London Blog II and a half

Oh, I forgot to mention the fulfillment of one of my dreams the other day when I went out walking around the town around sunset. Being in a musical mindset, I put on my headphones and took the tube into the middle of the city and emerged into Piccadilly Circus while listening to “Good Life” by OneRepublic. The sheer awesomeness of that moment cannot be sufficiently described by any words I could type here, but trust me when I say I can’t think of many more experiences that elicit such a strong “yeah, that just happened” than that. Anyway, I couldn’t bring myself not to share that with you as it may or may not mark the greatest moment in my life thus far.

London Blog II

So normally I don’t consider myself a Ferris wheel fanatic, but yesterday I found myself riding the largest one in the Western hemisphere. From the top of the London Eye you can see for miles over the sprawl and architectural tumult that is the London skyline, though it is quite different from what you might expect of a big city view. Rather than spire after spire of skyscrapers, London only offers a precious few structures that venture above the relative flat line of the city including Big Ben, the Shard, and the giant pickle (or the Gherkin for anyone who wants to be politically correct). And while the trip was not necessarily adrenaline-pumping, taking 30 minutes to make one revolution, I realized that it was that first time on the trip that I had really been able to take in the city as one entity. On foot, you get to see one attraction here, another historic building there, but it is rarely that you can find a vantage point in this city were you can just sit back and take it all (or at least a lot of it) in. Afterwards my compadres and I paid a visit to the ice cream man hanging out in his truck down below, and I have to say that it was some high quality stuff; it even had the chocolate stick stuck in it and everything.

            The next day would prove to be another quest for a lookout point, this time taking the form of a hike to the top of Primrose Hill just outside of Regent’s Park. While not quite as expansive as the Eye’s view, Primrose was still a really nice place to kick back, read, and enjoy the view of the park below. The best part of the afternoon, though, had to be the two little British girls running around on top of the hill shouting at one another, sounding more intelligent and refined than me on my best days. I think whenever I have kids I’ll raise them to speak with an English accent because I feel like it will help them get farther in life in nearly every way.

            For all of you book lovers out there, I spent most of this morning wandering around little out of the way bookshops that were chalk full of literary gold. Unfortunately, many of the things I found carried the corresponding price tag as well. For instance, I found early (possibly first?) editions of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer in a bookshop window, with each of them carrying a price of 650 pounds. Similarly, an early edition of The Fellowship of the Ring was sitting pretty at 450 pounds. The winner for the day, however, was a first edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Carroll Lewis which rang in at a healthy 7500 pounds. The fact that I was even able to touch this book is an accomplishment all its own in my mind. So no Alice or Wonderland for me today, but it was still pretty amazing to see nonetheless.

London Blog I

When we touched down at Heathrow airport a week ago today, the travel tracker on the screen in front of me read just over 4200 miles from flight origin. Without much competition, that number confirmed that this was the farthest from home that I’ve ever been. While waiting for our luggage at the baggage claim, my trip quickly became lucrative when I was paid 10 pounds for lifting a lady’s bags off the carousel for her. I hoped this would become a trend, but sadly it has not. After waiting for a time that seemed equivalent to our recent journey over the ocean, we finally got our bags and proceeded to subject ourselves to the questionings of British border guards. After convincing them that my most malicious intentions were to drink all of their tea and take pictures of all their buildings, they let me through. From there, we hopped on a train and a short time later were faced with the daunting task of navigating the English tube system with what now felt like exorbitantly large bags. I wouldn’t say I stuck out like a sore thumb…I would say I stuck out like a thumb that had been pounded repeatedly sand mercilessly by a sledgehammer. There is no feeling quite like being thrust into a fast-paced situation in which you are completely ignorant of what you are supposed to do but are expected by everyone present to be an expert. Luckily, we all survived and made the final hike to the place that will serves as both home and school for the duration of our time here: Regent’s College.

            Located in the middle of Regent’s Park, Regent’s College is a unique place to stay because of its immediate scenic surroundings and its proximity to downtown London. The park is actually under the care of the Queen herself, but I am disappointed to say I have yet to see her out trimming the bushes or pulling weeds, but I’m sure I will eventually. The grounds really are beautiful though; from the ponds, trails, and hordes of ducks, there is always something to draw your attention. Just a five minute walk away, however, is Baker Street and the nearest tube station, and this makes it very convenient to go nearly anywhere in the city.

            I took advantage of our strategic location on the second day of the trip when I took a short ride to Piccadilly Circus. Walking up from the Underground, I had my first “BOOM, you’re in London” moment. Something like a smaller version of Times Square, Piccadilly is a huge open area with a fountain, LED displays, and so many buildings that you feel sure have to have some historical significance. It was like someone had thrown history and modernity into a blender and poured the result all over this place. What got me though was the sheer magnitude of the open space. I don’t know how to really explain it, but I just got the sense that everything got bigger as soon as I stepped into the square. I would get a similar sensation the next day when I visited Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. Of course I took my obligatory pictures with the giant lions and got to see the Olympic clock counting down the seconds to the Games, but one of the coolest things I did while at Trafalgar’s was stand on the front balcony of the National Gallery and look out over the city. From that vantage point I could see the entire square as well as Big Ben and Westminster Abbey far in background. It’s hard to remember sometimes that so many historic and iconic things are so close together here.

            Not long afterwards I made my rounds to see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the London Eye all along the Thames. I didn’t get to go into any of the places I just mentioned, but I plan to remedy that at some point while I’m here. I also visited Buckingham Palace which was thronged with people when we got there. Turns out the Queen was throwing a garden party that day, so all of her guests were standing outside the gates with their hats and waistcoats looking very proper waiting to be let in. After unsuccessful attempts to convince the guards that I was, in fact, Prince Harry and needed to be let in, I moved on. Construction was going on in that area in preparation of the Games, so I can now officially say I’ve been in an area where the Olympics will be held.

            At the start of this past weekend, we took an excursion to the Museum of London to view the Dickens exhibit that they have up in honor of his 200^th birthday. I got to see a lot of original manuscripts and learned a lot about the man’s life, but by far the best moment was when I got stand just a few feet away from the desk and chair in which he wrote Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities among other stories. I couldn’t believe that I was close enough to touch the piece of furniture that was used by one of the greatest writers of all time to write some of the most respected stories in the English language. It was hallowed ground for me. Sadly, I could not take any pictures while in the exhibit, so I guess you’re just going to have to trust me that I actually did see it. I did, however, get to take pictures when we took a trip to Gad’s Hill, the house in which Dickens spent the last 14 years of his life. This was perhaps even more surreal than seeing the desk because now I was standing in some of the very same places that Dickens stood and was looking out the same window he would have looked at while writing in his study. I even got to have tea on his back porch.

            The day before Gad’s Hill, we went to Bath and saw, you guessed it, the Roman Baths. The city of Bath itself is so quaint and interesting; I could have been content to simply wander the streets all day if I could. Singers, musicians, and even fire jugglers seemed to stand in every open space or around every corner. They were incredibly talented too. I was lucky enough to be one of three people handed a torch by the fire performer and asked to throw it at him to start the show. It was by far the most nervous I had been about killing someone since I’ve been here. After avoiding manslaughter, I began the tour of the Baths themselves. I usually don’t associate Britain and the Romans, so it was interesting seeing how the two cultures and histories intermingled and affected one another. At the end of the tour we were able to take a drink from the very springs that feed the Baths, so I’m happy to report that I will now live forever. I celebrated the occasion by eating an entire pizza by myself at The Real Italian Restaurant down the street. It was glorious. Soon after, a group of us took on the challenge of trekking up a very formidable hill to get a view of the whole city, and though we almost lost some of our companions to dehydration and foot fatigue, we made it. We enjoyed the absolutely breathtaking view from the lawn behind a pub which was nice enough to give cool glasses of water to us weary travelers. With the cool breeze, blue sky, and city down below, I’m not sure any of us wanted to leave that place.

            And finally, the last excursion I have to tell you about up to this point is the trip we took to Hampton Court Palace. While this place served the purposes of many monarchs, perhaps the most famous resident was Henry VIII. To say the place was massive is a gross understatement. From the front I was thinking “Ok, this doesn’t look that impressive,” but after spending and entire day on the grounds I still had not been able to see everything there was to see. I did, however, get to see the gardens in the back and I now have a solid picture of what I want my yard to look like when I get a house of my own. Once again, I was struck by the thought of how I was walking the same halls as the likes of Henry the VIII and Edward II. It’s sometimes strange to try and imagine the people we always see as paintings or photos in a European history textbooks as flesh and blood individuals walking around in the physical world, but seeing where they lived definitely brought the idea closer to home. Actors roamed about the halls dressed in historical costumes and would carry on conversations like we weren’t there, creating the sense that we were really in the midst of a king’s court.

            If you have kept reading this far, I congratulate you on your truly admirable perseverance. I did not realize how long this was going to be when I first started writing it, and I will try to post on this blog on a more consistent basis so as to avoid these marathons. So until next time, cheers from London.