by
Jarrett
t all started on August 9, 1999 at the Nashville airport. The time was 3:00 p.m. I, Jarrett Stein, walked on the plane that would take me to Chicago. From there my final destination was England. Once in the plane I got this tingly feeling that this was going to be the best trip I have ever been on. In time I found out it was. The August 10, 1999, 9:00a.m.I just arrived at the London Heathrow airport. I was worried that I had forgotten something, but I knew if I did, it wouldnít matter. I was also glad that finally I was in London. Unfortunately, my family and I had to wait a half an hour to get our passports stamped by the immigration officials. Luckily, we zoomed by customs, and headed for the underground. From there we took the ìtubeî to our hotel. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Kensington. We arrived at our room at 2:00 p.m. It was a tiny room and there were only two beds for four of us. We were so tired we didnít care and just flopped down on either one. When we awoke we decided to go to Covent Garden to get theatre tickets. While we were there, we noticed the premiere of the movie Mickey Blue Eyes starring Hugh Grant. We decided to wait in a mob of people to try to see him. When he arrived we saw him and his girlfriend, Elizebeth Hurley. It was a lot of fun and I thought our trip was getting off to a great start. We werení! t able to get tickets but we went to the National Theatre anyway, for the view. It was beautiful. We saw the entire skyline that first night. As it was getting late, we went back to our hotel and slept, and slept, and slept. August 11, 1999
We woke up late the next morning with my brother screaming ìGET UP I WANT TO SEE THE ECLIPSE!î We got up lazily and walked over to the science museum. They ran out of solar eclipse glasses so we took turns using my brothers Ray Bans. It was pretty cool and I can now tell everyone I saw a solar eclipse. Then we hopped on the tube again and went to Piccadilly Circus. It isnít a real circus itís just a place to hang out. After that we went to Sega World. Itís a seven-story arcade. They had this ìJames Bond License to Thrillî ride that my brother and I wanted to try. After that moment of fun we went to the Cabinet War Rooms. Thatís an underground building that Churchill lived in and to commanded his troops from during the London ìBlitz.î We saw the actual maps where the British planned their strategy and a special phone that only Churchill could use which linked him directly to Roosevelt. It was incredible. We had bought theatre tickets for that night so my mom and I went to Starlight Express while my brother and dad went to Rent. When we got to our hotel, we suddenly found that we had been transferred to a two-story suite instead of our tiny room. I sprawled out on my bed and went to sleep. 8-12-99
We got up on Thursday wanting more sleep, but my mom made us get up so we could avoid the lines at Madame Tussuadís. It is the most famous wax museum in the world. My brother and I took pictures of each other with about 30 famous people. It was awesome! After that my brother and I were in a better mood and when my mom said we could go shopping, we were in a great mood. We went to Regent St. that is a huge shopping street. There we saw the toy store Hamleyís. It was really big (seven stories) and really expensive. After we shopped for a little while my mom said, ìTime for a little bit of sightseeing.î So we sauntered down to the British Museum. There we saw some really old, famous things like the Rosetta stone. My mom said everything there is incredibly famous and priceless but Iím just glad I can say I saw it. After the British Museum we went to the British Library where we saw the Magna Carta and a Guttenburg Bible. Then we went to Harrods. It is the biggest department store I have ever been in! It was like a mall in itself. We had dinner nearby and afterward we went to look at cars. We saw an amazing amount of expensive cars (as my brother pointed out many times.) We even saw a MaClaren F1. There are only sixty-four of them in Europe. It was getting late so we went back on the tube and went straight to our hotel. When we got to our room we slept. 8/13/99
Today we had to get up at 8:20 a.m. so we could avoid the lines at the Tower of London. The lines took only about fifteen minutes so it wasnít that bad. When we got there we went first to the crown jewels where we saw the biggest diamond in the world. It was very big! Then we first went on the tower tour, which I found very boring. When it was finally over my brother and mom went to the new Globe theatre. My dad and I decided to go shopping. I was happy about how this turned out so I decided to be nice to my dad and listen to him. This, to my dislike, turned out to be and bad decision. We ended up going to a kiddy playground by mistake. But after that we went shopping for a soccer jersey. I didnít find one so I was very grumpy. We got to the hotel early and I had to get ready for synagogue. My brother and mom got to the hotel late so we ended up getting to synagogue late. It was fine with me. After synagogue we ate at a real English pub. I had fish and chips. It was delicious. 8/14/99
When Iím at home, Saturday is the most enjoyable day of the week. It doesnít apply for trips. When we got up we had to go to the train station and pick up tickets for our Sunday trip to Cambridge. That took a while and my brother and I ended up knowing our way around the Liverpool Street train station very well. It took so long that my dad and I had to rush to arrive at a play at 2:00 p.m. Once the play started, we figured out it was not what we suspected. The theatre held about 100 people. In the paper it said it was an adult comedy and I think a six-year old would have laughed more than I did. It turned out to be a very silly play. Amazingly however, the time flew by and we were out of there before I knew it. We met my mom and brother back at the hotel and had a nasty dinner. 8/15/99
Today we headed over to Cambridge to meet one of my dadís friends. When we got to Cambridge, Tony (my dadís friend) and his six-year old son met us at the train station. The six-year boy had a twin sister. Tony, the father was one of the nicest people I have ever met. He showed us all around the many campuses of Cambridge and took us to lunch. Back in London, we ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant, which filled our hungry bodies up. It was getting late so we walked back to our hotel. 8/16/99
Our last day in England was a fun one. During the whole trip I wanted to get a soccer jersey and I finally did today. It is cool. We visited some last minute tourist attractions like Parliament and rode on a double-decker bus. In our last hour awake in England we ate, watched soccer, and packed for our upcoming journey.
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