I went with three other girls from my program to London and Ireland for the break, and since we went to two different countries, I'm going to split the posts up. This post will be all about London!
We arrived in the morning at an airport outside of the city and took a bus to Victoria Station where our hotel was. After about 10 minutes in the bus, one of my traveling companions alerted us all to the fact that we were driving on the opposite side of the road and I nearly had a heart attack! Before having it pointed out, I hadn't even noticed, but once I was aware, I became very nervous! I watched cars turning into the right lane and thought they were about to turn into our lane! We went around round-abouts to the left! It was crazy-dissorienting. When we exited the bus and thanked the driver, I was pleased to hear the response: "You're very welcome, love." You see, I had a major expectation coming in that every English person would refer to me as "love", and while not everyone called me that, I was thrilled that one of the first people I did talk to lived up to my expectation.
And then of course there was the issue of walking around the city (which we did a lot of) and having to cross the road. Luckily for us tourists, the English have kindly painted onto the road which direction you should look at a crosswalk.
Without these indicators, many tourists would be dead.
On our first day we visited Buckingham Palace, Harrods, and Hyde Park. The weather was beautiful and I will forever doubt England's rainy reputation on account of the luck we had with weather while we were there. Things that I noted my first day in London that I immediately loved about the city:
1. It has a very small town look and feel, which makes it a very relaxed place, despite actually being rather large.
2. People dressed however they wanted to, and not everyone was approximately the same weight (unlike Paris).
3. I saw more covered Muslim women in London than I have ever seen in my entire life. Also, lots of Indian women wearing saris. It was a huge relief to see such diversity after being in such a white-bread city like Paris, and even after living in America my whole life. In the US, I haven't been unexposed to diversity, just never this level of acceptance--in America, you can be from all over, but you generally tone down your native dress, habits, etc. Especially when it comes to religious dress, and particularly if you are Muslim. Paris doesn't tolerate any visible religious expression in public because they think it will cause social problems. Americans don't tolerate it because we are afraid of these people. In both instances there is an unhealthy amount of ignorance and unwillingness to understand "the other" at work. In the few days that I was in London, it seemed to me that the English have figured out how to live with this religious and cultural diversity, and everyone was perfectly happy, relaxed, and friendly! I'm sure there is plenty of tension under the surface that I wasn't aware of, but that's the key: I wasn't aware of it. Co-existance can work--it can be done!
We ate at an excellent Lebanese restaurant that night and retired early in order to get up early on Saturday. For our second day we visited Big Ben and Parliament, Westminster Abbey (the site of the highly anticipated and highly gimmicked Royal Wedding) , South Bank, Fleet Street (as in "This is the tale of Sweeny Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street!"), St. Paul's (Protestant) Cathedral, and the Tate Modern. On our way to the Tate Modern we stopped at Somerset House along the Thames where we ate our carry-out Thai (still haven't found better Thai food than at Thai Place in DC). After our lunch on the terrace, we stopped by the Twinings Tea shop in The Temple area were I proceeded to purchase the Royal Wedding blend (how could I not??), Camomile & Spearmint tea, and Pure Peppermint tea. I'm a fan of the minty teas. We got to the Tate Modern by crossing the Millennium Bridge. That's the bridge that the Death Eaters destroy in one of the Harry Potter movies :) Also next to the Tate is Shakespeare's Globe Theater!!!! We didn't go in on account of the excessive entrance fee, but I gazed longingly for a sufficient amount of time before entering the free Tate Modern. I enjoyed the Tate more than my visit to the Centre Pompidou in Paris. This difference in opinion on these museums might be aided by the lack of an obnoxious tour guide on my visit to the Tate. Also the cool and free video message sender in the Tate helps :) I sent a message to my parents to let them know I was alive and well before leaving to eat dinner at an excellent and cheap Italian restaurant near our hotel.
Parliament
Westminster Abbey
Big Ben!
The London Eye, Big Ben, and Parliament
The Globe!
Millennium Bridge
That brings us to Sunday--the day of our great pilgrimage to Abbey Road! On the way we stopped at Wimpole Street (My Fair Lady anyone?) where I geeked out for a few minutes before moving on to the Sherlock Holmes museum on Baker Street.
I have often walked on this street before
but the pavement always stayed beneath my feet before!
When we finally arrived at Abbey Road, took pictures of the studio, and watched other tourists try to achieve a "Beatles-walking-across-the-road" picture for a while, we decided that we didn't want to die simply trying to get a picture taken, and left sans Abbey Road picture. I did take a picture of myself as I walked across though!
Treacherous crossing!
Abbey Road Studios
My version of an Abbey Road walking picture.
There were lulls, but they were few and far between.
That night we ate Indian food and had ourselves a little party in the hotel room with mini-wines from the local convenience store. Relaxing way to end a day of extreme walking (Abbey Road is faaaaar).
Monday was our final day in London town, and I took myself on over to the Tower of London while the other girls went shopping. The Tower was by far the coolest thing I visited in London. It was so full of things to see!!!! And therefore well worth the 15 pound entrance fee. I got there an hour before opening, so I took that opportunity to walk over the Tower Bridge and take tons of photos. Once inside the Tower of London, I visited the Crown Jewels in the Jewel House, the Armory in White Tower (complete with Prince William's polo helmet and knee pads...), the Bloody Tower, Wakefield Tower, Beauchamp Tower (where the prisoners of distinction where held), and the site of the scaffold where many people were beheaded. It was a lot for one morning, but it was all fascinating. I could have spent all day there, but had to get back to the hotel to grab our stuff and head off to the airport. Next stop: Cork, Ireland!
The Tower of London
Tower Bridge
The Jewel House
Site of the scaffold
View out of the Beauchamp Tower
The Tube
January-March is the rainy season - you lucked out! If I had known you were going to Harrods I would have sent you across the street to eat sushi! There used to be a really cool sushi place there.
RépondreSupprimerWe actually looked for a sushi place the whole time we were in London, but never found one when we were hungry for it haha!
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