Twenty-four of us left Lugano on Thursday February 6th for the first leg of our spring break. After taking a train, a plane, and a bus, we arrived in London nine hours later. We ditched our original plan to sleep in the airport, and made our way to a hostel for the evening.
On Friday morning, we took a walking
tour of Westminster and became acquainted with the royal side of London. We heard stories of the security flaws of Buckingham Palace, and how Big Ben
is not actually the name of London's iconic clock tower.
Nick, MaryKate, Kaitlyn, Molly Rose, Cat and I spent the remainder of the day
exploring London. They tried fish & chips for lunch and we made our
way to the National Gallery. There are four major statues
outside the National Gallery, each representing different aspects of
British military tradition and history. One of the statues is replaced each year by a new
statue of significance. This year, the square is home to a
giant blue rooster that stands out among the other large bronze statues. According
to a British man we met on the double-decker bus, the statue is
highly controversial.
After a lovely dinner at a small pub we made our way to Piccadilly Circus, a part of London reminiscent of Times Square with bright lights and people everywhere. We enjoyed a night out and reminisced upon the good times we had and the good times to come.
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| Buckingham Palace |
On Saturday
we woke up early to see the changing of the guard. We followed the
soldiers as they moved from Prince Charles' estate to Buckingham Palace.
We stopped for lunch at a restaurant called Nandos. Nick and MaryKate were literally jumping and screaming in excitement when they found it. The
primarily chicken based Portuguese restaurant was surprisingly vegetarian friendly and allergen aware. The menu included three different
veggie burger options. I enjoyed a unique chick pea, pumpkin seed and
lentil burger with mango-lime salsa and mashed sweet potatoes. Our next
stop was the British Museum, home of the Rosetta Stone. The museum
seemed never ending as we made our way through exhibits featuring
Ancient Rome, Egypt, and Japan. I also enjoyed a special exhibit on
ancient Persian currency as well as the exhibit on Iran which featured
remains found in Persepolis.
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| The changing of the guard |
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| The Rosetta Stone |
We eventually found the Rosetta Stone, and
made our way back across the city to the London Eye, one of the largest
Farris Wheels in the world. The structure, which was originally meant to only be up for a year, has now been a part of London's city skyline for about
a decade. The view from the top that night was gorgeous. The sky
cleared just in time as our hour long walk from the museum to the wheel drenched us to the bone. Umbrellas were no help to us, as the wind blew
in every direction.
We met up with the other eighteen Hokies for dinner before
splitting up as most restaurants couldn't handle twenty-four customers entering
at once. Nick, MaryKate and I enjoyed Thai food before we all met up
again to go to the pubs. We ended the night at
Chocco Matte, one of the
coolest restaurants I've ever been to. It was a cross between a Japanese
steakhouse, a bar and a neon light show. I felt incredibly underdressed for this James Bond-esque restaurant.
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| The walls inside Chocco Matte. |
Sunday
morning we jumped on our broomsticks to King's Cross to catch the Hogwarts Express into the
Wizarding World of Harry Potter through Platform 9 3/4.
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| Hufflepuff didn't make it through the platform. Typical. |
After an entertaining
photo shoot and a few Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, we went to Camden Market. The market was my favorite part of London. Thousands of people crowded around to bargain and
shop for all sorts of knickknacks. Lunch there was incredible. I
couldn't decide what to eat. Seemingly every nationality was represented
at the market. My Vietnamese noodle dish alongside a chocolate filled
churro was a bizarre but divine combination. Somewhere along the way Molly Rose, Kaitlyn, and I
got separated from Nick and MaryKate. We looked for them but finding
them without cell reception was virtually impossible. We're fairly confident Nick and MaryKate ditched us, but they claim otherwise.
Molly Rose, Kaitlyn and I ventured to Abbey Road to attempt to recreate the iconic Beatles album
cover. This was a far more challenging task than expected, as Abbey Road
is still a working street with cars speeding by in either direction.
Dozens of people were lined up to try to get a picture and drivers didn't
hesitate to slam their horn when coming through. Regardless, we didn't leave until we got the shot.
After dark Molly Rose,
Ashley, Kaitlyn, Susan and I went to Westminster Abbey in hopes of
getting a peak inside the cathedral. While we weren't able to go in, we
went over to the Tower Bridge. It was lit up beautifully. We had a
fantastic dinner at the Bridge House before calling it a night in
preparation for our early flight to Dublin in the morning.
Updates from Dublin coming soon. Too-da-loo!
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