London Diary

18. April 2012

- 25. April 2012

NMS Harbach on its first time in London

Day 1 – THURSDAY 19th April

Just about everyone arrived at London Bridge on time this morning, except Nico, Antal and Jakob. They had got off the wrong bus station, so Nico decided to take a taxi. The only thing was that he didn’t know how expensive it was. At the end of the journey the bill was 11 Pounds! Nico told Jakob to pay because he had the money. Jakob gave the taxi driver 15 Pounds and told him to keep the change  :-D  Wasn’t he sweet? When Jakob told us we couldn’t stop laughing!  Even though it rained we saw a lot today. We started off at Westminister Abbey, then Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, then we worked our way towards 10 Downing Street, saw the Changing of the Guard‘s Horses, went to St James‘ Park then Trafalgar Square and stopped for a break at Piccadilly Circus. By this time we were out of breath.  After the well deserved break we headed out for Pall Mall Street, Clarence House, Buckingham Palace then moved on to the Guard’s museum. Last but not least we got on a double decker bus and travelled around London for about an hour.  The pupils were very well behaved. As a bonus they are allowed to go shopping tomorrow. We will keep you posted.

Day 2 - FRIDAY 20th April

Believe it or not when we woke up this morning the sun was shining :-D  We set off to Oxford Street.  Of course the girls were in their element.  How much they spent, only God knew.  Then the heavens opened and it came down in buckets.  Our afternoon was planned to meet all the famous stars at Madame Tussauds and we did.   We also had the opportunity to see a 4D film which just about shook us out of our seats.  Beause it rained soooooo much we did another stop at the M & M´s shop.  We have never seen so many different colours of sweets in our life.  Chinatown didn´t seem to be a hit where the kids were concerned.  Maybe it was the funny things hanging up in the shop windows.  All the dead ducks!!  Well that´s enough for today.  Hold your breath until tomorrow :-D

Day 3 - SATURDAY 21st April

After explaining a hundred times to Nico and Co. how to get to the station, they finally managed to find their way to the right one! H A L L E L U J A H ! Even though it was Saturday we decided to go to church: St Paul´s Cathedral was on the agenda. Time for confession. :-) After the priest fell asleep we decided to leave for Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guards. Only the queen must have been in a bad mood and it didn´t take place. As a bonus, we took the kids to Trafalgar Square and they were able to shop for souvenirs. That kept Ivan quiet for at least 10 minutes! We were booked in at the London Dungeon, which for those who don´t know, the House of Horror, and that made everyone´s day!

Day 4 - SUNDAY 22nd April

We all had to get to London Bridge before chaos broke out. London´s Marathon took place and the whole city was an ant heap. People everywhere. Anyway we started at the Tower Bridge, The Tower of London, worked our way to Shakespear´s Globe where we got to see the theatre just as it was at Shakespear´s time. Because of the Marathon it took us over an hour to get to the London Eye. The weather held up in this time and we had a splended view of London. We hardly touched ground when a huge storm came up and blew us all in the doors of Mc Donald´s. Eighteen smiles from ear to ear. Sixteen pupils and two teachers.

Day 5 - MONDAY 23rd April

Unfortunately this day was very disappointing. We had already booked train tickets to Brighton, so there was no chance of cancelling the trip. Brighton was just about flooded when we arrived. We tried fighting our way down to the pier, especially for those who had never seen the sea before. We were tossed around by the wind and could hardly see anything. We arranged to meet up later hoping that the Gods would have mercy on us and send the sun, but after two hours it just got worse. The kids were great, and because we wanted a photo of the group with the sea in the background, we fought our way through wind and rain with inside-out umbrellas to the promenade where we shot our first and last photo of Brighton. The rest of the time we kept dry in the Mall where we sat with long faces and dreamt of our warm and cosy places back home. We love you Austria!

Day 6 - TUESDAY 24th April

Our last day in London so we had to really get going to finish all the things that we still hadn’t done.   After meeting at London Bridge, like every morning, we headed for Greenwich where we saw the Cutty Sark. Unfortunatly the sails weren‘t up as the weather wasn’t good. We left for Greenwich Park, went into the Observatory and stood on the Meridian Line which marked the point between north and south.   Then we went to Hyde Park. Hyde Park is known for its “Speaking Corner“, the exact spot where Magdalena let off steam about all the unpleasant things in her life. She must of rattled on for about half an hour. Can she talk! Harrods was an eye opener for the girls. Brand names on bags, shoes and clothes for everyone’s taste.   At this point we were pushing for time, so we had to rush to get to Camden Town where most of the pupils only had a half an hour to look around before taking off to their guest families to change for the musical that night. The others stayed on with us – only girls this time and off we went to Oxford Street to buy the last souvenirs that we needed to take home. At Marks and Spencers we changed in the rest room for the musical which was not gladly seen by the staff – some women complained that they couldn‘t use the toilets because of us – ooooops! We met up again at our local meeting place –London Bridge – and went straight to Lyceum Theatre for the musical “The Lion King“.  The stage and costumes were absolutely amazing, so if you are ever in London, it’s a musical worthwhile to see.

Day 7 - WEDNESDAY 25th April

We were all packed by this morning and ready to leave rainy London. With heavy hearts we boarded the plane for Linz – some would have stayed longer!

There comes a time when teachers have to admit things that they don’t find easy to do. These kids are great!