Photos from London

"When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life!" So true! I spent two weeks in the city and never ran out of things to do, and there was still so much I didn't have a chance to see. Although London is a relatively expensive city, almost all their museums have free admission (YAY!!!) and Meredith and I were able to get into Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral for free by attending evensong services (and thus avoiding the steep 15 pound admission fees). The best things in life really are free - it was fun walking through the parks (despite the cold) and exploring Harrods, which is more like a museum than a store (I saw a vase being sold for 12,000 pounds, a table for 40,000 pounds, and a rocking horse for 15,000 pounds - but it was completely free to wander through and gawk at teh prices!!!).

Westminster Abbey

St Paul's Cathedral

A highlight was definitely seeing shows in the West End. I went to The Mousetrap, an Agatha Christie murder mystery that has been running in London for 59 years!

Meredith and I saw Les Miserables, the greatest musical EVER! It was SO incredible - words can't describe it! We were pretty much singing Les Mis songs nonstop the rest of the time I was in London.

We were in the very top row in the upper balcony (hooray for cheap tickets), but once the show started I didn't even notice the height. All the actors were fabulous, particularly Jean Valjean and Javert - OMG their voices were AMAZING! All the effects were amazing - the lighting, the rotating stage, the giant barricade set, the cannon shots! What an emotional show. During a particularly moving death scene, a woman in the audience was absolutely sobbing! Meredith pointed out how funny it was that they portrayed the French working class with Cockney accents...
Weird cultural difference - in London people eat and drink in the theater! The theater has a bar and people bring in full meals or munch on snacks like we would at a movie theater. I couldn't quite get used to it.

I went to lots of museums, taking advantage of the free admission. I loved the Tate Modern, National Gallery, Imperial War Museum, British Library, and the British Museum.

National Gallery

British Museum

Egyptian friend at the British Museum

The British Museum was awesome, but the name is rather inappropriate considering the treasures of the museum are from Egypt, Greece, and other ancient civilizations - Ah, the controversy! I love John Oliver's comments on the museum: "Make sure you fill your museums before your empire falls. We did, and now they’re magnificent—the British museum is basically an active crime scene. Believe me, losing an empire stings a lot less when you have some free shiny trinkets to look at." 

I went to the Houses of Parliament to watch a debate in the House of Commons. It was about a one hour wait, but so worth it! They weren't actually getting anything done while I was there, just asking questions of several government ministers (while viciously insulting them). It was a very rowdy crowd - they'd shout "Hear, hear!" whenever they agreed with what someone was saying, and just shouted incomprehensible noises of anger whenever they disagreed. It's funny how a society generally considered so polite and reserved has such an anything goes approach to government protocol. If someone had shouted out "YOU LIE" in that room, I don't think anyone would have been terribly surprised or upset. I guess they save all the politeness for the House of Lords. I loved how everyone addressed each other in the third person and used flowery language to cover up their blatant insults and attacks -everyone was referred to as "the honorable lady/gentleman" or "my honorable friend," and then trashed by the speaker. We weren't allowed to make any noise in the observation balcony, but people weren't able to hold in their laughter at certain points. Oh, and the clerks wore those little white wigs!

Houses of Parliament

Big Ben

Other photos:

The Tower Bridge

The London Eye

Royal Horse Guard - not looking too happy

Trafalgar Square

Kings Cross Station - yay Harry Potter!

The Millennium Bridge

Telephone booths

Buckingham Palace

Palace guard looking ridiculous

Another view of St Paul - remind you of anything,
Olympia residents?

Meredith's dorm in Bloomsbury

Oxford and the Cotswolds

This weekend, Meredith and I took a trip to the English countryside to take a break from the city. Our first stop - the university town of Oxford to visit Katherine, my friend from Kenyon. She showed us around the city and got us into her college for free. Apparently at Oxford you have to pay to enter any of the college campuses unless you're a student. Since we're cheap, we didn't go into any of the other ones...

Katherine only has "class" once a week where she meets one-on-one for an hour with her professor. Crazy!

I loved being in Oxford because it reminded me of my two homes away from home - Kenyon (for the architecture) and Salamanca (for the university atmosphere).

Then we went to Stow-on-the-Wold, an adorable little village in the Cotswolds.

The town center had some medieval stocks - photo op!

We went for a long walk through the fields to a nearby village. We got directions at the tourist information booth since they said there was a "footpath" between the villages, but apparently footpath doesn't mean an actual path... The directions were like a treasure hunt - "walk through the woods until you reach a mill, then cross the bridge and several fields until you see the cricket field..." There were little markers on the fences that separated the fields to point us in the right direction. 

And, to fully appreciate the conditions we faced, here's a photo of the mud covered in ice - so cold and so messy!

We finally arrived in a village called Upper Slaughter, which is much more charming than the name would suggest.

We also went to Bourton-on-the-Water, which calls itself "The Venice of the Cotswolds."

London Calling

I'm in LONDON!!!! I'm visiting my friend, Meredith, who is studying at the University College of London. We've talked for years about traveling around Europe together, and now we're finally here! It's been great exploring the city with her, but, since she has classes, I also get to explore a bit on my own. I think it's really a good challenge for me to have such independence to navigate the city by myself. Only a few days since I arrived and I already feel like I've mastered the metro system - everything makes so much more sense underground! Literally, I only get lost once I emerge from below and try to follow street signs (I think I'm part-male - I don't like to look at my map or ask for directions... although I end up consulting the map quite a bit).

I didn't expect to feel so out of place in England - everything seems so much more familiar back in Spain! Also, it feels weird speaking English here - whenever I go to a checkout stand or the equivalent, I have to fight the urge to speak Spanish. I'm just so used to speaking a different language when doing anything touristy or involving public transportation!

Today I went to the Imperial War Museum, which had amazing exhibits on the two World Wars - very interesting to get a British perspective. I also joined Meredith's London architecture class, which is basically a weekly walk through the city. Today they were touring several churches designed by Wren - the guy who designed St Paul's Cathedral. I've also explored Bloomsbury and visited the Courtald Art Gallery - lots more to see! Luckily, we're going to have a few days without rain coming up, so Meredith and I will be taking advantage of that! Also, we got tickets to see Les Miserables on Thursday!!!! This weekend we're going to Oxford and the Cotswolds, and next week I'll take a day trip to Bath.

A few things that have surprised me about London:
-Everyone talks so quietly! I'd heard that they find Americans too loud, but I didn't know that they were completely inaudible! I just have to keep repeating, "pardon?" or "sorry?" until they raise their voices a bit. I guess they probably leave the interaction wondering why some American kept shouting at them...
-They have "look right" signs written on almost every curb, THANK GOODNESS. Otherwise I'm pretty certain I would have been hit by a car by now. It's nice of them to recognize that pretty much else drives on the right side of the road ("right" has a double meaning there.... kidding).

-I love the British accents and phrases. When you hold the door open for people they say "cheers," things are always either "lovely" or "brilliant," and on the metro they say "mind the gap." Meredith's architecture teacher said something about an architecture scholar "having kittens over" a particular church of Wren's. Assuming that means they really liked it...?


-Bangers and Mash = Sausage and mashed potatoes (you'd really think they'd want to make their food sound more appetizing...)
-They watch Spanish soccer/football!!!!! We went to a pub for fish and chips and the Real Madrid game was on. It made me feel so at home!

The worst part about England - the awful exchange rate! It makes everything almost twice as expensive! I'll never complain about the Euro again!