London

Elizabeth Tower

I have been to London on three separate occasions, besides flying out of Heathrow, and I did different things each time. This is an amalgamation of all the trips and my favorite activities I did in London. 

October 10-12

My first true London experience I spent with my parents, who came to visit me in England before going on their own to Paris, France, and Amsterdam, Netherlands. We stayed near the Kensington Gardens and Paddington area and did a day trip to Bath during the couple of days they were here. Kensington Gardens is a huge public park, one of eight royal parks in London. The park was originally established in the 18th century to accompany Kensington Palace located in the park but is now open for the public to enjoy. It was fun to walk around the gardens but I would not make a special trip out to this area unless you are planning on touring the palace. We did not and just enjoyed exploring this massive nature area in the middle of urban sprawl. There were squirrels, birds, and lots of dogs to see in this park. It is discouraged to feed the wildlife, but if an old man offers you a cracker to feed the parakeets, you simply must. 

Do not feed the birds

One of my favorite places I have eaten at so far has been The Cheese Barge. As the name implies, it is a barge where they serve cheese and cheese dishes. It is a 96-foot double-decker boat moored on the Regent’s Canal. I love cheese, it is one of my favorite foods to eat, so you can only imagine my excitement when I found out I could eat it on a boat. My parents and I enjoyed their curry cheese curds, assorted British cheeses, and a fancy grilled cheese sandwich. I highly recommend going and booking ahead to secure a spot. There were other restaurant boats in the same area too.

Late-night snack on The Cheese Barge

The rest of my time with my parents was spent in Bath or in Norwich. I am so happy they took the time to come visit and also take the time to explore more of Europe themselves. I find I really enjoy traveling with people who are new to places, it is fun for me to see other people experience a place for the first time. 

October 20

On this trip, I went with other international students to see a show at Shakespeare's Globe. Before the show, Violet and I went to the Tower of London. Entrance to the Tower of London includes a fortress, royal palace, and prison. This was one of the coolest things to pay money to see in London. We saw all sorts of armor and weaponry and learned about medieval English history. 

Armor in the Tower of London

We were not allowed to take pictures, but we also got to see the crown jewels. The collection is 23,578 gemstones including the pieces still used for the Coronation Procession. My mind could not process how precious the gems were, or how massive. The fortress complex was large and was so information rich we did not have time to visit the museum.

Tower of London

Next, we went to see the play Comedy of Errors at Shakespeare's Globe. The building is a nearly identical replica of the original playhouse where Shakespeare would have originally performed his plays. On our way there, we passed by the area where the original playhouse stood, not far away. The playhouse is unique because of its circular shape. People would originally have stood to watch his plays, so that is exactly what we did. The Comedy of Errors is about two sets of twins that cause a series of confusing yet hilarious events. I had read some Shakespeare in high school, but I would not consider myself a fan until this experience. I did not think I would be able to understand the old English, but I did. The actors did a phenomenal job of portraying emotion and acting it out in a modern way so the audience could connect to it. The whole performance was about an hour and 45 minutes and even the in the rain it was a great time. I absolutely would go back here for another show, but next time I would opt to pay a little extra to sit underneath the covered awning. 

Shakespeare's Globe stage

We were very hungry after the play and made our way over to Borough Market for a late lunch. Borough Market is an over 1,000-year-old food market with an array of vendors. It was almost overwhelming how many different choices there were! 

Borough Market

The market offers fresh food to eat or take home, along with regular grocery items like seafood, vegetables, and jarred foods. Cheese is a popular item, and I saw at least five different vendors selling cheese only. If you are lucky, they may be hanging out samples. I really enjoyed a salted beef sandwich on a bagel. 

Salted beef bagel sandwich 

November 19-22

This was the final trip I made to London besides the trip I will take to get back home to Phoenix. This trip was dedicated to some of the biggest tourist attractions in London. I stayed at the Marlin Apartments near London Bridge for this trip. First on the docket was watching the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. Watching the guards is a free event and does not require a ticket, but you do have to show up early to secure a good spot. It is a huge draw for tourists, so it is very busy, there is a heavy police presence, and there is a high concentration of pickpockets. I did not know they had music either so that was a surprise. The band played some popular music like "Avenger's Suite" and "A Spoonful of Sugar" from Mary Poppins. 

Band in front of Buckingham Palace

Next, I made my way over to Elizabeth Tower and Big Ben. Truthfully, it was not nearly as big as I had thought. It was rather small, as towers go. It was smaller than the Norwich Cathedral, for sure. I did not know how many gold details it had either. It glimmered in the sunshine. It was fun seeing it in person even though it was quite underwhelming. 

Elizabeth Tower

After eating lunch, I went to the Natural History Museum. The museum had different sections for dinosaurs, animals, and geology. My favorite part was the dinosaurs because I had never seen so many dinosaur skeletons. Dinosaurs are a crazy concept to me, it was mind-boggling to see so much evidence of their existence all in the same place. They even had an animatronic T-Rex. It was dressed up for the holiday season which was cute.

To end the evening, I went to Cahoots Postal Office for some drinks. This place was a whole experience and was definitely one of the coolest cocktail bars I had ever been to! It was themed like a 1940s post office and stuck to the theme. To get in you enter the front of a post office and answer a telephone. Walking into the back with the bar and tables, there were letter chutes overhead that could deliver drinks. There was a box hanging from the ceiling that had a "live animal" that would make noise and shake every fifteen minutes or so. The menu was on a newspaper, and some drinks were to be delivered in special glasses. One of mine came in a mug that looked like Winston Churchill. So worth the visit!

Winston Churchill cocktail

The next day was spent going back to Borough Market for another delicious bagel sandwich and chocolate-covered strawberries. I wandered into a new area of Borough Market too, I did not realize how big it was!

After that, I took the bus over to the British Museum. I liked how they had the collections separated by different regions. It definitely was strange how many things they had acquired or stolen from each place. There were so many sarcophaguses from Egypt it was shocking. They had a mummified human on display in his dying position, too. It seemed weird to have him displayed like that—voyeuristic. Most impressive was their collection of statues from the Pantheon and the Rosetta Stone. Very neat seeing these historical icons in person. 

Rosetta Stone

To celebrate the last night of a long trip, I went to a few cocktail bars, including the Cahoots Underground. I loved the Borough location so much that I had to see what the first location was all about. It was themed just like an abandoned underground station. I got to sit inside a small room that looked like a Tube car. It had different drinks than the other location, making it a completely different atmosphere. 

I have thoroughly enjoyed all the time I spent in London. I really appreciate how most museums are free to the public. The U.K. does a fantastic job making education accessible to people by only asking for donations. Public transport around London is incredible too. The city is so large it would be impossible to get things done without utilizing the Tube or bus systems. I used Google Maps and the TfL Go app to figure out how to get places. Unlike other places, I did have relatively good service in London. There are still things I would like to do whenever I go back to London next. I would go back to the Tower of London to see its museum, and I would take a tour of Westminster Abbey or Buckingham Palace. I would like to stop by St. Brides Church because of its historic ties to journalism. Naturally, I would love to try more restaurants and visit even more museums. London is such a history-rich place with no shortage of things to do, and I am so happy I found the time to do all the things I did. 

This blog post was written for HON491C