Les Misérables!!!!!! Definitely a must-see!!!
Taking our jumping routine to London!
Leadenhall Market (do you see the resemblance with Diagon Alley?!?)
Channeling the Beatles on Abbey Road
I'm writing on the tail end of my spring break, and boy, do I wish I could have another 10 days to evade the reality of Spanish classes, as well as the fact that I'll be preparing to take finals in a month. Molly, Mary Kathryn and I decided, essentially right after arrival in Salamanca, that we wanted to spend our spring break in England and Ireland. Sure, they're sort of mainstream (some might call them boring?) spring break destinations, but it was something that all three of us were really passionate about doing. So, after lots of careful planning, we caught our requisite bus to Madrid on the 3rd, metroed it to Barajas, and were on our way! We were less than excited about the actual traveling part of the trip (mostly because we had come to abhor RyanAir, with all of its hassles, hidden fees, and lies about always being on time) with every fiber of our being. But hey, they got us to and from our destinations all in one piece, so I suppose I really shouldn't complain!
But, needless to say, we finally made it to London. From the moment I stepped off that plane, London wasn't just another feather to stick in my European travel cap, but a wonderful, enchanted land called Londontown. I should preface this by saying that, when I visited London 3 years ago on my Suffield spring break trip, I had spent my entire life dreaming of going there, idealizing it and holding it up on a pedestal. My parents said I should keep my expectations in check, so as not do be disappointed, but, to my utter delight, my entirely unrealistic and lofty expectations were completely exceeded!!!!!!! I went in March, when the weather was cold and rainy, but I literally walked around the entire time with stars in my eyes. Well, that's how I felt the second I stepped off the plane- this city absolutely enchants me, and I was giddy with excitement at being back. I think I should have been born a Brit!!!!!!!!!!!
We made our way, via train and then the Tube, to Bristol Mews, where Molly's cousin, Beth, and her husband, Josh, live. Beth is Molly's prodigal cousin who I have heard so much about, her cousin whose life I want. Beth worked in Senator Ted Kennedy's office for about 10 years, working her way up in the office, and now works in Gordon Brown (the Prime Minister)'s office. I expected to meet someone who moved at a frenetic pace and was obsessed with her job, but Beth was incredibly sweet, quiet, and down-to-earth, as was Josh. I never would have know that she worked in the Prime Minister's office, and man, was she tired, because London had played host to the G20 summit on Wednesday and Thursday, and she basically hadn't slept all week (because, as she pointed out, whereas Barack Obama- who is speaking at Georgetown today, by the way!- travels with an entourage of over 100 people, there are only 15 people working in Brown's office, so they are REALLY stretched thin, especially for big events like this). Anyway, when we arrived at their townhouse (which they so generously offered to let us stay in, saving us a LOT of money), we were cheerfully greeted by Jennifer, Molly and Mary Kathryn's friend from home who has become a friend of mine as well. It was so nice to have a little reunion of sorts, as well as a new person to add to the mix (because, let's face it, Molly and I have spent so much time together that we could practically recite each other's childhood and family stories, and have developed our own little ways of communication and a nearly identical sense of humor- so, needless to say, it's nice to have a new person to talk to every once in awhile).
On Saturday, we were up bright and early to meander over to the stored Notting Hill and Portobello Market. We started out with a delicious breakfast of scones with jam and cream at a cute little tea shop, which is enough to put anyone in a good mood (yeah, Molly and I decided that Lent was effectively over the second we left on this trip!). Feeling rejuvenated, we poked through the market, finding a couple of things worth buying. Then, we happened upon The Travel Bookshop, which, if you've seen the movie Notting Hill, is the quaint little bookshop where Hugh Grant's hapless, blubbering, and yet still adorable character works. I LOVE that movie, so I was excited. Equally exciting was a trip to Daunt Books, also in the Notting Hill neighborhood, where we stocked up on English-language books (because God knows we're severely deprived of those in Spain, especially since I've been going through books like crazy since the beginning of the semester- I've probably read 6 or 7 books, even while reading for school). My most notable purchase was a book about the history of Paris, which I'm hoping to finish in preparation for our trip there in about a month-and-a-half. After stopping at a pub for lunch (Molly and MK sampled the traditional fish & chips, Jen got a jacket (baked) potato, and I got a (vegetarian!) falafel burger- it was nice to have Jen, another vegetarian along with us), we strolled on the Kensington Palace grounds and then through Hyde Park. Next we popped over to Harrods for ice cream from their gourmet gelato bar. Expensive, but delicious!!!!!!!
After Harrods, we were down for the count, ad this feeling of constant exhaustion would be a constant companion throughout our break. When we left Salamanca on the 3rd, we were more than ready for spring break. Emphasis on BREAK. Well, let's just say that this vacation was anything but relaxing. We were running around like crazy women all day long, so we would literally get back to Beth's at night and collapse into our respective beds. That first night, we were home by 7 and absolutely felt like death. The thing is, though, I realized on this trip how much of a Type-A I am (therefore making it crystal clear that I am my father's daughter). In London, we constantly had something to do, whereas in Ireland, it was more of "Oh, let's sit and appreciate the beautiful scenery" or "what the hell do you think that Irish man just said?", not exactly something exciting to expect around every turn. So, as much as I knew the first time I went to London that I absolutely loved the city, this time, now that I'm seriously starting to think about my future, I can really see myself living and working in London. Granted, I would need to have an amazing-paying job in order to afford it, but I just know that I would feel so at home there.
On Sunday, we had another jam-packed touring day, because it was Jen's last full day before she had to return to classes at Sciences-Po Paris. We started out at Abbey Road, hogging the street for four different photographer changes. The thing is, Abbey Road is actually a semi-busy street, so you have to time your picture correctly before darting into the middle of the road, doing your poses, and escaping to the other side to avoid being hit by a car. And most drivers understand that it's a major tourist spot, but there are the occasional few who are jerks about it and honk at you. So, after probably about 30 shots in between us, there were a few good ones, so we decided to let someone else have a turn on the road.
Our next stop was Regent's Park, which we walked through, admiring all of the beautiful flowers, on our way to the British Museum. The museum was obviously very interesting, and had some incredible items and exhibits (like the Rosetta Stone and remains of the Parthenon), but for those of you who may have had the pleasure to go to a museum with me, I have what I like to call Museum ADD; I like the idea of museums, and I genuinely enjoy many of the exhibits, but they tire me out if they're not interactive enough or don't deal with something I'm really interested in. After not much time at all, I felt my limbs go limp, my back began to hurt, and I started to lose the will to walk. That's when I know that museum time is over, and luckily, in this particular case, all 4 of us reached that limit at about the same time. After perking up a little bit thanks to treats from Ed's Diner (essentially Johnny Rockets), we embarked in search of the official Harry Potter London Walks tour. We were running a little bit late and caught the group just as they were leaving, but there were so many of them (there had to have been 40 or 45 people) that we decided it wasn't worth it. So we did our own, self-guided mini-Harry Potter tour: we walked by Australia House, where scenes of Gringott's Bank are filmed; and stopped by Leadenhall Market, which doubles as Diagon Alley. One of the most prevalent spots in the Harry Potter movies is the dining hall, and scenes are actually filmed at Oxford University, but apparently this dining hall is only open to Oxford students and their guests; and since the one Oxford student we know was on vacation, we couldn't go. Incidentally, though, the old Trinity College Dublin Library, which we visited on Easter Sunday, the last day of our vacation, is where they film the library scenes. It's really an incredible room, and you FEEL like you're in a Harry Potter movie (or in Beauty and the Beast). We weren't able to make it to Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station, but that just gives me an excuse to go back to London!!!!
I would like to say that we woke up at dawn on Monday to bid Jen adieu, but her train back to Paris left at 6:45 am, or some equally ungodly hour, so we said our goodbyes on Sunday night (and we're actually going to be staying with her for a few of the days that we're in Paris in June, which will be a lot of fun!). But anyway, we got up on Monday morning and went to the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, which was an absolute mob scene. I actually had to move back away from the crowd, because I was getting nauseous being crowded in by all of those people. We only ended up staying for about 10 minutes of the actual ceremony, after having gotten there over an hour beforehand. We walked around a little bit, down to Trafalgar square, before heading back to the Palace, to meet up with Angela, a friend of Molly's and mine from Georgetown who is studying in Canterbury this semester. We were walking towards the Strand and ran into a group of protesting Sri Lankans. There has been a civil war going on in Sri Lanka for awhile, and this group was protesting the "genocidal" nature of the conflict (I don't know enough about it to know if that's true, hence the quotation marks). It was actually sort of scary: they were very vocal, and went so far as to occupy the entirety of the street between the houses of Parliament and the Westminster Tube station, the latter of which ended up being shut down entirely. We had to walk by them to get to the other side of the river, and I admit that I was scared that they would suddenly lash out. Apparently, two men ended up throwing themselves into the Thames as an act of protest, only to be rescued. The story was all over the papers the next day.
We were able to do a tour of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (which is actually the third Globe, not in its original place and not as it appeared in Shakespeare's day), which was really neat, and followed it up with a nice walk to the market at Covent Garden. When Alexandra went to London for her spring break in March, she put up pictures of delicious-looking chocolate chip cookies from a place called Ben's Cookies. These cookies weren't hard and biscuity-looking like most European cookies (they could certainly take a few lessons from Nestle Tollhouse!), so naturally, Molly and I wanted to try them! I looked it up online and found that it was a chain with three locations in London, so I wrote down the addresses in my incredibly useful London Moleskine. We hadn't been actively LOOKING for Ben's until Monday, but certainly had been talking about it a lot. We walked around Covent Garden like druggies looking for a fix, trying desperately to find these gooey chocolate chip cookies. Well, we finally found it, and while it was definitely worth the search, the Boston Globe-recipe chocolate chip cookies that Kristin's mom sent us over the summer were by far the best cookies I've ever had.
We decided, after much deliberating, that we wanted to go on the London Eye, but when we showed up, we learned that it was closed for the night. Apparently it stops running pretty early. However, we did happen to see a carousel right next to it, and we excitedly got on, further proving that we are, at heart, four year-olds who are attracted to bright lights and whimsical music. We had way too much fun than should be allowed for people of our age!
Tuesday was our last full day in London, and we decided to do something a little different during the day, opting for a trip to the very nautical city of Greenwich, which is a short train or boat ride outside of London (we took both forms of transportation to get there). We signed up for a London Walks tour, which we almost missed because we were caught up in Leicester Square, trying to get tickets to a musical for that night. We ran through Tube stations, and only made it because the tour group was a little bit delayed in leaving. We boarded a boat and took a short ride, and, once in Greenwich, got a short tour from our guide of the old naval academy, which taught the likes of Lord Admiral Nelson, the hero of Britain at the Battle of Trafalgar (he lost his life by saved his country). Nowadays, you can't walk through Greenwich without seeing some sort of shrine to Nelson, so his sacrifice is still obviously very much appreciated. There was a queen's house built on the grounds of the Naval Academy that looked like what I would imagine Pemberley (from Pride & Prejudice) to look like, so I had a fun little Jane Austen moment. We went up to the Observatory, where we got an awesome view of London. But that spot is also the dividing line between the Western and Eastern hemispheres, so the funnest part of the Observatory was straddling the Prime Meridian. After leaving Greenwich, our intention was to go and say a quick hello to Wimbledon (which was the one thing that I absolutely HAD to do while in London). Well, my grand plans were thwarted, when I realized that 1) I didn't actually know for sure which Tube stop it was at (it is at Southfields, in case you're wondering);and 2) I didn't know how to get there from the Tube station, because it wasn't in my Moleskine. So I dejectedly resigned myself to the fact that Wimbledon will have to wait until my next trip to London- not that I need any extra incentive to go back!!!!!!
The last thing we did that night turned out to be probably my favorite part of the entire vacation. We talked about seeing a play even before we booked our tickets to go to London. Molly is OBSESSED with musicals, and I always enjoy them, too, on the rare occasions that I get to see them. We were able to get tickets for Tuesday night's performance of "Les Misérables". And, as the French would say, it was absolument incroyable!!!!!! The music, the sets, and the actors were all out-of-this-world amazing (and, as it turns out, I'm listening to the soundtrack as I'm typing this!!!!!). Before the show started, I was lamenting, in my head, not having chosen to see "Three Days of Rain", costarring an incredibly handsome Scottish actor James McAvoy (from "Atonement" and "Becoming Jane", two of my favorite movies). 'Les Mis will always be around,' I thought of London's longest-running musical, 'but James won't.' Boy, was I glad we stuck with Les Mis. What an incredible play!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was blown away, and actually found that I recognized a lot of the music, even though I've never seen the play before. So now London holds another attraction for me: I want to be able to go to plays in Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square! So, needless to say, our time in London ended with a bang- and that made me really not want it to end! I really hope to be living in London someday, but I don't know at this point what's in the cards for me, so I guess I'll just have to wait and see!!!!
This post is getting lengthy, so I'll do another post to tell you all about Ireland, our next stop on our tour of the British Isles! I hope all is well with all of you, and, as always, I'm sending you my love!
Kristen
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