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Journal from England 10-6-03
10/6/2003
Kelly Devlin, a senior from Sparks, Maryland, kept a journal during the lacrosse team’s summer trip through Great Britain.
Thursday, August 14th
Today we arrived in London. We met up with our tour guide and bus driver and headed for Windsor Castle. We didn’t actually go inside the castle since we didn’t have enough time. So we walked around the little town and looked in the stores. We headed back to the hotel to check in and have dinner. We were allowed to walk around — but we were all exhausted from a long day of flying.
Friday, August 15th
Today we went shopping in Greenwich and went to the Tower of London. This is where the Jewel House is located — beautiful jewels. After the Tower we went to Covenant Gardens. It is a big outside shopping area with lots of entertainment. There were mimes, dancers, and a man sitting on the corner with a sign saying “You are now listening to the Sound of Music Street Cone” — as he hummed into a street cone! A group of us walked over to the USG Movie Theater — the previews lasted for 20 -25 minutes – much longer than in the US.
Saturday, August 16th
Today we got up and ate breakfast at the hotel. We went to the market to grab lunch before heading off to our first game. We played with international rules — 15 minute quarters, hard boundaries, eight a side and when shooting your stick could follow through into the crease. We ended up winning the game 9-4. We had a lot of fun playing together again — but we definitely didn’t play our best game of lacrosse!!! After the game the other team took us to a pub called Percy Arms for lunch. It is a tradition for them to take the other team out after a “match” — a social event! We then headed back to the hotel for a relaxing evening.
Sunday, August 17th
Today we were supposed to go to Harrod’s and West Minster Abbey but because it was Sunday both of these places were closed. So we walked through this wonderful park which, by the way, has no trashcans because it’s too easy for someone to drop a bomb into. We went to see Buckingham Palace; unfortunately we missed seeing the changing of the guards. We then went to Portobello Street where they have a huge market set up. We did some shopping — actually a lot – three hours! We also went to Oxford Circus, which had more great shops. The style there is definitely different then ours — really 80’s style. We all appreciate how everyone at Vanderbilt dresses alike! We set back for the hotel and had dinner. After dinner we went upstairs to relax, drink tea and do our nails. We also watched the second half of Titanic.
Monday, August 18th
Today we went to Stratford — on — Avon — the home of William Shakespeare. We got to shop and look at Shakespeare’s’ house. It was such a cute little town. It started to rain on us as we were leaving.
We then went to Warwick Castle. The towers were quite high and the sights were beautiful. We got to go down in the dungeon — it was stinky and cold. I got a little Closter phobic. We got to see the torture room and armor display. Then we walked down to the Medieval Festival – basically there were just child games down there. I think we missed the exciting events.
We left and headed to our new hotel in Northern Wales. We had a buffet style dinner.
Tuesday, August 19th
Today we headed out for a tour of Northern Wales — we first stopped in this little town to see the aqueducts. These are bridges for boats. Pretty view from the top. The weather was definitely much cooler in Wales. We headed to Llandgolin — and on the way there we drove up the Snowdon Mountains. Once we were in Llandgolin — we got out and walked around. There was a small board walk and there was a large body of water which was the Irish Sea. We continued back to the hotel to change and head out for our second game. We had a much better game tonight — winning 15-3. The officiating was definitely not what we were used too. Every call went against us. After the game we did a cheer with the other team — lining up across from them their leader says “Three cheers for Vanderbilt, hip hip hurray, hip hip hurray hip hip hurray”. We then did the same back to them. We then had a social with them inside the club house — where they had all kinds of food for us. In the club house we watched a game of cricket on television. We headed back to the hotel for a relaxing evening!
Wednesday, August 20th
This morning we packed the bus up and headed to a town called Chester where there was shopping, castles, ruins and two cathedrals. We had five hours to tour around. Some did some sightseeing while others shopped. Some of us used two and a half hours to watch T3 at the movies. We then departed for our ride to the airport. We were flying to Cork, Ireland. We met up with our new bus driver and tour guide and headed to our new hotel — The Royal George. We did stop at McDonald’s for some food on the way out there.
Thursday, August 21st
Today we had a great breakfast at the Royal George Hotel. We then headed out for a drive through misty Ireland. It was a rainy, cloudy day. We stopped first at the Bonratty Castle. We were there as soon as the gates opened. Bonratty stands on what was once an Island and Bon — meaning the mouth of a river. The castle was rigged for intruders when you first walked in — there were two trap doors! The castle was huge — with four towers you climbed to the top. After the castle — we took a lengthy bus ride to the Cliffs of Moher. It was extremely windy there — we were asked not to stand too close to the edge of the cliffs. It was a magnificent site. The water was so blue beneath. We headed off for our drive back; too bad the weather wasn’t better because the country we could have seen would have been gorgeous. We made our last stop in the town of Limerick — where we could shop some more. We had to get to bed early tonight — we are leaving the hotel at 5 a.m. for the airport. We are flying back to London where we will leave from there to go to Philadelphia.
Friday, August 22nd
Today was an early morning — we were up at 5 a.m. to fly to London. We spent the day in Harrod’s — which is an unbelievable department store. It’s five stories and has everything you can possibly imagine. We are now on the flight back to Philly. The trip was absolutely incredible from the individual tour guides we had in each country to our bus drivers to our shopping and to the amazing people we could share the sites and castles with. Those three hour marathon games did pay off. Our coaches were understanding and were a blast. Everyone got along with out a bump in the road!!! It was an amazing experience.
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