Sweet Lord, I have a ridiculous amount of stuff to tell you all! There is no way I'll be able to recount everything but I'll certainly try. I just spent the last two and a half days in London. And for anyone who has been to London, you know it's impossible to see it all in such a short time span, but I gave it my best shot!
We left as a group on Friday morning at eight o'clock. I slept for most of the drive but as we were entering London I was able to catch a glimpse of some of the newly constructed Olympic buildings. All very much in the modern style of architecture. Our bus driver made the statement that one of the buildings looks like a big potato chip...he's not wrong. Mark my words, you'll see that building next summer and you'll think big potato chip.
My friends Michaela, Jess, and I decided to get off the bus at the Tower of London. We spent most of the day exploring the Tower and all its history. The armory was really interesting. I saw the armor of Henry VIII which proved that he was indeed a big man. There was also a full suit of armor for a seven year old. It was ridiculously small. The executioner's block and axe were also on display. And in a small outbuilding were old torture devices. Very eerie.
I also got to see the crown jewels. So much sparkle in such a small space! There is a diamond on one of the crowns that is over 3,000 karats. That is one gem on a single crown, and there are close to a dozen crowns on display. Awe inspiring sparlklies. My favorite was Queen Victoria's small crown that she had made so she could wear it with her mourning veil after the death of Prince Albert. Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures of them but they crown jewels were well worth seeing!
From the Tower we made our way to King's Cross. Michaela and I were questing for a Harry Potter themed picture. They've actually created a little stretch of wall with half a cart stuck out of it and a Platform 9 and 3/4 sign overhead so that the great abundance of Harry Potter fans can fake a Hogwarts Express moment. It's so touristy but beyond worth it. We had so much fun and were absolutely giddy about our pictures.
We wandered about the city with Jess as our guide since she had visited London before. We ended up eating at a place called Little Frankie's in Trafalgar Square. One thing I will say about England in general is that the wait staff is never rushed; everything is leisurely. Don't expect your food to come to you quickly or your waiter for that matter. Not that it bothered us at the time. We'd been walking all over the place and were glad for a rest. When our food came we were thrilled by the American-Italian cuisine and the diner-like atmosphere. They even had Oldies playing overhead.
Eventually we left Little Frankie's and walked over to The Globe where we were meeting the rest of the people from our program. We got to cross the Millennium Bridge, which had beautiful views of London and the Thames. At The Globe we were lucky enough to be in the seats and not among the groundlings. The view was amazing from up high, and since I paid a pound for a seat cushion I was actually quite comfortable. This time around we saw All's Well that Ends Well and it was done in the classic Shakespeare style. It was definitely a contrast from The Merchant of Venice that we saw in Stratford. I enjoyed both plays though. It was nice to see a show done the way it would have been done in Shakespeare's day; there was even a traditional song and dance after the show. I've never seen All's Well that Ends Well before and I really enjoyed the production. There was definitely a lot of laughter. It was a great way to end the night.
Our Hostel in London
Now officially the program's London trip was only supposed to be for the day, but a group of ten of us got together and decided that we wanted to stay for the weekend. We booked a room at a hostel called The Steam Engine in central London. It took us forever to find the place after the show. I think it's fair to say that there were some cranky people as we trekked up and down the London streets searching for our hostel. But when we did find The Steam Engine we were thrilled. It was like being in summer camp with a 24 hour bar downstairs. The room we booked had four sets of triple bunk beds, and since we had the room to ourselves we had two extra beds to store our luggage on. We were usually up late laughing long into the night. The showers were awful though. The one in our room had no warm water and after one cold shower I decided it wouldn't be happening again. There were common showers too but those were usually full up. The downstairs common area was nice too with mismatched chairs and a jukebox. We had good fun playing songs late at night after coming back from our adventures. I'll admit, I was initially terrified about staying at a hostel but because of the people I was with I couldn't imagine it being a better time.
We woke up on the Saturday and split up into groups based on who wanted to see what. Britney, who had lived in London for four months on an earlier study abroad program, took up to Borough Market, a great open air place with all sorts of food options. I bought some iced tea, the first I've seen in England, and a croissant for breakfast ( I also bought a slice of cake but shhhhhh). Our group further split up at the market promising to meet up outside of Westminster Abbey at 5 p.m. to go to Evensong. Our group of Nathan, Megan, Lauren, Angel, Jordan, and myself took a quick trip to see the London Bridge, but then quickly headed over to The Tate museum of modern art. The Tate is actually right next to The Globe and the building itself was once a power plant.
Roberta Construction Chart #1 by Lynn Hershman Leeson
The photo is super blurry since I couldn't use a flash. Much better in real life.
We had so much fun at The Tate. Lauren, Jordan, and I were definitely more into the slow examination approach than the others. They ended up taking off for Buckingham Palace and our little group of three continued to explore The Tate for several hours. We got to see a Lichtenstein and Monet's Water Lillis. My favorite piece though was Roberta Construction Chart #1 by Lynn Hershman Leeson. The altered photograph showed a young woman's face diagramed with every layer of makeup she puts on to "create" herself. I thought it was a beautiful commentary on society's ideas of femininity and I really want to look into the artist and the rest of the series.
After The Tate, the three of us grabbed some coffee to give us a boost and then headed over to Oxford Circus to browse all the famous shops. I didn't buy anything but it was so much fun to look! I've actually been really well behaved during this trip in terms of shopping. The last time I went abroad I bought every little knick knack and locale related t-shirt I could get my hands on, but this trip I've been more reserved. I did pick up a London sweater and a few little gifts but I've been on my best behavior.
We maneuvered around the London Underground and were a tad late to Evensong but still being in Westminster Abbey was such a strange experience. I was surprised by how crowded with statuary the place was. I mean, I've always known there were tons of statues and memorials in Westminster but the place looked down right cluttered. Still the stained glass was beautiful and as the service went on I tried to imagine what it must feel like to be married in such a place. I couldn't manage to wrap my head around it. Everywhere you looked there was intricate detail. Beautiful. Cluttered as all get out but beautiful.
A few of us went out to a nice restaurant near Baker Street after Evensong. More Italian. If we're not eating American in our free time we're eating Italian. It's the most prevalent foreign form of cuisine in England in my estimation, which suits me just fine because I love it! Again, I don't want any judgment from you all because they are serving us traditional English dinners five nights a week. Trust me I'm experiencing English food in all its glory...there might be some sarcasm there. After dinner all ten of us met up and decided to go out to one of Britney's old haunts, a pub called The Rocket. We didn't stay long because most of us were exhausted and we ended up back at the hostel.
Our Signature On Abbey Road
Sunday our group splintered off early after checking out of the hostel at ten-thirty. Several people returned to Cambridge but I stayed with Erin, Megan, Nathan, and Lauren to do some more exploring. The big trip of the day was to Abbey Road. Lauren and Erin were hell bent on recreating the famous picture of The Beatles walking across Abbey Road. It took us a few tries and a few bungled shots due to excessive laughter and excitement, but we finally got it. Since there were five of us we rotated the group so everyone could be in the shot at least once. The residents were remarkably understanding of the constant flux of people carefully walking across the street just so. The best part was we signed the retaining wall outside of Abbey Road Studios. Hundreds and hundreds of people have come here and signed their names, some with messages of peace others with Beatles lyrics and still more simply write their names. We found a small patch of unmarked wall space and wrote "Come Together" and signed our names under it. It's going to sound corny but that is really what this trip has all been about. I have bonded with these people so quickly that we all feel as though we've known each other for years. It's a great feeling and that sense of connectivity was strong for the five of us at Abbey Road.
We didn't stay too terribly long after we got our shots and signed the wall. We were trying to get back to Cambridge by dinner at six thirty so we quickly headed off to our next stop, 221 Baker Street. The great thing about being with a bunch of English nerds is that we all get excited about literary figures and memorials. We quickly perused the Sherlock Holmes museum and tried on plaid caps and pipes in the gift shop. I found a Sherlock Holmes rubber duck. Words cannot describe how pleased this makes me. Naturally he'll be returning home with me.
After Baker Street we went to Buckingham Palace so I could snap some pictures. We were there for maybe fifteen minutes before moving on because of the time constraints. I would have liked to see Kate Middleton's dress since it's currently on display, but it just wasn't in the cards. Sigh. We ended up having a late lunch at Little Frankie's again. Such good food but it took forever!
We then raced back to the hostel to collect our baggage, which we had stored in their luggage room. We stopped again by the makeshift Platform 9 and 3/4 so Erin and Megan could take their pictures, then we boarded the train to return to Cambridge. I am completely and utterly exhausted. My feet are absolutely killing me after running around London for what feels like three days straight. But it was absolutely worth it! There is so much more to this story but I hope that you've enjoyed the nutshell version! I hope one day I can return to London to continue the exploration that has only just begun.
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