My London Adventure (Obligatory Royal Baby Info Included)

Warning! The following blog post was written on very little sleep and contains bad writing, mediocre photography, a reflection on smells and how they relate to the human experience, as well as information about the royal baby, corgi disguises, Sherlock Holmes, and Japanese air conditioning, among other things. If you find any of this disturbing or upsetting, please stop reading NOW and consult your local physician.

In all seriousness though, this post will probably get a nice, shiny update and refurbishment some time in the future, because I was way too tired to do a good job on it the first time around, so you have been warned...

Anyway, it's been a little while since I've last updated and I've just returned from London, so there is much to write about!

Let me just clear up a few questions which will probably be popping into your mind right about now:

A picture I took of the palace, one day before the royal birth

Was I in London during the royal baby's birth? Yes.

Was I standing in that mob scene outside of Buckingham Palace? No.

Was London absolutely going crazy with joy? Not where I was, though granted, I was in a hotel room. In actuality, none of the native Brits I've met have shown any real interest in the royal baby - it has been the foreigners who have been the most excited. Having said that, I suspect that most British people around Covent Garden (where the hotel was located) with an interest in the royal family were packed in the pubs drinking to the future king and collecting some of their royal baby bets, since there was virtually no noise on the streets. I did hear what sounded like a small fleet of helicopters go by, but very few screaming people and trust me - you could hear drunken screaming people from the second floor of the hotel - we heard some only two nights before.

Interesting note on how I found out about the birth to begin with: Before we went sightseeing in London on Monday, my friends and I had seen on the "telly" that the Duchess of Cambridge had gone into labour, but I didn't find out that she had given birth until I returned to the hotel that evening and my mom texted me the news from America. After that, I switched on the BBC and watched it for about five minutes before going down into the hotel lobby because I realized they forgotten to give me towels.

To be honest, I had about zero interest in the royal baby before coming to the UK. When I realized aforementioned royal baby was possibly going to arrive whilst I was in the UK, that zero interest kicked up a notch to about a rating of "mild interest." I bought two newspapers for about a pound each the following morning and received a third one for free, but that was about the extent of my excitement for the event (and part of my rationale was that they might be worth something in 50 years).

So that was my royal baby experience. A bunch of helicopters and a text from my mom in New Jersey that told me the baby had been born in the first place. I will say this though - the baby is a really awesome marker for when I had my Fulbright Experience. If I'm ever wondering in the future, "How long has it been since I went to the UK on the Fulbright Summer Institute?" I can just look at the age of Kate and William's child and know the answer.

Anyway, enough of that.

We took the train on Saturday from Exeter to London to begin the International Summer School programme and then took the "Tube" from Paddington Station to Holborn Station near Covent Garden, the location of our hotel. For those of you who may not know, the "Tube" is a popular name for the London Underground. I found the Tube to be fairly similar to New York City's subways, so it wasn't a shocking experience for me.

After checking into the hotel, we took the Tube to South Kensington where we saw the outside of Kensington Palace and its accompanying gardens and parks. When we went back to the hotel for dinner, we began to meet some of the over 150 international students who had just arrived in London for the start of the programme. Throughout my three days in London, I met students from Egypt, Hong Kong, mainland China, Austria, Russia, Turkey, Switzerland, Canada, India, France, and of course, from the US! Everyone has been extremely friendly, kind, generous, curious, and open-minded and we've had great fun exchanging information about our various cultures.

Cheers!

Perhaps my favorite part of the whole trip came after dinner, when a small group of us that either weren't jet lagged or were toughing it out, went on an impromptu tour led by Lyndon of some of London's more interesting pubs, which included an old city sewer system that had been converted into a wine cellar and the Sherlock Holmes-themed pub at 221B Baker Street. We ended the night at an old school pub with cheap drinks (great for us poor college students) and I got to try a bitter ale, which was actually quite good after I acquired a taste for it.

On Sunday, we went on a walking tour of Trafalgar Square, Horse Guards Parade, and Buckingham Palace, led by an eccentric Scottish tour guide who told a lot of funny jokes about being Scottish and disguising himself as a corgi to meet the queen. I had seen these places in pictures and on TV, but it was quite a different experience to see them in person. I think a vital part of this experience was, as it was for all of London, the smells. This sounds funny at first, but when you think about it - you can see a place on TV and even hear some of the sounds, but you can't smell it. Smells have also been proven to be deeply connected to memory, so I think that is a big part of what truly makes for an authentic experience. So what does London smell like? Like food and pollution mostly, like any other city. But that, combined with physically walking the streets and seeing the architecture and buildings anywhere you choose to look and not where the TV camera is looking, makes for a real experience.

We had a free afternoon after the walking tour concluded and two of my friends and I spent it walking along the Thames and seeing an open air market and a line of street performers in Westminster. Some people may say that our time might have been better spent seeing a museum or a gallery, but I enjoyed the experience we had. I had the sense that we had stumbled upon a fun community gathering that brought both tourists and residents together to enjoy homespun food and entertainment and that felt really good.

Inside the Globe

In the evening, we saw a performance of Macbeth at the recreated Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. We were in the "groundlings" or standing section. After walking the whole day, many of us were frustrated at all the standing and some people even fainted! (They've since recovered.) During the first half of the play, I stood at the back righthand side of the stage, which wasn't the best vantage point. I was continually distracted from the performance by how much legs and feet hurt. But then, during intermission, one of my new friends from America suggested that we try to get a standing position near the front center of the stage so I followed her in doing exactly that! And wow, did that make a difference! We managed to get only one row back from the front center of the stage. The actors were within a metre of us at times! I was so engaged by the performance that I forgot how much my legs hurt and I don't think I've ever been as enraptured by Shakespeare as I was then. It was almost magical.

Visit the Globe at: http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/

One of the Tower ravens

Monday (royal baby day) was the last full day we had in London. In the morning, we visited the Tower of London, which unbenownst to me prior to visiting, is actually several towers. There are a number of different objects on display there, including the crown jewels, coins from the mint that used to operate at the Tower, torture devices, and armor. Fun fact: the armory exhibit is the longest running visitor attraction in the world at 350 years old! I also had the opportunity to see the famous Tower ravens. Legend has it that if the ravens leave the Tower, both the kingdom and the Tower will fall. Thankfully, there appeared to be enough ravens there to keep everything intact!

Learn more about the Tower of London here at: http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/

A picture of me next to a trash can! And the Tower Bridge.

We took a river cruise up the Thames from the Tower to Westminster and I was able to get some lovely photos.

Unfortunately, when we arrived at Westminster, the abbey had a horrendously long line (and equally steep entrance fee), so we just had enough time to grab a bite to eat and head off to the British Museum, our last stop of the day before dinner. I was so tired at this point that I barely got through the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Japanese exhibits. When I found out the Japanese exhibit was air conditioned and had benches, I decided that it was probably the best place to collapse (it also helped that I'm hoping to perhaps specialize in Japanese history in the future).

Two and a half days was of course way too short a timespan to see London properly, but I did get a nice taste of it - enough of a taste that I definitely want to come back some day - especially to see Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral. Hopefully, it won't be too long before I'm able to come back =)