A whole lot of London

[icepixie]

ETA, June 2006: All photos are in "London Trip #1" here.

We left Exeter at St. David's train station a little after 9:30 AM on Friday. It was only the second time I've ever been on a train, and the first time I've been on a train that actually took me somewhere, instead of coming back where it started. Yes, Nick, I did indeed say "choo choo!" ;) Two and a half hours later, we arrived at Paddington Station (will get a better picture on our next trip next month), where I promptly searched high and low for a bear in a blue coat and a red hat carrying a suitcase full of marmalade.

We took the Underground to our hotel. I think I'm in love with this public transportation system. Soooo much faster and better than busses. We "alighted" at King's Cross--yes, that one. We did indeed hunt down Platform 9 ¾, and found that the work had been done for us. Heh. Awesome. Oh, and I dare you to take a quick look at this and tell me that at first glance you don't read it as St. Pancreas. I dare you.

Our hotel was much nicer than I was expecting, although the final flight of stairs up to our fourth-floor room was very small and a little tricky. pezprez, rowdycamels and I shared a triple on the top floor, while softstepshoes was down in the basement.

We took off for the Tate Britain after lunch to see the exhibit on Augustus and Gwen John. Blah, I hate it when artists are really fabulous in art school and then degenerate once they hit twenty-five or so. Lots of other neat Renaissance and Jacobean stuff in some of the other rooms, however, although I seem to have missed the Pre-Raphaelite room. Ah, well; next time, next time. We did see an amusing building on the way to the museum; it looks rather like the Emerald City, or possibly a mutated version of the Nashville Convention Center.

We saw a new play entitled Stuff Happens that night. It was terrible. It was beyond terrible. However, it was exactly what it said it was--a dramatization of the events leading up to the Iraq war. There was little to no slant on them at all; merely actors reciting quotes from various US and UK government officials between 2001 and 2003. Had they been trying to make a point, it would've had a purpose. As it was, I'd rather just watch the news clips. At least then I'd be absolutely certain there aren't any misquotes.

Anyway, the rest of the weekend was much better. Saturday morning, we got up early and headed to Hyde Park in order to fulfill my Peter Pan fantasies. Never did find the Pan statue, but I did take some nice pictures of a gazebo (with vista), a funny fountain, the bridge over the Serpentine, and a couple of old men in a rowboat. There was a neat blue heron that sat for a while on one of the posts in the water walling off an island, but it never did turn around so I could get a good picture. And the black ducks with the white heads were fun--two of them had a race where they were half-flying, half-running on the water. I can't describe it, but it was hilarious.

Kenyonites, Hyde Park has its own version of the upside-down tree. Oh, and there were massive swans, too. I didn't know this before I got there, but Hyde Park is connected to Kensington Palace and Gardens. We thought about raiding the queen's closet, but decided that lunch and Westminster Abbey were better options.

We didn't have a lot of time in the Abbey before we had to run off to the other play we saw with the class, but I did take some pictures of the outside (1, 2). And of course, being as it's across the street from the Houses of Parliament, I took a whole, whole bunch of pictures of my favorite London landmark, the clocktower of Big Ben. By "whole bunch," I mean this one, this one, this one, and this one (with cool silhouette effect!), along with Whitney in front of it and me in front of it.

We spent the afternoon in a charming old theatre watching a Bollywood version of Twelfth Night that was orders of magnitude better than the play the previous night. Fabulous work by the guy playing Feste.

Nothing touristy in London being open after 6, we thought about seeing a movie, but were deterred by the £13 ticket prices (for reference, that's something on the order of $23 with the current exchange rate) and the fact that we were pretty sure we wouldn't be able to stay awake during any movies. Leicester (pronounced "Lester," for God knows what reason) Square was interesting at night, though; full of people, lots of neon lights blinking at all corners. Made me a bit claustrophobic, but I can see why people write poems about that kind of thing.

Anyway, we got some Ben & Jerry's, spent a while in the hotel's sitting room downstairs, then went to bed early, for Sunday was a very big day. We spent most of it at the Tower of London, which is not, as I thought, just one building, but rather a huge complex of them. To wit:

Outside of the tower complex
Waterloo Tower, housing the Crown Jewels (which were very shiny)
The Bloody Tower(?)
The famous White Tower
The famous White Tower from another, cooler angle
Tudor houses, where the Yeoman Warders (tour guides) live
Castle yard with tourists
Whitney in front of the scaffold site where Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, among others, were hanged
Fabulous chandelier in a recreation of Edward I's apartments in one of the towers
Man, I'd hate to have this guy's job
London Bridge as seen from just outside the tower gates ("London Bridge is falling down, falling down..."

After the tower, we didn't quite have the energy to go see the museum concerning the steam-powered draw-bridge part of the Tower Bridge. (Although we're so doing it next time, guys. I'm holding you to that. My steampunk urges must be satisfied.) So we went on the London Eye instead. Well, except for Ellen, who got a strange cashier guy who wanted to charge her a bunch for the ticket and couldn't get a ticket in time, but apparently had really fabulous hot chocolate while we were up in the air. Next time, next time. I only got a bit shaky from being so high up, so I was able to, again, take a bunch of pictures. Voila:

Modern London
Lots of church spires
On a clear day you can see forever: London from the top of the Eye
Buckingham Palace, maybe
A neat train station by the river
Looking south down the Thames
Shot with the structure of the Eye
Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament looking like they came out of a J.M.W. Turner painting
Same as above, slightly clearer but with part of the window in the way

After that, it was a light meal of incredibly fabulous Cornish Pasties (must remember to patronize the West Cornwall Pasty Company's booths in King's Cross and Paddington next time) and a long train ride home. Then copious amounts of sleep. Which I think I'm going to do now, as I have my one early morning class tomorrow.

Random other pictures from the trip:
Double-decker bus!
Neat art deco design in the Russell Square Underground station, the other one close to our hotel.

Random picture not from the trip, but was on the photo card:
Out my window in Exeter on a typical day

And we get to do it again in less than three weeks!

Comments

[fiara.livejournal.com]

Ah, I love the Tower of London! It's fabulous. And I remember Kensington having a very high admission price. So we went to see the Royal Albert Hall, Queen Victoria memorial, and shop at Harrods instead. :-)

[montymark.livejournal.com]

Nice photos! And real British weather, too.

I've never been in the Tower or the London Eye, because they are both soooo expensive. Maybe one day, when I'm rich.

Shame you didn't get to go inside Westminster Abbey, it's really worth it. That, and/or St. Paul's Cathedral. There's just so much yet to see in London. Want some tips? Sure you do. Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, just across the river from St Paul's Cathedral. You'll get to walk across the newest bridge over the Thames, too, the inspiredly named Millennium Bridge (guess in what year it was built?).
Also quite near St. Paul's, in a westerly direction ( I don't recall the name of the street... it's something Hill): the Eerie Pub. Great place to have lunch or dinner, complete with paintings with moving eyes, gloomy waiters and disturbing noises from the toilet bowls.
London Zoo in Regent's Park is quite nice, as well. And near that is Baker Street, with a great Beatles Store, if you're into that sort of thing.
The British Museum, and I could go on and on for days on end, blathering and blathering... But I won't.