Alright everyone, here is the last of my semester abroad. There's a good chance that I am going to miss a few things from my last week in London, but here you go. 

During my final week in London I was able to do a few of the things that I had yet to do. I saw two more shows that last week. The first was Les Mis, which is a classic that I had to see before leaving. I was a little skeptical but the show was very good and I am very glad I went and saw it. I also saw a show at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. The play was Romeo and Juliet, which everyone has heard of, and it was nice because I had to read the play back in high school, so I knew what was going on (which is sometimes difficult when the actors are speaking in the way that the play was originally written). I also went on a boat cruise on the river Thames with my entire group from St. John's. It was a cool way to see the city and have a last hurrah. Throughout that week I often went walking in parts of the city that I enjoyed to see them one last time.

Friday marked the arrival of Steve into London. He got in late that morning and right away we got to it. One thing I hadn't seen since I had been over here was the Tower of London. It would've been a shame to come back and say I didn't see the tower. The tower was really cool, it served as an old fortress and prison for the British Monarchy. It housed some pretty important political prisoners and was the site of many hangings and beheadings. The tower also had a very interesting exhibit on King Henry VIII. It contained many artifacts and clothing that the king himself used and wore. After the tower we walked along the Thames and into the city. We stopped at a few pubs that are absolutely hopping when the Financial district closes down for the weekend. The pubs are so full that everyone spills onto the streets around them. We got dinner at a pub in the city, Steve tried the bangers and mash and I got a steak and ale pie. 

After dinner we met up with a few people for my group. We had intended to do a pub crawl on Fleet street, the site of many of the oldest pubs in all of London. We made it to The George which was a 17th century pub and then to a pub called the Bank of England. The second pub, was just that, a converted bank to pub, it featured all of the Fuller's beers (which was the brewery that my parents and I toured when they came to visit). After our brief pub crawl we headed to the Absolut Ice Bar. I'll include some pics, but it won't do justice, the bar was completely made of ice. The bar, the floor, the walls, the chairs, the bar tables, and our GLASS was made of ice too. You can only go into the bar for 40 minutes and you have to have a reservation, but when you get there they put these huge blue parkas on you to keep you warm (which includes a glove to hold onto your ice glass). After the ice bar, we went to a pub called O'Neils, which was our usual hangout throughout the semester because they feature great cover bands. 

On Saturday we were a bit slow to get up and moving. When we did finally get up we went to Nottinghill to check Portobella Road market and to stop at the Churchill Arm's for lunch. That night Steve and I went into the center of the city to walk around, get some souvenirs, and tried to go to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner (the Hard Rock in London is the ORIGINAL and was set up by Clapton himself). Unfortunately, there was over a two hour wait, but there happened to be a pub close by that was actually quite famous where we went and had a great dinner. That night we met up with some of my friends at a cool back alley pub by our flat for a drink. 

On Sunday I had to pack up all of my stuff (for the entire semester), luckily I had most of it done. Once we got out and dropped my bags off at the administrative building for the day, Steve and I set out to central London again. We got some last souvenirs, had a great (the best ;) fish n chips at a small microbrewing restaurant. After dinner we went to see the show Stomp, which featured a bunch of incredibly talented individuals who played music for an hour and forty minutes on...unconventional...instruments (buckets, brooms, trash cans, etc.). Because our flight was so early on Monday and because the airport we were flying out of was a bit remote, we actually had to spend the night in the airport on Sunday. It ended up being a blessing in disguise because we needed the extra time. We flew through a discount carrier which tries to rack up as many fees possible (which is understandable considering we got tickets for the both of us for just over $20). Thus, their checked baggage allotment was just 15 kg, my bag was 28 kg, and they charged 15 pounds per kg over...which would've been about $260. We had to buy a cheap plastic bag and do a bunch of reshuffling in order to make it all work, it did, thankfully. 

We got into Dublin on Monday morning and found the hostel that we were staying at. The hostel actually had an incredible location. The first thing we did was head to Gahllager's Boxty House for a traditional Irish breakfast. Both Steve and I thought it was the best way we could've started the day, it was delicious. We walked around the city center for awhile getting a feel for the city before we headed off to the Guinness Storehouse. The Storehouse is on the grounds of the Guinness brewery and walks you through the brewing process and the history of Guinness. After a few hours walking around we got a complimentary Guinness in the Gravity Bar (which offers an amazing 360 degree view of Dublin). After the tour we went to a pub for dinner called The Brazen Head. The Brazen Head is probably the most famous pub in the world, and its been around since 1198, that's right 1198! Our food was great, an Irish stew and a beef and Guinness stew. Our hostel was located in an area of town called Temple Bar, which is known for an incredible nightlife featuring about as much live music as you can imagine, 7 nights a week. We bounced around to three different pubs listening to live acts. Our final pub, a place called The Temple Bar, had a performer named Dave Rooney who was unbelievable. Steve and I liked him so much that we actually walked away with a CD. 

On Tuesday we took a bus tour through the Irish country side. We drove up into the Wicklow Mountains, saw some amazing hidden lakes, Oscar Wilde's house, the Sally's Gay (from PS I Love You), the fields where Braveheart was filmed, an ancient Monastic ruins, and got to spend sometime in a small Irish village. Pictures cannot do justice to the beauty of the sites we saw on that Tuesday. Some of the views were literally breathtaking. That night we ended up getting tickets to go see the Fray. The show was awesome, especially since it was a small venue (in the US they play at large 15,000+ seat venues). Afterwards we went to a pub to catch some more Irish music where we were hit on by a girl from Galway for quite some time.

On Wednesday we finished up our site seeing of Dublin. We went to a prison called Kilmainham, which was a prison in operation from the late 1700's til the 1924. We learned a ton about Irish history while at Kilmainham. After the jail we went to do the tour of the Jameson Distillery. I had a blast at the distillery and learned a ton. I was even selected to be one of the whiskey tasters, where I compared a scotch, American whiskey, and Jameson. After the tour we walked around the city a bit, we saw St. Patrick's Cathedral (the St. Patrick that we American's drink to every year). For dinner on Wednesday we decided to go back to the same place we got that great Irish breakfast. The restaurant was great, completely authentic and very rustic. A two man band was playing traditional Irish folk music. We had oysters with our Murphy's and then had two excellent meals. I had to try a boxty while I was in Ireland, it consists of a meat wrapped in a potato pancake, and then covered in a gravy of sort. I had a gammon ham boxty with a honey mustard gravy. Let me tell you, it was amazing, simply one of the best things I've ever had. Steve can confirm as he tried it as well, it was delicious. That night, of coarse, we explored the pub scene in Ireland. We went and watched a Champions League football match (soccer game) at a pub called O'neils while indulging in some Galway Hookers. The Hooker's were great and not too expensive (A Galway Hooker is a beer of course, a great tasting bitter ale). Afterwards we decided to go to a famous hotel known for its traditional Irish dancing. It was pretty impressive but we only lasted for about 20 minutes. We then went to a few more places checking out the great music that Dublin has to offer every night of the week. 

On that Thursday we ended our journey in Dublin and headed back to Philadelphia. We both slept pretty well on the plane and were greeted in Philadelphia by Sarah and Adeline. I got to spend some time, brief but quality, with my Goddaughter and Sarah was nice enough to bring me some lunch. After parting with the Philly crew I continued onto Chicago and then back to Minneapolis where I was met by my parents and two bros. Needless to say, I was gitty the whole plane ride back and setting foot in Minnesota was awesome. 

Maybe sometime this weekend I'll take a few minutes to recap my experience, talk about what I enjoyed most (even though each trip seems to have been my favorite), and share any final thoughts I had on the experience. I hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to seeing everyone over the next few weeks.