Hello everyone! I apologize for my delayed absence, but I've been dedicating these last two weeks to very intensive research in preparation for my papers that will be due over the course of the next few weeks. However, I've managed to still have fun and travel around, and last weekend Sandy and I went down to London for the weekend! I'll try to be brief in my commentary, but if you know me, you should know that as a political science major brevity is not my forte.
We utilized our rail passes once again to take a direct train from Leuchars to London King's Cross Station, which is right in the middle of London. Our first tourist stop came at King's Cross where Sandy and I found the Platform 9 3/4, the infamous platform that takes you to the Hogwarts Express. We thought it would be between platform 9 and 10 (logically), but when we tried to use our pass to get into that area, the ticket guy asked us where we were going, and Sandy, much to my chagrin, informed him we were going to the Platform 9 3/4. Although she almost said, "We're going to Hogwarts." But, here is the infamous Platform:
On my way to Hogwarts it seems ....
Following our photo session, we jumped on the Tube and went to our hostel, which was conveniently located across the street from the Tube station, so there was no way that we could get lost (good call Sandy). We immediately dropped our bags and walked over to the British Museum, which seemed deceptively close according to our pop-out maps we bought in St. Andrews. After wandering around for a bit, we finally got to the Museum. Now the British Museum is one of the most controversial museums in London, mainly because it's artifacts are not British, but rather, are relics of ancient civilizations stolen from places like Iraq, Egypt and Greece. So the frieze that once surrounded the Parthenon, the lions that once stood at the gates of Babylon in the Assyrian Empire, and several sarcophaguses, statues of Rameses II ("So let it be written, so let it be done" Rameses), and the Rosetta Stone, which allowed archaeologists to understand the meaning of hieroglyphics (kind of a big deal) are all in the British Museum. So obviously, I had to see these things stolen goods of civilization.
The Rosetta Stone ... not the computer program. This rock is worth way more than $300.
Me and the Balawat gates from Babylon.
The Parthenon frieze ... let's take a moment of silence for stolen Greek culture.
The gap I'm standing in is where Zeus and Athena once stood guarding the Parthenon. Well, at least now I can say I've seen the Parthenon in its entirety.
The Great Hall in the British Museum.
The British Museum ... so imposing ... so imperial.
We then proceeded to walk from the British Museum to Fleet Street, because Sandy and I both LOVE Sweeney Tood (the musical), and had to see Fleet Street. Ironically, there is a barber shop on Fleet Street ... but I wouldn't recommend it ... you might end up in one of Mrs. Lovett's meat pies.
FLEET STREET.
We then walked past the Royal Courts of Justice, Temple Church, which was not as impressive as Robert Langdon made it out to be, and went to St. Paul's Cathedral, site of Princess Diana's wedding to Prince Charles, and more importantly, "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins! It is GORGEOUS at night and I went a little picture crazy.
HOW COULD YOU NOT BE IMPRESSED?
St. Paul's and Millennium Bridge. It was SO DIFFICULT to get a picture that was absolutely still. Note to self: bring the mini-tripod to Spain.
The next morning we got up early and made our way to Piccadilly Circus - London's Time Square - to pick up our London Pass. If you ever are swinging through London for a few days GET A LONDON PASS WITH TRANSPORT. Sandy and I paid £70 for two days (roughly $106) and had the ability to get into over 50 different sites in London without buying a ticket, and could get on and off the Tube and go through as many zones as we wanted without paying fare. It is an amazing deal and we never could've afforded to do all we did this weekend without it.
But before picking up our Pass, we walked down to Buckingham Palace and the Mall (the long street leading to Buckingham). I was having major dejavu as I'd been there nine years earlier. Except, the president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, was in for the weekend, and it was basically a South Africa-UK friendship festival, so I got to see South African flags everywhere! There's actually a very large South African diaspora in London, a legacy of apartheid, so not only were there flags everywhere, but there were also South African shops selling biltong (South African jerkey) everywhere.
South Africa!!!!!
Buckingham Palace ... the Union Jack on the flagpole denotes that the Queen was not in. She was probably at Windsor Castle as it was a BEAUTIFUL DAY.
From Buckingham, we went to the Tower of London, again, my second time. Definitely great to see the Tower again though and I got to see the sight where they chopped off Anne Boelynn's head this time! We then went to Parliament Square in an attempt to get into Westminster Abbey, which I hadn't been in before. Unfortunately, it closed at 1:30PM ... we got there at 1:35PM. So now I'm bitter towards Westminster and find St. Paul's superior in all ways. However, I didn't fail to take a PLETHORA of pictures of Big Ben ... AGAIN. You see, the last time I was in London, I came back with probably two roles of film of Big Ben alone. Digital cameras have made my obsession even more pronounced as this time I have a grand total of 39 photos of the clock. Yes, I realize it's a clock, but there's something magical about it. So, prepare yourself MomEl! I'll post my night pictures later though because they're awesome. We also went by Downing Street, home of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and former home of Prime Minister Tony Blair, whom I still love and admire just as much as I did when I invited him to my high school graduation.
I may be smiling ... but I'm sad Tony's not there anymore.
From Downing Street we caught a bus back to St. Paul's to tour the building. Unfortunately, no pictures were aloud inside, but trust me when I tell you that it was BEYOND incredible. And the organ ... UHH THE ORGAN .... don't get me started. From St. Paul's we again walked across the Millennium Bridge to the Globe Theatre, again, somewhere I've been before, but as an adult who now really appreciates Shakespeare, I was more than happy to see it again. The best part was the play running in the Globe was MacBeth, which of course, is bad luck to say in the theatre, so our tour guide had a bit of difficulty when we were in the globe trying to explain the stage and had to keep calling it "The Scottish Play". We had an excellent tour guide though, and Sandy and I thoroughly enjoyed the story of the man who saved his friend during the fire that burnt down the theatre over 500 years ago. He selflessly poured his mug of beer on his friend to save them man from sure death, which is why beer is still aloud in the theatre to this day. Sandy and I reassured each other, that if push came to shove, we'd pour out our beers upon each other if one or the other was on fire. Good friend.
The stage, the top being the heavens, the stage being the earth, and below the stage being hell. Oh Shakespeare.
We then walked down the Jubilee Walk to Wagamama's, an AWESOME Asian fusion restaurant that served edamame beans as a side dish. So I had a little edamame festival on my side of the table, Sandy eating only one pod.
My empty bowl of edamame. So. Good.
We then wrapped it up by taking the Tube to Waterloo station (ABBA anyone?) and taking pictures of the London Eye, Big Ben, and Westminster at night.
The Eye at night.
Me and the Eye.
"Second star to the right and straight on until morning!" -Peter Pan
Yeah ... I took that.
THEN we went to Trafalgar Square for more pictures. Yikes!
The next day was a bit easier, as we only had plans to go to Wimbledon and Hampton Court Palace. I was REALLY excited to see Wimbledon, something I hadn't seen before, and Sandy was excited to go back. I found out on the way there that she was at the 2008 final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal ... yes the near 5 hour epic that resulted in a break in Federer's winning streak and Nadal climbing to the royal box to hug the Prince of Spain ... I'm not jealous at all ... With out London passes, we got a 90 minute tour of the facilities and a history of the club with our guide Roger. Roger gave us a brief history of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Club, of which few no anything about as its a very secretive organization. We know that only 400 members are allowed in the club, which means to get in, you have to wait until someone dies because there is a massive wait list and only 2-3 people get in a year. To get on the wait list, you have to know 4 people in the club who can all vouch for you and advocate on your behalf. Once you're in, the club fee is very small, only £100 a year to be in it, mainly because the tournament pays for the needs of the club. Our guide Roger told us he pays £250 a year for his club, so Wimbledon's fees are low compared to other memberships. The perks however, are numerous, as you get to sit in your own 'club members only' area during the tournament and mingle with the players. The surrounding area itself is also very friendly to the tennis players as some families will rent out their homes to tennis players for the tournament and take a vacation. One family became so close with one of the tennis players that he gave them the keys to his flat in Monaco and told them to feel free to use it any time they like. Note to self: must acquire enough money to buy a house in the area of Wimbledon so I can get the keys to some tennis players flat in Monaco for my own personal use.
We got to sit in Court No. 1, the hill where people who can't get into the stadium sit and watch matches, Court No. 18, where I touched the sacred grass, and most importantly, Centre Court, which has been closed to visitors except during tournament time for the past three years as they installed the new roof and new seats throughout. The courts at Wimbledon are a lot smaller than they look on TV and the setting is actually quite intimate with Centre Court only having a capacity for 15,000 people. To get tickets, you enter your name into a raffle and if your name is drawn you get two tickets to the Wimbledon finals for £100 a piece, which is insane, considering its tennis's premier event and it costs only about $152 for a ticket. Mom ... I'll be entering my name from now on and if we win tickets we're going to Wimbledon. Another interesting Wimbledon tidbit is that the grass is re-seeded every year. In about August-September following the tournament, the grass is all taken out and re-seeded, then the club allows it to grow until it's about 18 cm high at which point they start to cut it down gradually until its the perfect height for lawn tennis. We also went to the press room, and were allowed to sit at the interview desk, at which point I almost died of excitement because people like Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Andre Agassi, Pete Samprass, Andy Murray, and maybe even Johnny Mac have sat at that very desk giving an interview for Wimbledon. Below are some pictures:
Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Club, outside Court No.1, this is normally where the giant TV goes for people who pay £20 to watch on the hill sit.
Me and Sandy on the hill, or 'Murray's Mount' as it's been called of late in honor of Andy Murray, Britain's best hope for a Wimbledon win, which hasn't occurred since the 1930s.
Touching the grass on No. 18. Rebel.
"Oh yes, well the grass terrain was very difficult, but somehow I managed to pull it out in the end ... why yes the strawberries and creme are delicious, kudos to Kent for their excellent strawberries."
Me at Centre Court. Those spider looking things on the court are from Denmark ... they're solar lights to help make the grass grow because apparently the sun never shines in this country. Funny ... it hasn't stopped shining since we got here.
Following our adventure to Wimbledon we went down to Hampton Court Palace, the favorite palace of Henry VIII. Sandy was especially keen to go here because she's a huge fan of Henry VII and his insanity. The palace itself is GORGEOUS. It sits on the Thames River, about 1 hour outside the centre of London, and is well known for being essentially one giant maze, which Sandy and I can attest to as we got lost trying to get out. The palace also has a garden maze coincidentally. The formal gardens are just absolutely perfect, and there are two giant clydesdales on the property named Harry and Jim (haha) who pull a wagon around for people to ride around the property in. There is a courtyard that is beyond amazing, a clock that looks like the astrological clock in Prague, and a hall of statues that I fell in love with. And once again, we used our London passes to take the Tube, replacement rail bus (train maintenance prevented us from making the trip quicker), and train to Hampton Court.
Me and Hampton Court Palace with the Thames in the foreground.
It took us a while ... the hedges were too high for us to cheat.
Umm ... I want to live here.
The back of Hampton Court Palace. More evidence as to why I want to live here. This place kicks the pants off Buckingham.
The clock tower that reminded me of Old Town Square in Prague.
Okay, this is a picture of Sandy with the bracelet she bought. Now, I included this for a reason. In school, when you're learning about Henry VIII and all his wives, you learn a nifty little rhyme that says, "Divorced, Beheaded, Died. Divorced, Beheaded, Survived." This helps you remember what order he got rid of them. Well, Sandy, being obsessed with Henry and particularly all his wives, found this bracelet that plays off that rhyme. In order it has a broken hear (divorced), an axe (beheaded), a tombstone (died), another heart, another axe, and a crown (survived). She couldn't help herself. It is pretty funny though.
BUT WAIT, WE'RE STILL NOT DONE. Oh no. We took the train, replacement bus, and Tube back to Hyde Park, in a valiant effort to see the statue of Peter Pan in the park before the sun set. Sandy and I both LOVE Peter Pan (I watched Finding Neverland on my iPod on the way down to London), and we were determined to find this statue. It took us almost an hour, at which point the sun had set and we were working with barely enough light to get pictures without a flash, but we found it and had a moment with Peter.
Peter Pan ... J.M. Barrie's (a fine Scotsman) dream come to life.
Hooray! Life goal complete.
At this point, Sandy and I were starving and closed off the evening with dinner at The Goathead Pub, a fine English establishment if we do say so ourselves. We were so hungry that Sandy ate her entire fish and chips (the fish was bigger than my face), and I had a burger that was at least 1/2 lb. Capped off with a pint of ale for Sandy and a pint of cider for me, we toasted London and the great time we had enjoyed.
Whew! That took forever. I apologize for all the photos, but in my defense, I took over 500 over the weekend, so you got the Reader's Digest version. I'm considering putting my photos up on something like WebShots from now so that you can see all the pictures that I take, although that's also very difficult, so for now, I'll just give you the link to the Facebook album. Hope all is well. This week I've got my hall ball at the Old Course Hotel (awesome), and next week ... Sandy and I ... make the EPIC ADVENTURE ... to SPAIN / MOROCCO (day trip). So brave yourselves.
Until then, I'll leave you with this. England doesn't take pound notes from the Bank of Scotland, so we had to wait until we got to London to withdraw money so that they were Bank of England notes. Let's just say, Jim, we had another short people alert at the Barclays ATM. You can't see entirely well, but I had to squat to access the ATM. Here it is, the London ATM for munchkins:
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