I Don't Think I Ever Want to Leave London

So I have begun to realize keeping up with a blog is very similar to doing schoolwork – it is very easy to get behind and really hard to catch back up.  I am now on a seven-hour train ride back to Oxford from Edinburgh, so it is time for me to sit down and finally catch myself back up.

Once I got back from Wimbledon I went online and booked tickets to Kensington Palace for the next morning.  After waiting so long in the queue for Wimbledon,  did not want to have to queue again for anything else while I was still visiting London.  Tip: booking tickets online for the palaces/ museums/ attractions in London not only saves time but you can book with student concessions (discounts) and save a few extra pounds. 

Saturday morning I headed off to Portobello Market – Europe’s longest street side market.  It was a massive mix of vendors and people, and useful junk and rubbish.  It was however enjoyable to see the mix of tourists and locals.  There was also a section of the street that reminded me of Rainbow Row in Charleston, one of my favorite places.

After slowly walking through the crowd I then headed down Kensington Park Road and saw some beautiful English town houses on my way to Kensington Palace.  When I finally reached Hyde Park I was struck with how cool it must be to be part of English Royalty… The Orangery around the palace is beautiful.  The Orangery is famous for its high tea restaurant that overlooks the gardens.  Even though many sites recommended the high tea, I could not bring myself to spend 20 pounds and sit there for the long tea all by myself, plus I had other places I wanted to go see.  I hope to get a group to go with me at some point while I am over here though.

Kensington Palace is currently hosting a fantastic exhibit where they have invited seven artists from around the world to come and design rooms in the palace based on the seven princess and queens that lived there.  The artists too the information about the royal members they found interesting and redesigned the whole rooms to tell the story about each individual. Every six months new artists will come in and redo the rooms on how they picture the Queen. The next notables to come in October are Ralph Lauren and Oscar de la Renta. The first room was all about Queen Mary and was one of my favorites of all the rooms. Queen Mary could not produce an heir for her husband William and soon after their marriage died of small pox. 

The artists filled tables with little bottles that represent the bottles that Greeks and Romans cried in during the funeral of a loved one.  When the tears evaporated from the bottle the period of mourning was over.

The other photo represents Mary rising from her bed after her death towards heaven in an angelic fashion.  She has wings of blue and white luxury silk whose colors represents the sadness in her passing and the Chinese silk symbolizes the expensive luxury cloth she used to have brought to her from China.

After finishing the two-hour tour of the palace, (which I recommend to anyone who goes to London) I headed over to Harrods department store. Harrods was having its annual month long blowout sale. Prices were drastically reduced, but crowds increased tenfold.  There were some great deals, but it was just impossible to move around.  All six floors of the square block store were packed.

It didn’t take long before I had gotten my fill of the crowds and went into the city.  I went to get tickets to Les Misérables at the Queen’s Theater.  It was a full house and I could not get a seat, but they had 10 pound standing tickets.  I figured for a savings of at least 40 pounds I could manage to stand for three hours.  The show was wonderfully done and I am anxious now to read the novel when I get a chance.

On Sunday I decided to go to the Tower of London.  I had booked tickets for this as well online and bypassed the queues and picked my ticket up when I got there on Sunday.  I went on one of the free tours offered every ninety minutes by on of the Beefeaters that guard the Tower.  After his interesting tour I walked around the buildings and saw the various exhibits.  It was really interesting, and I wish I had given myself more time to explore.  It also inspired me to take a a British history class and learn more about the English Revolution, transfer of power between the monarchs, and the rise of traitors to the crown.

Part of the exhibit in the Tower of London is the vaulted display of all the crown jewels.  It was by far the touristy thing I had done on my tour of London, but it truly was an impressive collection of gold, diamonds, and other rare stones.  There was also a container inside that held 144 bottles on wine that was used for dinner parties, which is really cool and extremely excessive.  I then headed back to pack up for my weeklong holiday in Biarritz, France.

  

Arrival and Wonderful London

So I have finally been able to get to the Internet and post about my trip.  I landed in London at the Heathrow Airport after a straight and easy seven-hour flight. We had one horrible bout of turbulence causing me to think back to those episodes of Lost where they show the plane crash. I had hoped I would be able to sleep through the flight but that unfortunately did not happen. It didn’t matter because I was on Holiday and getting ready to step onto the land of another country.

My original plan was to stay at a hostel in Chelsea I had found off of www.hostelworld.com; however, one of my roommate’s parents put me in touch with a relative they had in London.  After contacting their relative, I was invited to stay in their beautiful house in St. John’s Wood. They thankfully put me on the right track for getting on and off the tube station and the best things to do in London.  It was wonderful to have this great home base and very useful resource throughout my stay in London.

I hopped on the very convenient and inexpensive London Underground from the St. John’s Wood station after passing both the Abbey Road crossing and Paul McCarthy’s house. I bought an Oyster Card while at the station, which made it convenient to just swipe before I boarded any train or bus.  I knew I was in love with London when I stepped out of the Westminster tube station and was looking at Westminster Abbey, the Big Ben, and the Thames Rover. A tip for Westminster: if you go to one of the Sunday services, you can get in and look around without paying.

Next, I visited Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms where the British Government conducted research, made decisions, and had scrambled phone calls to Roosevelt in the United States all while being bombed during the siege of London.  It was a wonderful exhibit that cost 12GBP (the usual price I found for museums while in London.) Being right off the flight and trying to fit a lot in, I fell asleep while watching one of the movies about Chamberlin in the huge museum.  I will need to go back one day when I am a bit better rested and can then take in all the facts.

After that, I walked across the road to St. James’ Park and sat to people watch.  I then went to this great little pub called The Clarence off of Whitehall Road and ordered lunch.  I had a B.L.T. and a cup of pea soup, topped it off with a Stella Artois.  I then headed to the National Gallery at the end of Trafalgar Square.  The paintings ranged from the Renaissance period up to Picasso and Van Gough and were wonderful.  The best part is that admission to all art museums is free.

After walking through a lot of London, exploring Oxford Street, Chinatown, and Piccadilly Circus, I decided to take in a show.  I went to see Enron – a fantastic show about the Enron Corporation Scandal in the early 2000s – and paid only 20 GBP for a day-of student ticket.  The play was very well done and was held in the Noel ­­­­Coward Theater just off of Trafalgar Square.  By 11 o’clock I was exhausted, got on the Tube, and called it a day.

On the second day in London, I decided to go away from the city and see the Wimbledon Tennis Championships.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get to Wimbledon till right at 10am, which is when the doors opened.  I became number 9401 in the queue waiting to get into the Championship.  I then queued for the next seven hours and was not able to get in until 5pm. It was hot in the sun and I became very hungry while waiting in line. After seven hours waiting in the queue you really get to enjoy the people in front off and behind you.  I was in-between a British couple and these two Aussie broads.  A tip for next time: everyone is allowed one backpack sized bag where they can keep either a bottle of wine or two beers and can bring them into the Championship with them.  This is a great way of packing food and drinks and not have to spend as much money when you get inside. Also, if you arrive at six or seven in the morning you are very likely to be able to see a full day’s worth of tennis.

Finally I made it in and I was very ready to see some tennis. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is absolutely beautiful. The food court had terrific food, and nothing beats the beauty of their grass courts.  I was fortunate enough to seem a couple of doubles matches while I was there.  I watched ­­­­­­­­Asiam Qureshi and Rohan Bopanna play ­­­­­­­­Phillipp Marx and Igor Zelenay in men’s doubles.  Then walked around and saw Ross Hutchins and Anne Keothavong loose to David Marreo and Alexandra Dulgheru in mixed doubles.  Afterwards I went to the food court to get the world renown Pimm’s along with strawberries and cream. I was able to get great seats right behind the coaches and parents and see Lindsay Davenport and Bob Bryan beat Aisam Qureshi and Alla Kudryavtseva in another mixed doubles match.  Wimbledon Tip: each evening at 8:30pm five hundred tickets are released on www.tickmaster.com for the next days Center Court matches. So gamble for tickets, if you don’t get them get up early the next morning to wait in the queue.

The Countdown Begins

So I have finally finished packing my suitcase for my trip.  There are now just a few days remaining before I board the plane for my summer of adventures.  I can no longer contain my excitement, it finally seems like it is all coming together.  There are still a few remaining details to hash out before I embark on my journey, but I know they will all come together somehow before I board my plane.  For now I am thoroughly looking forward to spending a few more days at home with friends and family before I leave for the remainder of my summer holiday.