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| Shakespeare's Globe Theater |
Our trip to London was awesome... and exhausting! So exhausting, in fact, that it has taken a while for us to gear up for the blog post summarizing our activities and going through our photos. Given our nerdy backgrounds of history major and English major, there really was no end of things we wanted to see and do in London. From visiting London at the beginning of my study abroad in college, I knew how much I already loved the city (and the accents, and the royalty factor, and the polite and dignified way that most everything is done in London, and now - the upcoming royal wedding!! I think one of us was a bit more excited about this last feature than the other) and couldn't wait to tour it with Colin. With only four days and New Years Eve in the midst to celebrate, we jam-packed as much as we could see in our limited time!
We hopped a Ryan Air flight to London, arriving early in the morning, and immediately ran off to the National Gallery to check out some of the most noteworthy paintings. Then we rushed to Hyde Park Corner and the Wellington Arch to meet up with a Sandeman's tour. Our tour guide took us around to all the must-see royal sites in London and gave us a good inside scoop on some interesting facts.... how to tell when the Queen is home at Buckingham Palace, where St. James Palace is, the fate of Admiral Nelson (of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square... he died at sea, was pickled in a barrel of rum, which was later drank by crazy sailors...!), where beach volleyball will be played at the 2012 Olympics, and the gory details of the Gunpowder Plot, etc etc. It was an earful, but very entertaining.
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| Buckingham Palace... the Queen wasn't home all week |
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In the Guard's booth at St. James Palace;
the Guards aren't there if the Queen isn't in London |
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St. James Palace
(and site of royal engagement photo session) |
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Site of 2012 Olympics Beach Volleyball
with the London Eye in the background |
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| Trafalgar Square |
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| Big Ben! |
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| Colin riding The Tube like a pro |
On our second day, we checked out the Tower of London, enjoying a tour by one of the local "Beefeaters", and checking out the chapel where Anne Boleyn and Thomas More were buried. I loved viewing the Crown Jewels... probably could have stood there a lot longer gawking if Colin allowed me!
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| Tower of London |
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| Chapel where Anne Boleyn, St. Thomas More are still buried |
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| St. Thomas's Tower |
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| Traitor's Gate |
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| Inside the Tower of London and the White Tower |
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| Tower Bridge |
After touring the Tower of London, we crossed the Tower Bridge to head to our most favorite spot, a recommendation from my brother Brian, Borough Market. Ah... while German food has its own charm, we have started to miss good fresh food that is described in English so we know what we are eating! Borough Market was a "foodie paradise", with organic and fresh everything, amazing cheeses, baked goods, meats, wines, etc. Even just seeing the colorful displays of food was inspiring. A few pics of Borough Market below, and more toward the bottom. I was a little obsessed with taking photos of it.
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mmm. Enjoying a Thanksgiving Sandwich
(another recommendation from Brian) -
turkey, cranberries, stuffing! |
With full stomachs, we then headed back to tour the inside of Westminster Abbey. They don't allow pics to be taken on the inside of the Abbey, and as much as I wanted to take a picture of every writer's memorial at Poet's Corner, we respected the rules (really, just out of fear of being escorted out prematurely by the very proper security guards). We did get the photos below, which are a bit underwhelming, but posted anyway. As my dad says, we will just have to keep our "mental pictures" with us.
Throughout our informative touring of Westminster Abbey, I kept thinking about the logistics (ok at times, focusing) of the upcoming Royal Wedding to take place in the church. At the end of the tour, I couldn't resist asking one of the guards about how Kate Middleton was going to walk down the aisle when there was giant alter in the middle. Rest assured, the alter is moveable, and she will not have to dodge such an obstacle on her way up to the main alter, where the royal crownings usually occur. Yes, this sort of questioning horrified Colin, who snapped the photo of this consultation session below.
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| Westminster Abbey |
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| Nerd Alert! Consultation re Royal Wedding | |
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Our second night, we were lucky enough to meet up with one of my good college friends Shaina, and her fiance Andrew, and toast to their recent engagement! It was so fun to see good friends in London - we all saw the Broadway show "We Will Rock You" and had a drink at a nearby pub.
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| Major Nerd Alert!!! |
On our third morning, we rode the tube to the British Library. This was something I was super excited about, and proved to be a highlight of the trip for me. At the British Library, there is a distinct section with ancient and noteworthy documents... we poured over the original documents I suffered through during my first English classes at UCLA - Beowulf (c. 1000) and Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (c. 1410). Then it was onto Shakespeare's First Folio (1623), works of Charles Dickens, and then the notes of Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf. It was remarkable to see see their thoughts in their own handwriting. Next to the author's section, there was a music section with the original compositions of Beethoven, Mozart and even the final bars of Handel's Messiah (1741). There were also some notes from the Beatles - Paul McCartney's notes of the song "Michelle" and John Lennon's composition of "Help!" After that we looked at Da Vinci's notebook (handwritten in backward and inside-out writing), and the Magna Carta (1215). Finally, we saw the oldest complete Bible in existence (along with one in the Vatican), the Codex Sinaiticus (c. AD 350), the Lindisfarne Gospels (AD 698) and the Gutenberg Bible (1455). Sorry to not spare you any of the details - but I really never want to forget the things we saw here!
After the British Library, we made it again to Buckingham Palace to join the throngs of tourists watching the Changing of the Guard. We managed to get these pics amidst them mess, and enjoyed it before heading to the British Museum to check out the Rosetta Stone and other artifacts.
For NYE, we were tempted to wait with the masses to watch the amazing fireworks shot from near the London Eye over the River Thames. But we were a little tired and cold at this point, so we opted for the obvious backup choice for this lass and lad: an Irish Pub with live music. We actually had a great time at the bar and got to see the fireworks on huge TV's that they posted near the band stage. We felt like we got the best of both worlds and called it a night!
On our final day in London, we went to Mass at the gorgeous Church of the Immaculate Conception, and then we toured the Imperial War Museum and saw a "Winter Wassail" production at the recreated Shakespeare's Globe (first photo above). It was a lively event of singing and reading old texts (Canterbury Tales portion included, which was fun since we had just seen the book). From the Globe, we walked the South bank of the Thames (the "Queen's Walk") to cross the Waterloo Bridge and see the awesome views of London before we departed. It was such a fulfilling trip, and yet there still is so much to see. I hope we make it back again at some point!
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| Church of the Immaculate Conception |
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| Walking along the South Bank of the River Thames |
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| View to the East from the Waterloo Bridge |
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| View to the West from the Waterloo Bridge |
Other Pics of Borough Market....
