SAVE
Pre Departure.
Before leaving for Europe, my parents came out to pick me and all of my crap up from Ithaca and bring me to NYC for my flight out of Kennedy. We spent two nights in New York. We didn’t do too much with such a short stay, but I did get to see Avenue Q (which showed me how racist my family is: Dad – “Turkey? Who would want to go there?”; Mom – “You have a lot of Orientals at Cornell”; Meghan – “Everyone should just learn to speak English”), and the Met. We didn’t make it to MoMA like my sister and I had hoped as it was closed on Tuesday (and all Tuesdays, who knew?) and there was a line outside down the block on Wednesday. All in all it was a good trip, but it served to remind me that I was ready to go to Europe. I love seeing my family, but those few days were enough (I will still miss you guys).
SAVE*
Day 0.
It took me over 2 hours in all to get from my hotel in Newark (what an awful city by the way) to JFK. Good thing I left almost seven hours early (see aforementioned neurotic tendencies about flights amplified by the fact that it was international). Jamie was already there when I got to the terminal about 4 hours before my flight, and Kim arrived within the next couple of hours. We just hung out until the flight and time went pretty fast as we were all pretty pumped about our London visit. Our plane took off on time and all went well. I watched Date Night on board the plane because I was too giddy to sleep and am kind of a bit in love with Tina Fey. There were so many other movies I wanted to watch too, but figured I should try to get some sleep. But seriously, I almost regret passing up Shutter Island and Kick Ass.
Anyways, part way through my movie, probably around 11:30 or 12 they served a pretty decent Indian dish for dinner. As a college student, I never pass up a free meal, no matter the time, but Virgin Atlantic was really trying to fuck up my schedule. London is 5 hours ahead, so I was eating dinner and 4:30 in the morning. How am I supposed to adjust to Europe when I am served dinner at midnight?
After the movie I put on some Mumford & Sons (Virgin has a great onboard music selection) and fell asleep (kind of). We got breakfast in the morning and landed. We made it through Customs well enough and even managed to make it on the Tube in one piece and without getting lost! I guess the New York Subway was good practice.
SAVE
Day 1.
Our hostel, Smart Russell Square Hostel, was decent as far as I could tell. The staff was nice, the facilities worked and were clean. My only complaint was the lack of outlets. There were 2 outlets for 21 people in each room. Yes, that’s right. ONLY TWO. How the fuck are 21 people going to coordinate sharing 2 outlets? I’m surprised no fires started with how many plugs were plugged into other plugs.
Anyways, we made our way to do the touristy things. It was raining fairly lightly, just like London should be I guess. We first took the Tube to Buckingham Palace. It was amazing how close to it I could get. I was expecting a set up like the White House where a gigantic yard separates you and the presidential home. But no! I could probably have egged the place, not that I would want to out of fear of the guards in the fuzzy hats. They may look cute, but I heard somewhere that they are lethal. I don’t want to take my chances.
So we walked around the circle near the palace and I spotted Big Ben in the distance. This is when I realized that everything in London is so close. I’m pretty sure I could walk around aimlessly and run into things I learned about in history or English class, or at least things that are older than the United States.
We made our way toward Big Ben, stopping on the way to take I’m a Tourist Taking Cliché Pictures in a London Telephone Booth photos. It was great fun to be sure. It started to rain sometime around then, but that’s to be expected while in London, right? So we saw Big Ben and
Parliament and walked across the River Thames (rhymes with hems, not James) and saw the London Eye. We noticed that we completely missed Westminster Abbey even though it’s right next to Big Ben, so we walked back to see that, but happened upon Trafalgar Square on the way.
We were pretty hungry, tired and wet by this point, so we decided to get out of the rain and get something to eat. We found a pub in what was most likely a business district. Everybody was wearing suits or work clothes. Kim and Jamie got some Fish and Chips while I got a burger and we each got some beer. Spitfire was a little dark for me, but it was so good just to be drinking legally I didn’t mind.
We decided to wait until dark before we headed out again so we could see Big Ben and Parliament at night. It paid off, although we were basically falling asleep in the pub from lack of sleep the night before. Everything looked so great lit up at night. Tired and ready to head back, we stopped by Piccadilly Circus, London’s Times Square. It was good to see, and I’m sure there was a lot to do, but after seeing it, we were ready to sleep.
SAVE
Day 2.
Waking up early after hardly sleeping and travelling was surprisingly easy, especially because what was in store for our second day in England: Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath. We needed to catch our bus at a Holiday Inn near Kings Cross, so we got up an hour before our tour so as not to miss it. We got to the hotel 45 minutes early and were sure we would have nothing to worry about. The concierge at the desk told us to sit down and the driver would come in to pick us up. Great! Not. The driver did not come get us. It was 15 minutes past our pick up time, and we did not want to miss this trip. Fuck you concierge. We had to catch a taxi and rush to Victoria Station to catch the final bus. Luckily we did, but it cost us 15 precious pounds.
Windsor was “lovely” (as our guide put it). But really, the town was quaint, albeit touristy, and the castle and abbey were beautiful. We saw where Henry VIII and so many other kings were buried. We met a royal guard and he even talked to us! He said something along the lines of “You should take your picture and move out of the way soon, I need to get going.” Kim was in love.
Stonehenge was really something. I imagined it being out in the country, which it was, but I also imagined like a mile hike to see it. This was not the case. It was really close to a major highway and the parking lot was only five minutes away. Despite all this, it was pretty incredible.
We stopped in Lacock (lay-cock, apparently not la cock) for lunch after Stonehenge. Several movies have been filmed here, including HARRY POTTER! We saw Professor Slughorn’s house, Jamie and I acted out being Harry’s parents in front of their place and we visited a restaurant which was attacked by dementors. It was a really small, almost medieval town.
Finally we made it to Bath, easily my favorite place in England. I wish I had more time there. The place was great. Everything was built with a “honey gold” stone that shone in the sun. There were tons of pedestrianized areas and great old buildings. The architecture was exactly how I pictured Europe. We toured a museum showing the old Roman baths situated on top of the natural hot springs and explored the area a little bit before heading back to London.
We got back to our hostel with a mission of going out. We headed to Camden Town, which was crawling with 20-somethings looking for a good time. We ate at a shady little place that served burgers right on the side of the sidewalk and found a Cuban Salsa Bar. The drinks were expensive (7 pounds) and Jamie attracted all the men with her salsa moves. It was a good time, but with the drinks costing more than we could afford we found a cheap bar, Belushi’s and spent the rest of our night there.
SAVE
Day 3.
On our last day we got up early to see the British Museum. We got to see the Rosetta Stone, Greek, Roman and Egyptian Relics, the Sutton Hoo Helmet and a statue from Easter Island. We then headed to Tower Bridge. It was fantastic. I wish every bridge looked like that. We then found the Globe Theater (it’s a recreation, not the real deal) and bought tickets to see Henry IV Part 2. That’s right! I got to see Shakespeare acted out in the Globe Theater! Bud and Bal would be so proud.
We then made it to the Tate Modern. I had high expectations. I was immediately disappointed. Seriously. It looked like a gigantic prison made of brick, but also reminded me of the tower in LOTR. It was an architectural piece of crap from the 70s. Gross. The art inside wasn’t much better. There were some Picasso and Mondrian pieces, but some of the modern art was just so… dumb. Maybe I just can’t appreciate some things, but let’s be honest, I could paint something white or hang up a mirror.
We then went to Saint Paul’s. It is gigantic, and
much more impressive that what I expected. It was beautiful, and the weather was actually nice, so we enjoyed just sitting down and people watching. We then went back across the Thames, found a nice Italian place to enjoy our last dinner and went to the show. I had no idea what Henry IV was about, and still don’t. I was tired and zoned out a lot. Parts were funny, and I’m glad I went, but that was enough for me. We headed back to our hostel and I saw Jamie and Kim off before going to bed.
All in all, London was a great start to Europe, and I can’t wait to see more!
*I learned my lesson about saving, and actually saved much more often than this.
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