London Calling! Really long post...

Oh my goodness, our last weekend is OVER. In a week I'll be landing in Boston, standing in line at Customs & Immigration, and participating in the general fun of re-entering the United States. Wow.

So this weekend we finally did a proper visit to London, after weeks and weeks of everyone else having gone and talking about it. We left Oxford on Friday morning after breakfast and took the "Oxford Tube" into the city, a direct bus service that runs every ten minutes or so during the day. After getting to Marble Arch, we had a little bit of time to kill before our tour started (yes, we did another Sandeman's Free Tour), so we stopped by the US Embassy since no one else had ever seen one before. This one was a FORTRESS (and even uglier than the one in the Netherlands), but it also had a nice park out front with an FDR statue, which was cool.

The Sandeman's tour was good (again), and we got to see all of what they called the "Royal City," which was basically the City of Westminster. We saw the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace (as well as a couple more royal residences), the Parade Grounds, Downing Street, Trafalgar Square, the Churchill War Rooms (although not inside), Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Big Ben, and a bunch more stuff I can't really remember. The best facts from this tour were that: 1) a recent London mayor campaigned on the platform of ridding Trafalgar Square of its pigeons, and once in office he started feeding them bird food laced with contraceptives (which has effectively lessened the population) and 2) 20% of the world's cameras are in the United Kingdom, and the average Londoner gets their photo taken 300 times a day (although I already knew that second bit). Sweet.

After the tour ended we grabbed lunch and then took the tube to our hostel, which was a bit outside the city center. This hostel was also fairly amazing--it was pretty inexpensive, and it was in a restored Victorian mansion. We got freshened up and then we headed back to Trafalgar Square to see one of the GA Tech professors perform on the plinth there. The backstory is that there's this huge public art project where volunteers are randomly selected to perform whatever they want (as long as it's legal) on this tall column for an hour, and they're having 2400 people do it all together. It's actually a very interesting project, and for more explanation and a live webcam of what's going on right now, click here. She was the only American to participate, so there was a reporter from "Time" magazine there to film her for their website... Amy even got interviewed for it!

After a very quick Italian dinner, we split up to go to our evening events. The boys wandered around the city, the girls went to see "Hairspray," and I went to see "Jersey Boys." I haven't been to see a proper musical (besides working backstage at MUSKET) for AGES, and it was absolutely incredible! The show dragged a bit at first, but after the first fifteen minutes or so it was so tightly performed and energetic and just WONDERFUL. I can totally understand why it won the Tony, and I'd really recommend it if you ever get the chance to see it.

First thing on Saturday morning we headed back to Trafalgar Square to the National Gallery, which had the most incredible collection that I've seen in Europe. I loved the Monets, the da Vincis, the Renoirs, the Cezannes, and the Raphaels, but my favorite piece was actually "Ophelia Among the Flowers" by Redon (photo below).

After the National Gallery, Kathryn and I popped our heads into St. Paul's Cathedral, then stopped for lunch at "Yo! Sushi," this really cool restaurant where food comes by on a conveyor belt in front of you and you just take what you want (then they count your plates at the end). We then walked across the Millennium Bridge to get to Shakespeare's Globe, where we took a guided tour. The tour was actually pretty sweet, and we even got to sit in on a rehearsal of Euripides' "Helen" that was going on while we were there.

After the Globe we went back to Westminster Abbey, where we took the self-guided audio tours. I feel like I've never been surrounded by as much history as there was in that building... there were so many monarchs and artists and writers and scientists and stories about all of them! I felt like we just barely scratched the surface during the hour that we visited, but it was well worth it. Hopefully I'll get to come back some day.

After Westminster, Kathryn, Jeremy, and I went to the War Rooms and the Churchill Museum. This was definitely my favorite historical museum that I've visited this trip--it was so cool to see everything! We got to see the secret direct telephone line (disguised as a bathroom) that Churchill used to call FDR, the map room just as it was the day the Japanese surrendered, Churchill's Nobel Prize, his baby rattle, and THE MAP that Churchill, FDR, and Stalin used to divide Germany into its Eastern and Western sides after the war. Literally, the map they drew on and labeled "USA," "Fr," and "USSR." It was incredible.

After the War Rooms the three of us went to Harrod's, where I bought a mini cupcake (one of the only things in my price range...we saw a cake that was selling for 4,999 pounds!). After that we met up with the gang for dinner, then crossed the Millennium Bridge AGAIN to go to the Tate Modern museum. As much as I'm often confused by modern art, they did have some amazing pieces, including Warhols, Lichtensteins, and some amazing Pollocks. The Lichtensteins were my favorite--I've never seen his work in person before, and his attention to detail is really remarkable.

After that long of a day, I had one of the soundest sleeps of my life, but we woke up early again today to get started with the day! Kathryn and I headed to the British Museum first, where we saw all kinds of amazing things: the Rosetta Stone, the Athenian marbles, Cleopatra's mummy, and a bunch more things I can't remember. It was one of the biggest museums I've ever been in, and their collection is so impressive that it's almost overwhelming. They had a couple of really cool temporary exhibits as well--one on timepieces throughout history and another on tribal shields from the south Pacific. It was great.

After a wonderful lunch of good 'ole American burgers, we went to the Tower of London. We actually didn't get to see the crown jewels (the line was at least an hour long, if not longer), but we did get a free tour by a Yeoman Warder (which was fantastic and very entertaining), and we got to walk all around the outside wall and see little exhibits they had set up. Next time I'm in London I'll get up early to see the jewels, but I definitely enjoyed the visit nevertheless.

By the time we'd finished with the Tower, seen the Tower Bridge, and headed back to Westminster to "eye the Eye," Kathryn and I were both so exhausted that we couldn't do anything else besides catch the bus back to Oxford. It was definitely a great weekend, though, and an excellent way to finish our trip with a bang!

Sorry again for this post being so long... we did a lot of stuff! Here's the photo documentation:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018152&id=1326450024&l=dfe2986be5

Have a great week, everyone!

Dara