Also, I did find a variation of those delicious wheat cinnamon logs. They are called Weetabix, and they ARE found in every American supermarket. However, they taste like ass. They are nothing like the delicious wheat cinnamon logs we had in London. Therefore, Tiff is still lying;-)
On March 8, 2003, my roommate Tiffany and I embarked on a very long awaited trip to London, England. While our peers spent their spring breaks working, sleeping until noon, or tanning on sunny tropical islands, we were enjoying afternoon tea, strolling along cobbled streets, and mingling with the morning commuters on the tube. This was one spring break that was well worth the anticipation.
My parents dropped us off at Newark Airport at 3:30pm, Saturday March 8th. Our plane was not taking off until 7:10, but we were told to arrive three hours before take-off to allow enough time to go through security. We were finished with that by 4:00, and we headed over to Friday’s to get some dinner. We had the most unintentionally entertaining waiter. As he was clearing off the table behind us, he dropped a plate, and it shattered into multiple pieces. He did not clean the mess up; he simply went about his work. As he came over to take our order, he swung his arm, and his hand slammed into a chair. And then his foot accidentally kicked a piece of the broken plate, and it went sailing across the room. At this point, I started feeling bad for him because I realized he was a spaz. I’m a spaz too; I can sympathize. He actually turned out to be a pretty cool waiter, especially when he started singing and dancing (he probably thought no one was looking).
We finished dinner at 5:00 and now had two hours before we were to board a plane to Dulles Airport in Washington D.C. We sat in front of a TV broadcasting CNN, and I settled in with a magazine. Finally, it was time to board the plane. The flight was nice and short—just as we like them. We arrived at Dulles only to find out that we had to take an odd space-bus to our desired terminal. Weird. Fortunately, we did not have to wait long for the plane to London. I guess it’s like compensation for the six and a half hour flight. The flight was torture when it hit the three hour mark; I don’t know what I would do if I ever decided to go to Australia. I attempted to sleep, but gave it up after ten minutes. I’ve never been able to fall asleep sitting up before, so I doubted that this would be a good time to start. As I continually checked how close we were getting to our destination, I listened to some Tori Amos and watched whatever was available on the in-flight entertainment (As Good As It Gets, Star Trek: Nemesis, and cartoons). I also kept close watch on the changes in the sky color. As we were flying east, I figured that sunrise was supposed to be coming very quickly. Finally, as British time neared 9:00am, and New Jersey time neared 4:00am, the plane prepared to land. My anticipation was slightly spoiled by a pain in my ears, which lasted for the rest of the day. And this is where the real fun begins.
Sunday
By 9:30am, we had landed in Heathrow Airport. We got our luggage, changed our traveler’s cheques to pounds, and set out to figure out how to get to our hotel, the Royal Eagle. Although it took twice as long to find it as it should have, we located it via Paddington Station. It was our first tube experience in London, and we picked it up rather quickly. By now, it was 11:00am, and check-in wasn’t until 1:00. The original plan was to drop off our bags, gallivant around London for a couple of hours, and then go back to check into the hotel. Fortunately, the wonderful people at the Royal Eagle allowed us to check in early. She gave us our key for Room 423. As we entered the elevator, I gave a cry of shocked amusement when I realized it was the smallest elevator I’d ever been in. Seriously—it only fit two people comfortably, so we had to perform some acrobatic feats to fit into it with our luggage. We managed okay and got up to our room. As we opened the door, again came the cry of shocked amusement. The room was frightfully tiny, even smaller than our dorm. Fortunately, it looked quaint and clean enough, despite the smallness (it’s not like we were going to spend all day there). The bathroom wasn’t too shabby either.
All in all content with the temporary living arrangement, we set out to get a real taste of touring London. Our first stop was back to Paddington Station to purchase our tube passes for the week. Then, we took the tube to Spitalfield’s Market, a giant British flea market. Very cool stuff. Lunch was an interesting experience as well. We ate at this café that served only sausage and mashed potatoes. I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything like that before. It is also where I experienced my first British WC (bathroom), which, as I later realized, is unique in every British restaurant.
After leaving Spitalfield’s, we took the tube to Hyde Park. Once there, we wandered over to Speaker’s Corner, the only place where freedom of speech is still highly valued. Much to our delight, there were at least eight people standing on their soapboxes, preaching to a group of people who were arguing with them in return. An old man who did not have a group to argue with yet told us to ask him to talk about something. We said “Materialism”. After listening to him ramble on and on for about ten minutes, sometimes making sense, sometimes not, we left and happened upon a young American peacenik. He was shouting about the evils of George W. Bush and America, and, lucky us, we had front row seats. A large group gathered around us, and the atmosphere was becoming very tense and heated, and we thought a riot was going to break out. Listening to everyone cheer in response to hatred of America was making us uncomfortable, so we decided to leave.
By now, we were getting hungry and decided to make our way to The Troubadour, a pub we had heard about that had folk music and poetry jams on Sunday nights. It took us twice as long as it should have to get there, as the tube stations we wanted to get to were closed. And all this on no sleep the night before. We finally found the place, only to discover that there was no music or poetry. Whatever, we might as well enjoy the atmosphere and the food since we were there. This was difficult to do, as the waitress had forgotten about us (we were sitting in a back room), so it took almost an hour for our food to arrive. Not to mention that a woman who looked like Alicia Keyes gave up the big table she was sitting alone at for the tiny table we were seated at. “What a nice lady,” we thought. We felt bad for her afterwards though as she sat for almost the entire time we were there, staring off into space with a sad look on her face. It kind of brought us down, especially since we were both tired and increasingly cranky. Fortunately, the food was very good and much appreciated after the long day. When back at the hotel, I spent a considerable amount of time figuring out how the shower worked and went to bed earlier than I had in almost a year.
Monday
Breakfast was not a typical American continental breakfast. Besides corn flakes, rice krispies, and lots and lots of bread, there were also these wheat-cinnamon logs that you pour hot milk and sugar over, and then you mix it into a paste, much like oatmeal. It’s surprisingly delicious. (Tiff later informed me that they’re called Wheatabix, and that they’re sold in every American supermarket. I still think she’s lying, as I still haven’t been able to find them.)
The plan for the day was to tour the West End. We started with the British Museum. First, we explored the Egyptian wing. Among the basic artifacts and statues, we also saw lots of mummies and several embalmed corpses. Very creepy. We also saw the Rosetta Stone, which seems to be the main attraction of the museum. We also quickly went through the Greek and Roman wing and saw the Roman Britain wing, which Tiff was very interested in.
Our next step was Covent Garden. But, first, we had lunch at a tea room. This was my very first cream tea (tea and scones with clotted cream and jelly). It wasn’t the most filling meal, but it would hold me over until dinner. Then, we headed over to Covent Garden, where we wandered through interesting shops (my favorite was Lush, a bath and body store) and saw street performers, including some very talented opera singers and a man who juggled an apple, a machete, and a chainsaw.
After getting lost again, we managed to find our way to the Leicester Square half-price ticket booth. After much debating, we decided on Chicago, which would be playing at the Adelphi Theatre at 8:00pm. We then set out to meander around Leicester Square, making our way over to Piccadilly Circus, which I absolutely LOVED. It is just like Times Square, only much more pleasant. We went in some interesting shops and strolled along arcades and the Ritz. Tiff even got to make her own tea (black with papaya, rose petals, and mango and strawberry oil).
We had dinner at a pub on Carnaby Street in Soho. It was a traditional British experience, complete with beer and steak and ale pie. We even did the cheesy tourist thing and asked the waitress to take a picture of us posing with our beer. After dinner, we decided to slowly make our way over to the Adelphi Theatre. We had almost two hours until the show would start, but we assumed we would get lost again. And lost we did get, as we wandered from Soho into the Red Light District into Chinatown. Eventually, we found the Adelphi with time to spare. We seemed to notice that every time we get lost, we hear an ominous whistling somewhere in the distance. We decided that this would be our dopey theme music.
The show itself was very very good and I highly recommend it. They even sold ice cream during the intermission, which I thought was odd. I likened it to hot dogs and beer being big sellers during baseball games. Finally, we headed back to the hotel to get some rest because we had a very long day ahead of us.
Tuesday
While Monday was Stroll and Shop Day, Tuesday would be Eclectic Touring Day on the South Bank of London. We woke up at 7:00am not feeling completely rested because we had to meet Tiff’s cousin Angela at 8:45 so we could get our reserved tickets for the London Eye. And with our wonderful experience with the Circle Line the morning before, we figured we should play it safe and leave early enough so that we would not be late. Of course, with the wonderful Jubilee Line (which descends deep into the bowels of the earth, coming close to the third circle of hell), there were no delays, and we arrived at the London Eye early. While waiting for Angela, we sat by the River Thames and enjoyed the scenery (and the wind), which included Big Ben and the London Bridge. Finally, Angela arrived and we got our tickets.
On we went to the London Eye, which was like a giant Ferris wheel that takes you high up so that you can see all of London and even the surrounding area. The view was absolutely breath-taking, but Tiff and I both decided that London does not have the most attractive skyline.
We then took the tube to the London Dungeon. When emerging from the underground, I must admit that I was slightly disappointed to find that this part of London looked very similar to some American cities, such as Philadelphia and St. Louis. The London Dungeon itself was interesting (to say the least). It began with a self-guided tour where one can read (as well as see visual displays) about the history of torture in England. The atmosphere was a little creepy, and I even gave a little scream when one of the workers, dressed in a black cloak and wearing face paint, came up right next to me unexpectedly. After the self-guided tour came a guided tour. Lucky for us, we were placed with approximately fifteen giggling gum-chewing English schoolgirls. The tour was interesting, as we got to learn about executions and Jack the Ripper. The best part was a boat ride in the dark, where Tiff got her scare from one of the workers. However, the museum itself was very juvenile, geared towards preteen children. But I guess you’re never really complete unless you can name ten crimes one can commit that used to result in execution.
We left the London Dungeon and walked over to the Olde Operating Theatre and Herb Garrett (yeah, I didn’t know what the hell it meant, either). It’s hard to explain, but it’s like a health care museum. We learned about all the different herbs that used to be, or still are, used for healing. We also got to see very old surgical instruments. If anyone sees these, they’ll realize that visiting the doctor’s office today is not that bad. Tiff was very excited because she got to learn more about Florence Nightingale. But the most interesting part was the operating theatre, which is exactly what it sounds like. It is a very small and old amphitheatre, where spectators can watch surgeries being done. It was the very first operating theatre. The table used for surgery even had telltale spots of blood. VERY creepy.
We had lunch at a cute café, and then continued to Vinopolis. Vinopolis is a wine museum that gives out free samples. We couldn’t resist. Upon entering, you are given a headset to hear about the wine history, as well as five tickets to be used at tasting tables. We were also given a ticket for a free cocktail with a type of dry gin Vinopolis markets called Bombay Sapphire. The entire place was like the Twilight Zone. The rooms reminded me of a swanky nightclub, littered with displays and exhibitions regarding wine regions and production. The exhibitions were interesting, but the best part by far was the free samples. I tried wine from Britain, India, New Zealand, Israel, and China. Add that to our Bombay Sapphire cocktails, and we were feeling pretty happy. The experience was so odd that I actually bought a bottle opener that says Vinopolis for my parents just to prove we were there.
Now very buzzed, we walked along the Thames and over to the Globe Theatre. We would have loved to see a play there, but it was too early in the year. We didn’t go inside the theatre itself, but we got to see it from the outside, which was very cool. Since we had some extra time, we headed over to the OXO Tower, which is a complex of artists’ shops. It was a lot smaller than we thought it would be, but we did see some interesting items in the shops.
By now, it was time for dinner, and we went off searching for a pub. There did not seem to be many good ones in the South Bank area, but we did find one in a hotel. It was a typical pub experience, with beer and good food. We finished dinner early and decided to return to the hotel to solidify our plans for the evening. We were considering going to the Comedy Store at Piccadilly Circus, but we decided to stay at the hotel and begin writing our postcards. We went to a pub later that evening for some delicious treacle pudding. It was definitely a quiet night, but we needed it, what with all the running around we had been doing during the past three days.
Wednesday
Today would be the day that we would take a break from London, traveling north to Cambridge, where Tiff attended school for a year. We pampered ourselves by sleeping until 8:30. We had some breakfast, and then headed over to Paddington Station to take the tube to the train station at King’s Crossing. The train ride was lovely, as we got to see the lush green fields of the British countryside. Cambridge is a wonderful little college town with cool shops and markets, cobbled streets, and buildings dating back all the way to the 1100’s. Besides wandering the shops, we also walked along the Backs, a path lined with flowers and trees that border the River Cam. We had another Cream tea, complete with scones and finger sandwiches. We also visited a beautiful cathedral at King’s College (which makes Princeton look like a dump) and the Round Church, which is almost one thousand years old, making it the oldest building I’ve ever been in. We also climbed up to the ruins of Castle Mound, the site of the first castle in Cambridge. We saw a sign that said the Men’s Choir would be performing at St. John’s Chapel. We decided to go since it sounded interesting. Unfortunately, we did not know that there would be an actual service. As it was rather boring, I entertained myself by checking out some of the attractive choirboys (yeah yeah, I know you shouldn’t do that in a church). But it turns out Tiff was doing the exact same thing! As we were laughing about that, we began heading over to The Eagle for dinner, which was supposedly the best pub in Cambridge. I did not find it very different from any of the other pubs we had been to, but it was a nice place. On the way back to London, we commented on how annoyed we were by American tourists and why the guys from London seemed so much more attractive than American guys. And so ended our pleasant day in Cambridge.
Thursday
Thursday, our Historical Britain Day in the old City of London, began with us oversleeping. Luckily, it was only twenty minutes, so not exactly a big travesty. After breakfast, the plan was to spend most of the day at the Tower of London. We began this part of the day by listening to a Beefeater talk about some of the main attractions at the Tower. We saw the Crown Jewels, castles, towers, guns, and funky armor. We also walked up Tower Hill to see the execution site of Anne Boleyn, among others. Being a very old part of the city and having a very gory history, it was very creepy to be standing at the exact spot where numerous people were killed. Also on this site was a beautiful memorial for the naval soldiers who died during World War II.
After leaving the Tower, we went on a quest for good old-fashioned fish and chips. As the City is mainly the swanky financial district of London, there were not many places we could go to, so we settled on a pub that offered fish and chips as a meal. Up to now, this was definitely the best meal I’d had in England (while English food is not terrible, it certainly isn’t that good).
With our bellies full or fish and chips and our blood pumping beer to our brains, we headed over to St. Paul’s Cathedral. Unfortunately, it is being restored, so it did not look as attractive as I’m sure it usually is, but it certainly is a magnificent place, complete with a large majestic dome and a beautiful mosaic ceiling. We climbed up a very long spiral staircase to get to the Whispering Gallery. Here, Tiff and I were amazed to find that we could hear each other whispering when we were standing far away from each other. We then ascended even more rickety spiral staircases to the very top of St. Paul’s. We were definitely not prepared for this climb. If we had known, we would have had less food and beer, and more water (Tiff commented that we were pretty much living off of tea and beer). Once at the top, we had another amazing view of London, but, as mentioned before with the London Eye, it’s not exactly the most attractive city up high. Some cities in America, especially New York, are very attractive from a distance, especially high up, but they leave much to be desired aesthetically once you’re actually there. London is exactly the opposite. With that being established, we started the very long descent down the spiral staircases to get back to the main cathedral. You would think that going down would not be as bad as going up, but that is inaccurate. I would rather be slumped against a wall out of breath from an upward climb than feel my head spin and like I’m going to lost control of my legs any minute. Now, when I see the movie “Vertigo”, I will always think of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Our tour wasn’t even over there. We still had yet to visit the crypt, which was in the basement. Sound creepy? I certainly thought it did, but it’s anything but. And I felt like I couldn’t fully appreciate it because I felt dizzy and nauseous, and my legs were shaking. We sat down near the café to get some rest, and then we decided to leave and head back to Piccadilly Circus to do some shopping.
For the entire week, we had been using the tube to get around, so we decided to try those trademark double-decker buses. Tiff had been on them before, but I never had. Unfortunately, we were not sure as to how to navigate this bus system, and we ended up taking a bus that went in the opposite direction we wanted to go in. We were certain we had gotten on the wrong bus when the bus pulled into a parking lot filled with empty buses, and the driver got out and walked away (He didn’t see us because we were on the upper level.). We snuck off and hopped on a bus going in the right direction. We learned that the trick is to be on the correct side of the road. After taking a nice but traffic-filled bus ride through London, we got off at Piccadilly Circus. In our efforts to find streets we hadn’t traveled on yet, we couldn’t seem to find many interesting shops, and we ended up wandering into the Red Light District again. I was almost waiting for our dopey theme music.
One shop we were very excited about was Waterstones, a multi-level bookstore. We commented that most people our age would be excited about going to bars, clubs, and trendy boutiques. We, on the other hand, were excited about a bookstore. How very interesting we are. Anyway, for the first time all week, we decided to split up and meet in an hour (Surprisingly, we managed to never get separated, even with all the crowds.). I had a very enlightening time reading about Zen Buddhism, social psychology as it relates to food, and feminist theory and principles. I also searched for Dante’s Divine Comedy and read the Xenophobe’s Guide to America, which had some very interesting and humorous observations about America. After purchasing Simone DeBeauvoir’s The Second Sex, I went to meet Tiff. She had also found some interesting books, and took advantage of Waterstones’s 3 for 2 sale.
Although I still felt a little sick, we headed to a recommended pub called Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, which was located near Oxford Street, near the old City. I only got some chips since I wasn’t very hungry, but Tiff said that the meal she ordered wasn’t that good. However, the place itself was in a very old and interesting building (We groaned when we encountered another spiral staircase.). We ate in the basement, which had a very eerie crypt-like feeling. A neat place indeed.
We took the bus back to Paddington. Again, it was a long ride because of the traffic, but it was nice to actually see the city as you’re making your way across it. We were a little sad that night because Friday would be our last full day in London.
Friday
Our last day in London (Cheesey Tourist Day). First, we went to Westminter Abbey, a huge beautiful cathedral where some of the kings are buried, as well as Kipling, Chaucer, Handel, and Dickens. After that, we walked over to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard. Of course, the Guard was NOT changing that day, but at least we got to see the palace (definitely no Taj Mahal).
On our way over to Harrod's (a huge department store), we saw the Guard marching band performing. Very interesting, but I was sad because I had run out of film and couldn't take anymore pictures. We got a little lost (YES, AGAIN) on our way to Harrod's, but we found it, grouchy and hungry. Since we realized that we really should spend the money that we changed, we decided to risk it at a pricey French cafe for lunch. Oddly enough, it was the best meal we'd had the entire week. Feeling much better with our bellies full, we wandered into Harrod's. Again, we decided to split up. There are a lot of places that frighten me. For some reason I can't put my finger on, Harrod's is one of them. I mean, it's FREAKIN' HUGE!!! There are shopping malls smaller than this place! However, not being completely fulfilled by Waterstones, I stayed in the book section most of the time.
We left Harrod's because we were to take the train north to Purley to have dinner with Tiff's relatives. They were the absolute sweetest people, and they gave us lots of good food and wine. And they had many interesting questions about life in America.
We took the train back to London, packed, and went to bed.
Saturday
So after a wonderful week in London, we're sitting on a shuttlebus going returning to Heathrow. At the airport, we had some breakfast, and I bought myself some yummy Chai bodywash at a Lush in the airport. As we started to head for our gate, we looked up and saw a sign that warned a 20 minute walk to our gate. At the same time, we heard an announcement for the final boarding of our flight. This baffled us, as the plane wasn't to depart for another 45 minutes. Nevertheless, we began rushing. Yeah it's funny now, but it wasn't at the time. We got there in time, and we only had to wait 5 minutes to board the plane. However, the plane was delayed taking off because, as we were told, we were waiting for a plane from Scotland. When that plane finally arrived, we were amused to find that they were VERY Scottish, except they weren't wearing kilts. They certainly liked to drink too. Tiff joked that as the plane turned to land, you can hear the *clink clink clink clink* as all the empty Jack Daniels bottles rolled to one side of the plane. They were also very rowdy; none of them seemed to want to stay seated.
With all this amusement, the plane ride was definitely not as bad at the one going to London, except for the turbulence. It was a clear day, so we could see Ireland, Canada, and New England as we passed overhead. The Statue of Liberty is also a wonderful sight to see. As we landed and were once again immersed in the wonderful environment of Newark factories, all I could think of was that it's good to be home.
So there you have it...my first trip to another continent. Oh sure...I could have been tanning and drinking Tequila in Cancun...or taking a road trip with some of my other wonderful friends. When anyone asks why I didn't want to go someplace warmer, I say "Bollocks!" England will always have a place in my heart, as our week there was one of the best times I have ever had.
