London

This trip started as they all do…..with terrorist attack warnings. France had suggested that its citizens not go to London. If they had to, they should stay away from tourist areas. Good to know.

Upon my arrival in at King's Cross, I went to the British Library. In the centre of the library is a giant glass-encased bookshelf known as the King's Library. In it you can find all kinds of old volumes of value; atlases, dictionaries, literature, etc. I visited the special exhibit with some of the oldest editions of various books. There were several Qur'ans, as well as pages from early editions of Greek bibles. One of the first ever printed books from China can be found here as well as Jane Austen's hand-written "History of England" which she wrote when she was sixteen. You can find books from all of the different cultures and religions in this room. This includes the napkin that the Beatles wrote some of their initial lyrics on and the step by step written developments that became the different versions of the renowned Alice in Wonderland.

I got to meet my Scottish companion (friend from Queen's) at King's Cross although we weren't able to meet at Platform 9 ¾ as planned because of construction. If you need to ask where Platform 9 3/4 is, you should probably start reading a little more, or learn how to count. From here we began our two day London sprint.

We got our metro passes and headed on the underground to the Tower of London and London Bridge.

 

We headed to Picadilly Circus for dinner in search of Fish and Chips which we found in great abundance and walked around Trafalgar Square.

Saturday we got up and headed on a three hours walking tour of London. This is the second time that I had taken one of these tours that are offered all over Europe. They are free, and you tip the tour guide however much you deem appropriate. Of course we saw Buckingham Palace and heard about the one drunken guy who was able to break in. We saw the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square (this time learning about the pigeon contraception), Nelson's Column, 10 Downing St., and Big Ben (which is the bell not the clock)…….the whole nine yards. In the afternoon, we headed up to Notting Hill in the hopes of seeing Hugh Grant – he wasn't there. But, we got to go through the Portobello Market which is so long we couldn't get through the whole thing. We saw all kinds of clothes, trinkets, and junk. We then started to walk through the neighbourhood to find ourselves a cup of tea. It is absolutely gorgeous there and I decided that I would live on Orchard Gardens Rd.

    

Saturday night we returned to Picadilly Circus in the hopes of seeing a show while in London. Unfortunately we arrived too late and most tickets were booked up. We found ourselves on the steps of the play "Deathtrap" featuring Jonathan Groff (lead in Tony Award Winning Spring Awakening, Glee) and 5 minutes later had prime seats at student price. This was a very odd play within a play and we have never asked ourselves so many times "where is this going". But, we got to see a play in London, England.

Sunday morning we took the train out to Greenwich. We walked through the Naval Academy and up to the Meridian Time clock. There was a museum filled with lots, and lots of clocks as they evolved. The park was beautiful and we returned to the market to find something to eat. They have cuisine from all over the world, anything from curry, to perogies, to spring rolls and crepes. You can get set lunches for 5 pounds – not a bad deal.

The afternoon, we returned to London to Harrod's, one of the biggest stores I have ever seen with everything imaginable and all of the most elite clothing, jewelry and accessory brands. They had delis and candy stores, absolutely everything. This was the perfect opportunity to pick up some tea. English Breakfast. Check. Afternoon Blend. Check. Earl Grey. Check. Outside were also the most Mercedes, BMWs, Range Rovers, Aston Martins and Porsches I have ever seen in one place. The next stop was the British Museum where unfortunately we were only able to spend an hour and a half before it closed. We were able to see the Rosetta Stone, its copy, a bunch of pottery as well as some of the traditional ancient Egyptian mummification artifacts. We ended our weekend in London with a stroll through Hyde Park where they still have Canadian geese.

 

We arrived safe and sound at home. We only saw one protester with a peace flag in Trafalgar Square over our three days in London. I would however like to add that my train to Louvain-la-Neuve from Brussels was delayed because of protestors.