Erin's Top 10 London

My days in Europe are numbered. I have less than four days left in Blois, and then I'm off to Paris to catch my flight home. I got back from England on Sunday and underwent a little bit of culture shock as I was plunged back into my French-speaking world. I have spent the last few days pretending to pack, fighting off the droves of cockroaches that tried to take over my apartment in my absence, and spending time with my favorite Blésois (people who live in Blois).

England was, in a word, amazing. Staying with Harriet and her family was such a joy. I felt right at home and got to enjoy some much-needed homey downtime--shopping, baking cookies, playing with their dog Bingo, watching movies, chatting over tea, having late-night sleepover chats--before hitting the big city.

Me with Harriet's family. We're having a Chinese!

I had a total of seven days in London, which I foolishly believed would be more than efficient to hit all the sites. Boy, was I wrong. I could probably have SEEN everything in seven days in London, but EXPERIENCING everything is an entirely different animal. I spent the first two days with my new friends from the hostel I was staying in, a young Portuguese woman named Patricia whom I clicked with immediately and a very sweet Croatian woman who was in London alone to see her favorite actor perform at the Globe. Then Ali joined me on the third day and we proceeded to "shoot it in there," as we would say--in essence, do London right. Harriet joined us to see The Phantom of the Opera on Thursday, and Suzie came on Saturday to hang out at the London Eye (Ferris wheel that provides a killer view of the city) and the London Dungeons (a theme park like experience meant to scare that we hoped would be more historical... alas).

Suzie, Ali, and me on the top of the London Eye

I saw and did so much over the week, so I've decided to condense my activities into my favorite ones in a sort of London's Top 10. Enjoy!

10. Parks
Parks dot London's streets, but the one I saw the most was St. James', the park right outside Buckingham Palace. I ate lunch there my second day in the grass amongst the tulips and watched the ducks float by on the small lake at its center. I also had the highly amusing experience of being interviewed by two 12-year-old Belgian girls on a class trip with their English teacher. Can't escape the francophones!

St. James Park. The London Eye is on the left.

9. Trafalgar Square
You can't claim to have seen London and NOT see Trafalgar Square--and I think I saw it every day. It is the city's beating heart, not as flashy as Piccadilly Circus (London's equivalent of Times Square) but way more impressive. Big Ben is visible from the steps of the stately National Gallery, London's Louvre. The square itself boasts several monuments, two fountains, and the famous lions who stand guard over London's artistic treasures. Red double-decker buses and black taxi cabs run circles around the grandeur in an almost cliché spectacle of London-ness. Photo Op #1.

Trafalgar Square. Big Ben is just visible to the left of the pillar.

8. British Museum
I was skeptical about going to this museum that houses the conquests of British imperialism, having been too many times to the Egyptian exhibit that was in Memphis about 20 times as well as the MIA in Minneapolis that has an impressive collection of ancient art as well, but Ali convinced me it was worth a gander. Just stepping into the entrance hall made it worth the visit: an arching glass ceiling with marble corridors leading off the the greatest treasures of the ancient world, including the Rosetta Stone and the stolen ruins of the Pantheon, not to mention real mummies!

Impressive entrance to the British Museum.

7. Queen's Walk
This walking path along the Thames was my favorite place in London and one that I trod everyday I was there. The path stretches from London Bridge, where I was staying, past the Globe and the Tate Modern (modern art museum) to the London Eye, just across the river from Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. It not only provides killer views of the city but is also is home to live street performers and food stands as well as being a bustling communal hub. On Saturday, we stumbled across a food festival there that Ali and I enthusiastically took advantage of (we met because we were both working in a kitchen together at Concordia, so we like food a lot). We enjoyed two cooking presentations in the Cookery Theatre before wandering from stand to stand soaking in the smells and tastes of London's multicultural heritage.

Baking demo at the Food Festival

6. West End
The West End is London's theatre district and probably one of the best neighborhoods of the city. As most theatre districts, it is vibrant and pulsing with creative energy, and just walking down the street gives you that feeling of anticipation deep in your insides that you get right before the curtain goes up. This is where Ali, Harriet, and I saw The Phantom of the Opera, and it is also home to Piccadilly Circus, great shopping and markets, Chinatown, and a hopping gay bar/club scene that Ali and I couldn't resist (our bartender was shirtless and no man gave us a second glance).

Piccadilly Circus

5. Markets
London is full of food, clothing, and knick-knack markets. Some are better than others, but I had the great pleasure of getting a 5-pound lunch from the Borough Market, the bustling and colorful food market next to the hostel, and finally getting a grown-up leather wallet at a market near Piccadilly where Ali found some really cool brass stamps. We also saw the more elaborate, permanent set-up of Covent Market and the less-impressive but youthful clothing market at Camden.

Indian dish for 5 pounds at Borough Market. YUM.

4. Tower of London
Originally Ali and I were going to reject the 20-pound price tag (approx. $40) of England's most infamous fortress, but in the end we decided you only live once. So, off we went to the Tower, once a royal residence and fortress, then a prison for nobles and political prisoners, and now home to the crown jewels. We hopped on a guided tour led by an enthusiastic yeoman (the guards of the Tower, all retired military personnel with excellent senses of humor and funny outfits). We didn't have enough time to see everything we wanted to see because we had to get over to the West End for Phantom, but we did manage to oggle the crown jewels, check out the torture equipment, and appreciate the Tower's haunting past (the Tower's most famous prisoners are Queens Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard and Lady JaneGrey, all tragically beheaded on mostly-false charges of treachery against the king).

Our yeoman guide. Such a coolio.

 3. Westminster Abbey
I also balked at the price of Westminster Abbey--a healthy 18 pounds--, but since I paid so much to get in, I was sure to reap all the benefits I could from my time in this magnificent church where the kings and queens of England have been baptized, married, crowned, and buried since the 12th century. I got an audio guide and listened in on a guided tour and didn't end up seeing the light of day again for over three hours. No pictures are allowed, but that only allowed me to soak it all in more. Highlights included the graves of Darwin and Newton, the tombs of Queens Elizabeth I and Mary I (also known as Bloody Mary), the detailed description of the crowning and royal wedding by the guide who had witnessed both, and Poet's Corner where I was surrounded by the spirits of the greatest creative minds the world has ever known: Chaucer, Shakespeare, Austen, Wordsworth, Handel--too many to list!

Westminster Abbey

2. Hampton Court Palace
While this medieval palace which was home to Henry VIII was not quite as exciting for me as going to Versailles, it as still one of the coolest places we visited. I've long been interested by the lives of Henry VIII and his six wives as well as Elizabethan England and the medieval court, so being in such a historically-rich place was quite exhilarating. Once again, we didn't have enough time to really soak it all in as we had tickets for a performance at the Globe, but we did manage to see Henry VIII's apartments and a special exhibition on the Royal Bedchamber (highly amusing) as well as the court kitchens, still in operation today by experimental food historians (aka my new dream job), that used to cater to Henry's ridiculously large court of 1200 hungry people. Ali and I were in total awe. We also took a stroll around the gardens and completed the maze, and we even got to chat up King Henry VIII himself, on an afternoon stroll with one of his courtiers. Our conversation topics: hunting (Henry was concerned we might be poaching his deer and threatened a trip to the Tower) and alligators (strange creature of the New World native to Ali's home state of Florida).

Hampton Court Palace

1. Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
Destroyed several times, most notably in the Great Fire of 1666, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre was completely rebuilt and restored according to historical records and building methods in 1999 by an American actor. It is the theatre for which Shakespeare wrote a majority of his plays and where he often acted. It is an impressive open-air, circular building with seats in the round going up three stories and a large central "yard" where the poor used to enjoy the entertainment standing up. It's from this yard that I, poor twenty-something that I am, enjoyed two performances of Shakespeare's genius for 5 pounds a pop. The first performance I saw was an African interpretation of Shakespeare's poem "Venus and Adonis," a sensual piece about  a lovestruck Venus and the immature (read: idiotic) Adonis who is more interested in hunting than getting it on with the Goddess of Love. He is then tragically killed in the hunt, much to the dismay of Venus. The poem was performed in seven languages, English and six African dialects, and included some fabulous singing, dancing, and humor that transcended all linguistic barriers. Then I saw a more traditional production of The Tempest, a comedy about a wronged duke stranded on a tropical island and his quest to gain back his dukely right by stranding his betrayers and the King of Naples on his island. It was hilarious and brilliantly acted and included several historically-accurate theatre traditions of the Elizabethan Age. Both plays were between 2.5 and 3 hours, but I was so entranced that I didn't even notice that I'd been standing that long. English major paradise!

Interior of Shakespeare's Globe

Ali and me snapping photos in front of Big Ben. We were mostly successful...

My dear friend Dina is here visiting me from her internship in eastern France, and it's time for us to start our day. On the agenda: lunch, shopping for souvenirs and owl earrings (I need some in my life, thanks to eight months with owl-loving Harriet and Amy), and dinner with Mr. Gauben and Dominique.

Cheers!