So this weekend, despite my overwhelming exhaustion from balancing a fresh load of homework, my social life, and spending time with my parents while they were here (which was molto bene!), Emily and I lept across the English Channel for a visit to jolly old London. Having no idea what to expect besides Big Ben, double-decker buses, fish and chips, and a whole lot of bloody brilliants, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I adored the city ... even if I had to stop converting pounds to euros and then to dollars in my head because it was starting to give me a migraine.
So Emily and I arrived on Friday afternoon to find it, GASP, 18 degree (68 F for all you non-Europeans out there) with sunny skies and a light breeze. Couldn't have been more thrilled, honestly. Then we navigated the bus system, met up with Em's two best friends who have been studying and living in Camden town since first semester, and proceeded to go out for our first afternoon pint. Yum.
From there, the weekend became one big blur of sightseeing, rides on the tube, museum hopping, and bargain eating.
On Saturday morning, everyone wanted to sleep in. Everyone, of course, besides yours truly. So I got up bright and early, and traveled across the city on my own in order to partake in a three-hour free tour of "Monumental London." In short, it was fabulous. Not only did I get to choose my price for the tour, but my guide, Dave, was ... well... brilliant!
He was unlike any other tour guide I've had because instead of giving us all the boring historical info as if straight from a textbook, he told us stories about real people who'd lived, worked, and died in the various sites we stopped to see. I found out that the famous Irish daredevil Thomas Blood was actually rewarded by the King of England for stealing the crown jewels because, some say, that the king was actually behind it all! I learned that the bridge which you see behind me in the picture above, is NOT London Bridge but Tower Bridge... a very big and very American misconception. I also found out that a bomb landed on top of St Paul's Cathedral during the Blitz but, miraculously, did not go off and that the area called "Temple" (after the Knights Templar, for all you Dan Brown fans) is actually a city within a city within a city. Who knew! Anyway, it was a great start to what turned out to be a lovely day.
Here is the view from the Millennium Bridge at night, looking out over the Thames.
And here I am at the Tate Modern "falling" into Salcedo's £300,000 work of art. The huge crack, 548 feet long and three feet deep in places of the concrete floor, is said to represent the "experience of a Third World person coming into the heart of Europe." I didn't think I was going to be impressed, but I most certainly was. Plus it was fun to play around for a little while...
As an English major and an avid reader, seeing this sight, the reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe Theater, was a magical moment. If we had been around in the summer, this building would be hosting shows just like those of Shakespeare's time for the public... but after coming this far it was certainly enough just to see the building.
And here is my favorite shot, taken from the square in front of the Tate. It shows the Millennium Bridge and the dome of St Paul's, both illuminated from below. This picture, more than any of the others, just made me think of how lucky I was to be in London in the first place. I mean, this is a city that has survived more than its fair share of rampant fires, plague, war, and royal mad hatters over the centuries. And yet each time it's literally grown up out of the ashes, providing tourists like myself with a rich history, an astounding amount of entertainment, and one breathtaking skyline.