminal, and made it on the plane easily. The flight to England was quick and lasted a little over 2 hours. The plane’s descent was terrible though. Usually when I fly my ears hardly pop and don’t hurt at all. During this descent it felt like my head was going to explode. Luckily we all survived and made it to the Gatwick airport.

            At the airport we all used the ATM and for some reason neither my debit nor ATM card would work for me. Luckily I had some euro in my purse that I was able to exchange for pounds. I did not have a lot of cash but at least it was something. Then we got on a train that took us from the airport to a subway station closer to London. The subway in London is called “The Tube”. I tried to buy a ticket with my credit card and was pleased to find that it actually worked! Then we rode to a station near our hostel. Our hostel was only a few blocks away from the station so we didn’t get too lost on our way. Our hostel was called the “Steam Engine”. The bottom floor was a bar and around back upstairs was the actual hostel.

            The room we were in was small. It had four bunk beds that each had three beds in it. There was a bottom, middle, and top bunk. I had the top so I had more space than all the others. In all, there were 12 beds in the room. That meant that over half the people in the room would be complete strangers. My bed was large and comfy so I was able to sleep with my backpack next to me. I also slept with my money belt on. It contained my passport, money, and all my bank cards.

            The people in our room had been drinking at the bar and were very loud, but we were all exhausted from all the traveling so we slept well. I was really happy that we actually made it to London. I was proud of us and excited for day two.