London

After weeks and weeks of anticipation, my Spring Break finally arrived. For the first part of my time away from Italy I would be in London and then the second half in Dublin. I have to admit I was much more excited about traveling to Dublin, although there were a lot of historical sites to see in London. Our flight out of Rome went off without a hitch and before we knew it, Grace and I were in London. When you fly on a student’s budget you fly with perhaps the least luxurious of airlines in existence: RyanAir. No free peanuts, no complementary drink (I would have even taken the watered down soda Southwest gives you) and absolutely no leg room. Their pilots are known for their bumpy landings and hasty take-offs that give me the same sensation I used to get when my Dad would drive over the hills on the way to Angels Camp, accelerating toward the bottom of the hill at just the right spot to make your stomach flip over.

Arriving in London it was already dark and we were exhausted from the day traveling. We found the nearest place selling decent food and we dug in. A family sitting next to us asked if I was French because of my hat (the mom was a bit tipsy) and then gave us looks of horrification as we bit into our hamburgers. “Oh, we never get hamburgers here,” she said, causing me to pause mid chew. “You don’t?” Cat? Dog? Rat? And all other possible burger meats raced through my head as she continued to look at my food with disgust. “Well, they aren’t good, now are they deary?” Relief flooded my tired body and I began chewing again, no longer even caring if the undercooked meat was rat, it was food, and I was ravished. The woman’s son, sitting across the table next to his girlfriend we were told was to be racing in the London marathon tomorrow. We promised to hold out a water bottle for him when he raced past. Of course I forgot his race number the second he told it to me, so the next day we watched for him but with no faith of seeing him.  Realistically we should have downed a coffee and hit the town’s nightlife, but instead we went back to our hostel, climbed into its incredibly narrow triple bunk beds and fell asleep instantly. The next day we began our sightseeing adventures.  When we came out from the Underground, it took us a moment to realize we were literally standing underneath Big Ben. “Hello Ben!” I would not enjoy living in any of the apartments surrounding Big Ben because I would imagine you would have quite the headache by the end of the day. The London Marathon had closed down a lot of the city and mobility was limited. People were crammed onto the sidewalks to watch their loved ones race by.

 "Lean Back, Lean Back"

 Drivers are just as crazy as they are in Harry Potter! :-)

 Gazing into the distance, what do I see: why Shakespeare's Globe Theater!

After walking across the bridge I only recognize from the Harry Potter movies, we ventured toward the site I was most excited about seeing: Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. We went on a tour of the theater, but I was a bit disappointed by it. Our tour guide was not enthusiastic at all and the environment lacked the magic I find every time I go to a play at the Shakespeare festival in Ashland, Oregon. I also think the replica in Oregon is better than the one in London, but perhaps I am a little bias. We went into the theater’s museum, which I found more fascinating than the tour of the theater, but sadly we were rushed for time because they were closing down.

The next day we explored the city and found an outdoor street market complete with a street entertainer who not only juggled atop a ladder but also hammered a nail up his nose—charming!

 Next stop was the Tower of London, which was absolutely amazing! I had no idea how big the Tower of London was and was impressed by our tour guide’s wealth of information about the palace. We were able to view the place where once long ago Anne Boleyn lost her head and also where the crown jewels are kept under lock and key.

 Where the scaffold used to be that the likes of Anne Boleyn and Lady Grey lost their heads on.

 "Load Catapult"--name that movie? anyone? anyone?

And of course I had to make a pilgrimage to Abbey Road to walk across it like the Beatles once did. The Beatles however I am sure had the money and the power to close down this busy street so they could get their picture taken perfectly. Of course, I had no such power and thus had to dart in between oncoming cars to try to imitate this Beatle moment.

 I agree!

The next day we made our way to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guards. I wasn’t really sure why this was supposed to be so exciting, but Grace was adamant that it was a “must see.” When we arrived, the square was packed in front of the palace and a lot of the garden was roped off in preparation for the big, royal wedding. Standing in front of the gates we waited, but there would be no changing of the guards, because what they don’t tell you at the tourist information office is the changing of the guards only takes places every other day. Apparently we were one day late or one day too early—drats!

We walked through the beautiful Hyde Park past the Princess Diana memorial fountain and the Peter Pan fountain.

 Princess Di memorial fountain and cute baby bottom

 Peter Pan--the boy who never wanted to grow up--my hero!

The rest of the sightseeing in London was rushed. Tuesday night we stayed in a hotel near the airport because our flight was to take off at 6 in the morning and the airport is conveniently located over an hour outside of the city limits. When we arrived at the airport at 5 in the morning, it was utter chaos. We had no idea which line we were supposed to be standing in for our visas to be checked. After standing in line for over 30 minutes we rushed toward security but found it just as confusing. I went through security with no problem, but Grace’s bag was pulled to the side. We had ten minutes to make it to our gate before they closed it and there were three other bags before hers that had to be checked first. Finally, with literally one minute on the clock, they informed her that her liquids had to be in a re-sealable plastic bag rather than the twist tie one she was using. It cost me a pound to buy four ziplock bags from a dispenser for her to put her hairspray, gel, and toothpaste in to. We ran for it. After frantically looking at the board to find out flight, we raced toward our gate. Reaching our gate’s doors we were ushered on to a tram. We weren’t there yet. It was passed 6 and our gate was closing. The tram doors began to close and I willed it to move fast. A man rushing toward the tram pried open the doors with his bare hands causing it to lurch to a stop and open all of its doors, allowing even more people on. When the doors finally closed and we began to move I couldn’t help but glare at the ground. I knew we had missed our flight and I didn’t know what we were going to do. When the tram lurched to a stop, I buckled my backpack’s waist straps and began running up the three escalators. When we reached the top, of course our gate was at the far end, which again we began running for. A long line stretched before us and we began asking, “Are you going to Ireland?” “Is this line for Dublin?” Everyone stared at our red faces as we moved to the back of the line and dropped our bags in a heap so we could take our unneeded sweaters off. We had made it, somehow, we had made it!