Today consisted of a full, traditional bus tour of the incredible city of London. Our tour guide was absolutely hilarious as most Brits are. She introduced herself and then began by asking who was a London virgin and after 98% of the bus attendants raised their hands she next asked who was ready to have their London cherries popped? The sexual jokes and dry humor coming from this middle aged, prim, and proper in appearance kind of lady continued throughout the entire afternoon trip.
With all of the orientation academic and non-academic it was so exciting to FINALLY being able to see the city! 48 hours of a wait was almost too long!
Here's what we learned and saw:
London has 7 million people accounted for but if you add in illegal immigrants, people who missed the census, etc you get roughly 10 million people aka tons! It is an incredibly diverse city, more than any other in the UK. London originally began as villages, dozens of them actually, coming together to form Londinium (under the Romans) which is now London. We also particularly learned about the road and area in which we live - Kings Road. It is located within the royal burrough of Kensington and on Kings Road in the 1960s it was fashion central. It is the exact and very street in which fashion icon, Twiggy, made the first ever mini skirt famous and I walk this street daily! Just a couple streets over you find Sloan Street which is exceedingly exclusive and a European Rodeo Drive with every designer from Jimmy Choo and Chanel to Versace. Around such streets are flats (apartments) which are anywhere and everywhere you turn; however, in such exclusive areas costs a fortune. But if you live in such areas as where we do you will find gardens and square, beautiful parks filled with lush green grass, benches, fountains, etc, but with the parks in these areas in particular you have to have a key to get in which only the residents have - hence 'key gardens.' We also quickly learned that everything's name in London has some sort of meaning behind it. After a few more streets we passed the famous Harvey Nichols department store and were highly recommended to go to the bar/restaurant on the top floor on a Saturday night to mingle Britain's utmost and elite crowd. Of course it is outrageous and unhealthily overpriced, but if we're looking for a very rich man and/or ladies who's body and skin have been pulled in all sorts of directions then we should go check it out. The 'poshness' continued by passing The Lansborough Hotel which does not have rooms, only suites, and there is a 6 months waiting list to get into the top floor suite. Michael Jackson is just one of the many many wealthy who have stayed there. Even though your stay will set you back thousands and thousands of pounds/dollars you do get a butler, full staff, continental breakfast, and a personal Bentley driver...not too shabby huh?
We then saw the famous Hyde Park of London (it's largest), the Marble arch, Wellington arch, and Speakers Corner where anyone and everyone can speak their minds. We then road through Mayfair which is an area of central London in which the Duke of Westminster owns all of - the architecture on the flat buildings is incredible. The area also includes the US embassy and many other government buildings and private parks aka it's phenomenal! ...Riding around I noticed there are no speed limit signs in sight. I've only seen one and it was not very noticeable and on a main highway. Also, there aren't any street signs on the roads, but instead there are plaque signs on the buildings on the corners which I've found to be quite confusing.
We continued our journey passing the famous Hamley's Toys (5 floors of fun), Piccadilly Circus where there are countless theaters and shows, Regent Street, Leicester Square, and mainly Trafalgar Square which is the 0 point and center of London. It is absolutely beautiful surrounded by huge cream stone and columned buildings with various statues and memorandums throughout it. On land everything may lead to Trafalgar, but on water it's the River Thames. The newest addition to this brilliant river is the London Eye which looks somewhat like a very modern day Ferris wheel. It's comprised of 32 pods which each hold 25 people and it travels at 1 mph making the full circular trip 30 minutes. The London Eye is also the new place for proposing to people and apparently on Valentine's Day it's almost impossible to get a ride. Next came BIG BEN! It's bigger and more amazing than I imagined. Big Ben is actually the name for the bell that is inside of the tower, which rings every hour on the hour, not the tour's name. Right beside it of course are the Houses of Parliament which actually have tours on Saturday which I'm hoping I can make it to soon! The building, architecture, and structure are so immaculate and decorative it's hard not to be affixed just taking in its presence. Westminster Abbey is almost directly parallel to the Houses of Parliament and my goodness it is HUGE! Considering that it is a royal church that has royal weddings (William and Kate), royal funerals (Diana), and even has the bodies of Geoffrey Chaucer, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin,and many more it is truly an extravagant and beautiful church. After some picture taking we were then shown the Scotland Yard's main headquarters as well as the hospital where Florence Nightingale actually worked and the nurses there today are still called nightingales and it is a huge honor to be one as well. They not only have the privilege of being nightingales but with that comes a key to the private key garden across the street from the hospital which they share with the arch bishop. By this time it was 3 and we were starving and stopped at a local cafe on the corner. There was a wide variety to pick from, but apparently, the most local 'snack' you could get was a sausage roll. It's simply homemade sausage wrapped in a very thin, flaky croissant and served very warm. My god was it good! After that very delicious snack and a much needed coffee, local of course, we headed towards Downing Street. This is where the prime minister lives and is guarded 24/7 of the guards in large hats and red coats. They really are even funnier in person. We also learned that laws and bills are passed in Parliament, but that they are actually put into effect in the government buildings and establishments surrounding it. Furthermore, most of the elected and non-elected Parliament bodies offices are not in Parliament, most are in the buildings around it. However, most of these buildings have underground walkways, etc from their offices to Parliament. We were again advised to hit up the pubs in the late afternoons on weekdays in hopes of seeing some/many of the Parliament members. Speaking of government, there is a monument of Abraham Lincoln right by Westminster Abbey and Parliament and one of George Washington in Trafalgar Square - both in the center of London. Washington, however, said he would never step foot on London soil. That being said, there is actual a slab of soil from Boston between his statue and the London soil, so he actually kept his word and has never stepped foot on British soil.
We continued the trip by seeing the BBC headquarters which was huge and it's many stations are translated into 100s of different languages. We then saw the 'royal courts' building where not criminal cases, but celebrity and royal cases such as divorce, etc are held. It was also pointed out that dragons are present at the entry and exit of the part of the city where the old Roman gates would have been. We were also told the story of Sweeney Todd and the pie shop of Miss Lovett which is actually true. Sweeney Todd took a fancy to Miss Lovett and anyone who seemed to do the same he killed, chopped them up, and sent them to her in paper bags. What's even more interesting/funny is that McDonald's is now in the spot where her pie shop was, so the mystery meat mystery still continues.
We then saw Saint Paul's Cathedral - yet another magnificent work! It is the only building in London with an Italian style and influence and is the 2nd largest dome in Europe. We also saw the Mansion House where the Lord Mayor of London lives (each does for their 1 year in office) and it even comes equipped with it's own private jail in the basement. We also saw the Bank of England where all of the paper money is made, gold reserves kept, and where the government's money is. We also saw Christopher Wren's monument (famous architect) which is 222 feet high, road over the London Bridge which did fall down but is obviously now back up, the Ship Belfast which is London's famous battleship, and the new modern architecturally inspired buildings such as the 'glass egg' which is city hall and where the mayor works, Boris Johnson. We then saw the Tower of London built by William the Conquerer which is home of the crown jewels and of the WORLD'S largest cut diamond - the star of Africa which is a 530 carat diamond. It only sees daylight for coronation ceremonies the last of which was 1953. At the Tower of London 7 royals were executed, 3 of which were queens, and this execution was a holiday! Everyone was off work and basically had a picnic and cocktails and cheers ferociously while the beheading occured. Now, knowing that no member of the EU can have the dealth penalty, it's nice to know the Brits have steered away from public exectutions.
This lovely adventure finished up with the passing of the National Theater (on one of Pink Floyd's album covers), the famous Saint Stephens pub where Churchill was regularly a customer, and the MI5 secret service headquarters.
As you can tell it was an extremely educational, fascinating, and wonderful afternoon! The thing I learned most about London was that even though it's not known for its scenic views like say Scotland or the coast of Portugal, but everything within the city has great, deep meaning and much historical value all with a great purpose that helped the city develop into what it is today. It was so so wonderful to finally get to see the city, even though it was an extremely summed up version. Our hilarious and very British guide and the beautiful, sunny if I may add, day couldn't have made the experience more enjoyable!
We came back and I skyped for a couple of hours with Mom, Dad, Bobby, and my absolutely AMAZING roommates back at Wofford! :) After that I met up with some girls who attend Indiana Univeristy and some guys from Penn State and we walked down Kings Road and went to a couple local pubs which is always a blast! They are so relaxed with dark wood, lanterns, music, and great friends. :) After that bed! miss and love you Kathleen, Liz, and Marie!!!!!!
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