DAY ONE.
We left campus at 6:30 am on Friday and flew out of Shannon
airport around 9. We finally got settled into our hotel around 2 and then had
some time to explore. We decided to use that time to go shopping at a huge
Primark store. Primark is the UK version of Penney’s, which is a wonderful magical
store with cheap, awesome clothing. On our way there we stumbled across a
Starbucks and to my delight they had Pumpkin Spice Lattes!! For those of you
who don’t know, I adore pumpkin flavored things, particularly ice cream, lattes
and muffins. And this lovely green country does not HAVE pumpkin flavored
things. But London does! Which means I had three pumpkin lattes last weekend. I
would have had more, but money ran out.
After Primark we headed back to the
hotel, where we met up with a tour guide for a walking tour of London. In
classic London fashion it soon started raining and being very, very cold. When
we were all thoroughly soaked to the bone our tour guide delivered us to the Criterion
Theater on the West End to see The 39 Steps. Funny story…I saw the same show
when I went to London with Mom and Dad three years ago. It was just as funny
the second time as it was the first. If any of you are jetting off to London
any time soon I highly recommend seeing this show. Although, if you are a
Phantom of the Opera fan, see Love Never Dies instead. My wonderful father took
us to see it last time and it was magnificent. After the theater (and a yummy
ice cream at intermission) we had a yummy dinner at a restaurant called Spaghetti
House. Then we retired to our house, absolutely exhausted.
DAY TWO.
We started off day two with a delightful breakfast at our
hotel (and stuffed our bags with stolen croissants). Then off to the Tower of
London, by way of a boat ride on the River Thames! After wandering around for a
bit, and being amazed by the ravens that live there, we got in line to see the
Crown Jewels. They were breathtaking. So many riches in one place. The best
part, in my opinion was the crowns themselves. I do wish I had a crown. It
would add so much class to my usual attire of jeans and flannel. I also
appreciated the GINORMOUS gold punch bowl. You would need liters of alcohol to
even slightly spike that punch.
The Crown Jewels took longer than expected, and
we were left with very little time to see the exhibit I really wanted to see…The
Wild Beasts! In the olden days, the Tower of London was home to the king’s
menagerie of wild pets, including a polar bear that they would tie a rope to
and allow to swim in the Thames. Those were the good ol’ days. Anyways, we were
having a lot of trouble finding the Wild Beast exhibit. The route on the map
was not making sense and we were running out of time. So we asked a friendly Beefeater
how to get there and he told us to go up a staircase marked “No Entry.” So we
did. REBELS. And we found it. And it was lovely.
After the Tower of London we headed to King’s Cross Station
so that the Harry Potter fans among us could take our classic Platform 9 ¾ picture.
I donned a Slytherin scarf, grabbed the handle of my trolley cart and sped
through the wall and onto the Hogwarts Express. So just kidding. Missed the
train. Too bad. The Slytherin Quidditch team will have to struggle on without
me this semester. HA. Like I would be a Quidditch player.
But enough about my botched attempts at getting to Hogwarts.
Next stop was The British Museum. On our way there we found a man on the street
selling beautiful little prints of London scenery, which I happily spent 10
pounds sterling on. Then we found a phone booth and took classic phone booth
shots. We didn’t stay at the museum long, but it was interesting. Lots of
museum-y things. The Rosetta stone, which was cool. And the Code of Hammurabi, which
is the origin of “an eye for an eye.”
After that we headed to the National Gallery, located on the
famous Trafalgar Square. The National Gallery is full of paintings. Which were
lovely and interesting but were not really capturing my attention. With the
exception of the Van Goghs, which I loved. After about 45 minutes at the
British Museum I decided to take a trip to Paddington Station in the hopes of
finding a stuffed Paddington Bear, a flashback from my childhood. Stephanie and
I then spent an hour rushing back and forth to Paddington Station where we
found not only a statue of Paddington Bear, but an ENTIRE STORE devoted to him.
Which it was practically heaven and I would have loved to stick around I only
had the time to grab a classic Paddington, pay loads of money for it and head
back to the National Gallery.
After meeting up with our friends again we headed
back to the hotel. Four of us decided to hit Yo! Sushi for dinner. For those of
you who have seen Johnny English, it’s the same sushi place that was featured
in that film, just a different location. For those of you who HAVENT seen
Johnny English, go watch it. Right now. It’s hilarious and you will not regret
it.
After dinner we went to the one of the most popular tourist spots in
London, the London Eye. It was a once in a life time experience, one that was definitely
worth the money. It’s a half hour ride and you can see for miles. Mysteriously,
there is ONE red car, when all the others are white. I wished and wished that
we would get on the red car, but sadly we missed it by only TWO CARS. C’est la
vie.
Later that night, Katrina, Steph, Emmy, Conor and I went to a bar
which resides on a boat floating in the Thames. It was very lovely. Then back to
our hotel for another well earned night of sleep. Did I mention that I could
see the London Eye from my window? What a way to fall asleep.
DAY THREE.
Last day in London, so we had lots to fit in. First stop was
Buckingham Palace, where we waited for an hour and half in the rain only to
have the changing of the guards be cancelled on us at the last minute. Luckily
they still did a “wet change,” which thankfully is not as gross as it sounds.
It just means that they change the guard without all of the fanfare of the
parade and music and such. So it was still neat to see, but nothing compared to
the real deal. And it made me nostalgic for my days in the Liberty Band.
Then we headed to Harrod’s. Shockingly, only Steph and
myself had ever even HEARD of Harrod’s. Apparently, my life is a lot more
interesting than I thought it was. I don’t really remember a time when I DIDN’T
know what Harrod’s was. Weird. My family is just very travel-y I suppose.
After being rightly impressed by Harrod’s we visited yet
another museum. London has many, many museums. This one was the Victoria and
Albert Museum, which was my personal favorite. Unlike the other museums we
visited, which have mostly just your typical museum things, the V&A has
rooms and rooms full of fascinating things. There is an entire hallway of
ironwork. It was like fence heaven. I was in the zone. Of course, I spent a lot
of time searching for The Frank Lloyd Wright study, which it turns out moved 8
years ago and is now in storage somewhere. So that was slightly disappointing. But
I did also stumble upon the jewelry room, which was chock full of incredible
jewels and other jewelry, all in beautiful glass display cases. The thing I
love most about the V&A wasn’t just the contents, but the way they had it
all set up and displayed. I could have wandered around there for hours, and
never see it all. But alas, I did not have the time for such luxury. There was
one more place we had to see before leaving that awesome city and that was…
The Globe Theatre! Though I wish we would have been able to
see a show at the Globe (especially since they were showing MacBeth) we didn’t
have an extra night in the city to do so. And since you can’t get in to the theater
if you’re not seeing a show or on a tour (Which was expensive), we just got to
see the outside and the gift shop, where I got an “Alas Poor Yorick” pin,
repping my love for Hamlet.
Then it was back to the hotel to catch our bus to the
airport! And so ended our wonderful trip to London.
It’s funny, because as much as I loved London I couldn’t
wait to get home to my cozy little room in Limerick. It’s amazing how quickly a
place can start to feel like home.
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