We took a bus from Heathrow to Bloomsbury, where we're staying, and got to see a great deal of London on the way. Coming to London wasn't like flying into Germany--for the most part, streets and buildings here look very similar to American cities that I've visited. Bar the British accent, of course. Since we weren't allowed to fall asleep, we were sent out to find mobiles (cell phones) and then we were put into pairs and assigned a tube station to find and explore. Tyler and I were sent to St. Paul's station, which is, believe it or not, right next to St. Paul's Cathedral. So we explored around the area, and found a really beautiful, ruined church called Christchurch Godfries. It was a Christopher Wren church that was destroyed (I assume during the Blitz), and rather than rebuilding the actual stonework people planted a garden to mimic the inside of the sanctuary. It was very melancholy, but it was beautiful.
We also walked around St. Paul's Cathedral, which is absolutely stunning. The carvings on the ceiling are beautiful. We're going back as a group later, so hopefully then I'll be able to climb the stairs into the dome of the cathedral to see the spectacular view of London. St. Paul's, although no longer the tallest object in the London skyline since the advent of tall office buildings, is still one of the most iconic.
Since we were in the City (the oldest area of London, which used to be surrounded by the Roman wall), we decided to walk back to Bloomsbury down Holborn Road. We passed some beautiful baroque architecture, the sort of buildings that you think of when you think of European cities. Our search for a pub that night was unsuccessful (well, we found a gigabazillion pubs, but none of them wanted to accomodate American twenty-somethings), so we got Thai food and called it a day. My adventures with European showers continued as I couldn't figure out how to turn on the hot water. After a very refreshing five minutes of freezing cold water, I finally got it and proceeded to bed.
After a full night's sleep, day two was much brighter than day one, although it rained all morning. Huh, typical. We took a Thames Clipper from near Parliament to Greenwich, a ride that offered views of some iconic London sights. Once we got to Greenwich, we trecked up an invigorating hill to the Royal Observatory, where the Prime Meridian was determined. So yes, I got the cheesy tourist photo of me standing in two hemispheres at once.
We (I feel weird using the first person singular, because there are 27 of us who all did more or less the same thing) explored the museum, which included the home of Joseph Flamsteed, the first royal astronomer. He worked for years to compile accurate starcharts in order to determine longitude using the moon's movement against the stars. Yeah, sounds fun. Other royal astronomers included Edmond Halley, of Halley's comet. After our time in the museum, Professor Qualls led us on a walk down the Thames Path, winding up at Greenwich University, formerly the Royal Naval College, on the same sight that Greenwich Palace once stood. Greenwich Palace was home to Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.
We had lunch at the Admiral Hardy pub, where we dined on fish and chips (although I just had chips, the fish ran out too quickly) and samosas, and I had my first pint. It was cider though, not beer. Sorry, Dad. After lunch my friends and I decided that we needed to walk off our pints, so we wandered around Greenwich Market. I had a delicious banana-coffee cupcake (so much for walking off the pint calories...but the woman was wearing the coolest hat ever), which doesn't sound like it should go together, but it was fantasmic. We then went to the Discover Greenwich Center and learned about the history of the Greenwich area, which is currently becoming trendy again. For a while it was the home of sailors and dockworkers, as Greenwich was the point of entry for most commercial ships during England's imperial days.
To get back to the hotel, Sarah decided that walking through a tunnel under the Thames would be a grand plan. I felt like I was on the Titanic, and the sides of the ship were about to burst. I mean, water was actively dripping from the ceiling. Kaitlin's words of wisdom: "Well, we're all wearing our raincoats, so if the walls do burst at least we'll have some protection!" Indeed.
But we made it, and eventually, after much train chaos in the Tube, managed to find Millennium Bridge to get across the Thames to the Globe. The bridge is beautiful, especially when it's lit up at night, and there were no Death Eaters to be seen!
We grabbed a quick bite at a grab and go type place called Eat (their signs say "Ice cream. Eat," "Sandwiches. Eat," etc, just in case you forget what you're supposed to do. Quite helpful), where I started talking to the cashier. He noticed my American accent, and it turns out that he is saving up to travel across the continental U.S., from east to west. He's originally from Brazil, but he's lived in most of the countries in Western Europe in the past twenty years (his favorite was Switzerland. I don't blame him), slowly working his way toward the States. You meet the most interesting people.
But after dinner it was time to go to the Globe!!!! We saw "The Merry Wives of Windsor," which was so well done. The play just came alive when it was acted onstage, and I so enjoyed it. Ah, Shakespeare. I got excited shivers just walking into the theater. And it's rumored that Colin Firth was in attendence, although I did not see him myself. We did find a pub after that, and had a lovely end to the evening.
That's all for now! I think that I'm going to run down the street and buy some fresh bread and fruit for lunch, furthering my procrastination. Cheers!
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