Well, time is flying once again – sometimes it is so difficult to know where it all goes. Before the finer details of my final two days in Londres fades away I suppose I better share them. Hannah and I continued to receive top class hospitality from the Treacy family on Wednesday and Thursday which included a free quality tour guide named “Simon.” On Wednesday morning Hannah, Simon, and I were dropped off at the Fleet train station and caught a very brisk 40 minute train into Waterloo station in central London.
The London Eye was one of the many “Millennium Projects” that London constructed at the turn of the century (other projects include the Millennium Stadium and the Millennium Bridge). Essentially the Eye is a VERY large ferris wheel that gives its occupants an excellent view over the Thames river and central London. A quick Wikipedia reference will tell you that the London Eye has become “the most popular paid tourist attraction in the U.K.” while boasting over 3 million tickets purchased every year.
The view from the Eye gave us a good preview of what were were about to go see up close. We disembarked from the Eye and made our way across the bridge in front of Parliament and West Minister Abbey. We spent some times on the ground around both of these two famous landmarks, took some nice photos, and continued to move on towards another part of London. We arrived at Trafalgar Square where we happened to catch the closing ceremonies of the Beijing Special Olympics that was being displayed on a very large screen. What made this event special is within the closing ceremonies there is “passing” of the games from Beijing to London (as London is set to host the 2012 Olympic games). We just so happened to be sitting in the central square (Trafalgar) where celebrations were planned to take place later that evening.
The British National Gallery of Art also happens to be located on Trafalgar square and to our surprise it was free admission. Hannah was very excited as she learned that some of her famous paintings (especially one by Rembrandt) were displayed at the National Gallery. We took some more time to observe some art and returned to the streets of London. We in turn caught a double decker bus (very exciting, I know!) and traveled a ways and got off next to St. Paul’s Cathedral. After deciding to not pay a hefty entrance fee we continued on foot across the pedestrian “Millennium Bridge” which led us to the Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.
We spent some quality time inside the Tate Modern and in fact Hannah and Simon even had the chance to create some modern art themselves:
As the day was quickly moving a long we chose to spend our last hour or so walking along the Thames and chatting about life. We made a stop by the famous “Tower Bridge” which is often a misidentified as “London Bridge.” Those events essentially took up most of our day as we had to meet Simon’s dad on the 6:10 train back to Fleet in Waterloo station. Sure enough, as we climbed into the first car on the train there was Mr. Treacy waiting for us.
The evening commenced with a fine dinner in a lovely restaurant about a 20 minute drive away from the Treacy’s residence. Back in Fleet we shared more stories and painfully began thinking about our departure plans. We didn’t fret too much because both Hannah and I knew we had another very fun day ahead of us in London. I was especially lucky as I had plans to meet up with two of my friends from Drury who were studying at Regents College AND a group of my English friends from London that I had met in Granada last semester. *Kudos to Lucy for putting together the mini-reunion.
Thursday morning we caught the same train back into Waterloo station. I’ll admit my memory is a bit foggy of what exactly we did during the first part of the day (besides walk around more of the city) up until we arrived at the British History Museum. This was a very impressive museum and it was free to enter. We simply “previewed” some of the expositions – all of them looked very interesting. I would like to return there some day to do some more exploring and learning.
In the early afternoon we met up with a friend that both Simon and I knew from Granada last semester. Firyal is from Slough, UK which, like Fleet, is another city that lies just beyond the reach metropolitan London. Firyal regularly commutes into the city and attends University College London (UCL). Firyal was nice enough to meet up with us in central London to show us UCL. I was not only very excited to see Firyal once again but also to get to finally meet Jeremy Bentham.
Jeremy Bentham is well known for being one of the first scholars to define and advocate utilitarianism. He also was an influential figure in politics and other venues of social reform. He is credited for helping begin the process of the founding of UCL and to this day carries the title of “the Godfather of UCL.” I had studied a bit of Bentham in my ethics course at Drury and was alerted of his current presence at UCL. Meaning that his body is kept on display in the main building. It turns out that Bentham requested in his will that his body be on display after he died. He named his body “Auto-Icon” which is latin for (I can’t remember exactly but I think its this) Self Image. It may seem weird that his fully clothed body is on display in the main hall (by the way the head is made out of wax) but I found it to be pretty neat! Here is a picture of Mr. Jeremy Bentham:
After learning lots about Mr. Bentham we (now joined by Firyal) walked northward towards Regents Park to meet up with my two American friends who are there at Regents College (which is located inside Regents Park) for the fall semester. By this time we were all severely hungry and decided to search for a place to grab some traditional “fish and chips” (FYI for the American readers – “chips” mean “french fries” in British English). The American girls, Emily and Lawren, recommened a place the knew in Notting Hill so we set off BUT not before taking a swing past 221 Baker St (which happens to be the old residence of Mr. Sherlock Holmes).
We hopped on the “tube” or London Underground and traveled over to Notting Hill. We got a bit lost looking for the Fish and Chips place but I didn’t mind as I wasn’t leading and I was getting a chance to see a bit of the famous Notting Hill (keep in mind that it is different than Notting “ham”). I was feeling a bit helpless when I heard one of the American girls ask a local for directions, “Excuse me, can you tell me how to get to Portobello Road?” I was surprised for two reasons: 1. I think I had forgotten that even though I was in a foreign country that I could still speak to the locals in English. 2. “No way! We’re going to Portobello Road?!!!” I immediately broke out in song from one of my favorite childhood musicals “Bedknobs & Broomsticks.”
We eventually found Portobello road and the well known fish and chips place. It was worth the walking and the fish and chips seemed authentic enough as they came wrapped in paper. We enjoyed the food and said good-bye to the Americans and hopped back on the tube to go meet the rest of the British gang. This time we took another detour to swing past “platform 9 and 3/4″ at King’s Cross.
The remaining of the evening we spent walking around central London (Covent Gardens and Piccadilly Circus) and catching up with old friends. It was a grand old time! We sat down in an Irish Pub and I tried a pint of Caffrey’s and absolutely loved it! I also discovered a new phenomenom in the pub. In the restroom there was a nicely dressed man that was standing by the sink and when I went to wash my hands I found the water already turned on and he was offering me soap. He helped me wash my hands and gave me paper towels and at the end offered me a range of candies and colognes (odd mix if you ask me). I had been warned by Simon that this guy was in there so I had to act surprised and plead the “clueless/shocked American tourist” act to get out without leaving a tip.
The night finished with tearful pleasant goodbyes. We hopped back on the tube and rushed back to Waterloo station to catch another train into Fleet. On the train we reflected over the past two days and talked more about how the departures would work on Friday (the next day). When we arrived in Fleet the temperature was cool enough to make me think of Fall and the changing of seasons that I’m missing this semester. I pushed that to the back of my mind and tried to enjoy my last night in England.
Perhaps I could say that the last two days in London were my favorites of the visit but I have left out one detail that affected the back end of my trip. When I was at the football game in Reading I could start to feel a bit of a sore throat coming on and when I woke up on Wednesday morning it had grown worse. Had I been in Spain or at home I would have chosen to stay in bed and rest up but I had a moral obligation to be an active London tourist! Despite Mrs. Treacy’s best efforts and kind acts of hospitality my small sore throat had grown to be full strength cold on Thursday. I did my best not let it slow me down but there is only so much you can do.
I must say that I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to repay the Treacy’s for their overwhelmingly kindness and hospitality. I’d offer them a free place to stay in Missouri but heck, who ever comes to Missouri?! I’ve come to find that the type of relationships that extend across borders and cultures are very very special and I’m very thankful for friends that I’ve met. I had plenty of time to reflect on the entire week passed during my long day of travel back to Granada. That of course, was only in between blowing my nose and coughing up my lungs on the plane and bus. Luckily the trend of warm hospitality continued as when I arrived at my apartment in Granada just before midnight to find waiting my flat mates, a scrumptious plate of spanish food, and a warm bed with clean sheets.
One adventure leads to the next…
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