She was a champ and adjusted to the time change immediately. Actually, we both woke up with the sun (which is at about 5:30 am). The first full day she was there, we went into London. We took the bus. As I haven't been to London very many times, I didn't exactly know if it was better to take the bus, which is cheaper and has more stops, or take the train which is quicker by about 40 minutes and gives you access to the Underground trains all day. We arrived late because some street was shut off. We had agreed to take the walking tour the first day because I told my mom that it's better to see the sites with a guide then see them by yourself or see them by yourself and then with a guide. Since we missed the tour, we walked around by ourselves everywhere. We did some shopping. We went to Harrod's, walked around by Big Ben, shopped on Oxford street, and lunched in a park. We went back to where the bus was, exhausted, and realized that the bus comes less often at night and wouldn't be coming for two more hours! At this point, even though we had purchased a round-trip bus ticket, that we would take the train home. This would be the first of three or four days we missed the walking tour. We finally caught it on our last day in town and we were so happy we had.
Now is where I get the days mixed up. So I'll just describe the fun activities we did in the week before we went to Spain. We ate at Nando's, which is amazing. They only serve chicken and they marinate it in Peri-Peri sauce at different levels of spicy. It's right by my school and students have been telling me to go there forever. We went shopping in Watford and checked out the Galleria which is near my school as well. I showed her around my campus. She met one of my flatmates, Patrick and his friend Fabio who was Italian and spoke little English. That was a hilarious dinner! My mom and I cooked at my dorm as much as possible and tried to pack a lunch.
Once again, we meant to get to London earlier, but by the time we got there, we went to the British Museum and then we had to go. I could go on for hours about the British Museum. I thought it was British history, but since basically everywhere has been a British colony at some time, it was everyone's history. Highlights:
Cleopatra and about 10 other mummies
From Egypt, a list of all those that had died and survived a war, on a pebble the size of a silver dollar
All kinds of artwork, from African headdresses and swords, Greek terra cotta pots, to batiks, to metal figurines from Asian countries
In the African art section, the Tree of Life *http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aoa/t/tree_of_life.aspx), formed from old gun parts. It was my second favorite thing, next to the Egyptians keeping records on tiny rocks
Later that day, we went to the Globe Theatre and saw Romeo and Juliette. I didn't know that was something my mom wanted to do, but bought tickets just because. I really wanted to go to Phantom of the Opera. It turned out R&J was something on her to do list. I got us the $7 USD tickets which were standing. There is a big pit down from that stands at least 400 people. By intermission, I was ready to go. After walking around London all day, my feet were tired, but my mom was really really enjoying it. The play got out at about 11pm and it was somewhat scary walking through London at night. We got home at about 1am. Needless to say, the next day we slept in.
We also went to the market in St. Albans. They had everything from fruit, clothing, and jewelry, to rugs. That was a really fun and relaxing day. I love perusing farmers markets, it's one of my new favorite things.
After the first few days of good weather, my mom was like why do you complain all the time? This weather isn't bad. From then on, even the few days we spent in London after Barcelona, it was dreary. So after the first few days, we stayed inside more and read our books. We had a few "down" days where we just relaxed. We also went to Windsor Castle. By the time we left, we were both pros and figuring out train maps.
Windsor Castle was amazing. Everything was crushed velvet. Inside the walls, but still outside the buildings was gorgeous. I'll put those photos up on Picasa (we took a lot). It was perfect scenery for senior pictures or something like that. When we were there, the Queen was in. She is there most weekends. We learned a ton about the history of the castle. It is like its own little city. There is such beautiful artwork and you could see how each monarch had added their own little touch. Also, the royal art collection has some works by some very famous artists. Once again, it started pouring rain and we cut our trip short and hopped on the train.
We were off to Barcelona on the 7th!
No comments:
Post a Comment