London - there and back again

This trip, by far, has been the highlight of my time in Europe. The richness of the culture and history was overwhelming, the company and fellowship were fufilling, and the break and change were relaxing.

Friday night we (6 female BFA teachers) arrived in London at 8:30 after taking a bus from the airport to the city. We decided to walk the 45 minutes to our hostel instead of purchasing a Tube ticket for only one ride. We began to discover and uncover London as we walked around, taking our time, and enjoying the cool night air. Heidi had lent us a very helpful map booklet guide of London which I utilized most of the trip. After a while, we decided to look for a place to eat. We stopped in one pub called "The Royal George" and were told that they stopped serving food after 3 because people only want to drink after that time on a Friday. We asked if there were anyplace else to eat, and he said there was only one place left still serving food. After giving us directions to "The Rocket", he said, "You'll hear it before you come to it." Boy, was he right.

The Rocket ended up being a young adult club, fitting the definition of "bar/club" perfectly. After making it through the bouncer at the door, we shuffled around trying to find a table, which some guys gave up to us, but at the cost of talking us through our whole meal. They were pretty jovial, so we kept them preoccupied with giving us directions and tourist tips to every place in London we could think of while finishing up and preparing to leave. The funniest part was when one of the guys, after trying to get us to drink some ritual liquor shot with him, said, "You may all be teachers, but there's going to be a lot of learning going on tonight." We disapointed him by leaving "early" and gladly re-entered the fresh night air, but laughed together over the experience and some of the funny comments that had been made. After finishing our walk to the hostel, we were surprised to see open restaurants (including pizza hut and mcdonalds) everywhere!! Looking back on it, I think the gentleman at "The Royal George" thought we were asking him if there were any clubs open that were still serving food. We unintentionally asked him to refer us to The Rocket club! lol!

We arrived at the Clink, our hostel, around 10:30, and were not as pleased with it as we had hoped. They ended up charging us more than they had advertised (what could we do but pay?) and upon entering our room, found 3 of the 8 beds contained sleeping men. (Online we had reserved an all-female room). We felt pretty safe the whole trip since we were traveling in such a large group and never went anywhere alone, but I was mad that the hostel had deceived us twice.

Saturday morning was our busy day! I can't believe we saw as much as we did. At 8, we met up with my friend, Scott, from St. Louis, who is interning at the American embassy there. We were indebted to his company that day as he was an excellent tour guide and got us around the city much quicker than we ever could have done alone. We saw Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Covent Garden, Trafalger Square, the Globe, St. Paul's Cathedral (we stayed for the evensong - a sung service - and quite enjoyed the experience both culturally and spiritually), Buckingham Palace, and a few more things. My favorite, by far was Westminster Abbey. Some of our group decided to pay the 12 pounds to go in and take the audio self-guided, 90 min. tour. Best decision I made the whole trip. I'm pretty sure I walked around with my mouth hanging open the whole time. I saw where Queen Elizabeth, Mary Queen of Scots, Bloody Mary, and many more monarchs were buried. Incredible! When I entered the Poet's Corner (something I've wanted to see my entire life) and stopped and had to stand still for a few moments to take it all in. I've never been in the presence of so many famous and influential author, poets, and musicians in my life. I was so happy! Here is a picture of only the front part of the Abbey - it is huge!

After evensong that evening, we all went to Starbucks to rest up and change for the Phantom of the Opera. This was my second favorite part of London. The show was incredible to see! The music, acting, tech team, and environment swept us up into the story. Prior to, we were afraid we'd be too tired to enjoy it, but we couldn't avert our eyes from the stage, even if we had wanted to. I haven't been to many plays, musicals, classical concerts, or ballets, but I'm growing to love them the more I see them.

On Sunday we nearly missed our bus to the airport and walked for 45 minutes in the pouring rain so that we were soaked for the rest of the day, but still quite enjoyed ourselves. On our way to the airport, we were thrilled to stop at King's Cross Station and take pictures at Platform 9 3/4. For those who don't know - this is the famous port from Harry Potter where he magically leaves the "muggle" world to go to Hogsworth, the school of wizardry - and we were actually there!

One scary (now funny) part of the trip for me was when I lost my tube day pass on Saturday evening. To enter and exit the Tube, you have to scan your ticket into a machine that allows you to enter the underground. The little doors only open for a few seconds to let an individual through. Although I had paid for the whole day, I didn't have my ticket anymore to prove it, and had to jump in really quickly behind Scott each time, pretending I was scanning my ticket. Most of the Tube entrances/exits have "guards" watching the little stalls to make sure no one sneaks through. I ended up having to "sneak through" 6 times and was absolutely terrified of getting caught. I found out only later that the penalties for entering and exiting without a ticket are pretty steep. One time, I didn't quite get through quick enough and my backpack got caught in the doors. I yanked it free and kept walking as quickly as possible, only to hear the sirens on the entrance I had just entered start going off behind me. I just kept walking and was grateful to get lost in the crowd. Another time, we were at a much less crowded station and I nervously eyed the guard standing 10 feet away looking at his cell phone. I edged close to Scott ready to bolt through only to discover that his card suddenly wouldn't work. He had to eventually call the guard over to help! I quickly ducked to the back of the group and got in with Julie, so thankful that the guard went back to his phone instead of watching the rest of us go through. This whole experience completely ruined the Tube experience for me; I never want to get on the Tube again and am terrified of it!

Overall I loved the experience and culture and need many more days of London to get my fill (I'll just have to go back)! I have many more incidentally funny stories that I don't have the time or space to write including fighting the Grim Reaper and winning (it was Halloween weekend), misunderstanding British phrases that led to comical situations, and squeezing 6 girls into a red telephone booth, to name a few. I was very glad, also, to speak and understand what was being spoken again! Though, I've discovered since living with the Formans and going to England that British and American are more different than I thought. :)

A garden for monks in Westminster Abbey