Standing in the English rain

I never thought I’d have the opportunity to visit London. All my life I’ve dreamt about going and, last weekend, my dreams were matched by reality.

We stayed in Paddington from which we were able to travel throughout London proper with ease.

Here are my favorite moments:

Bus Tour

Led by a tour guide, Ingrid, we had the chance to whiz by major sights including Westminster, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Buckingham Palace, and the Tower of London. As we passed monument after monument, I realized I had some major decision making ahead of me, as many opportunities await tourists in the city.

When we passed the Savoy Theater and Ingrid mentioned that "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" was playing there, starring Robert Lindsey, one of my favorites (from one of my favorite British comedies, "Spy").

Ingrid also talked about the presence of Qatari's across the city, funding projects like the Shard—tallest building in London, Harrods, and a series of apartment buildings with the highest real estate value in the city, equating to tens of millions of dollars per flat.

About half way through the tour, we made our way to Buckingham Palace and watched the changing of the guard amongst a large crowd. This was the moment in which—apart from enjoying the guard—I became aware of the diversity in London just by listening to the many languages I heard in the crowd. I believe I heard Arabic, mandarin Chinese, French, Spanish and German, but I cannot be entirely certain about all of them.

When we passed by St. Paul’s (a place I didn’t make it back to, unfortunately) Ingrid talked about the colossal effort of volunteers, known as St. Paul's Watch, to protect the Cathedral from damage during the World War II blitz. Had it not been for those volunteers, the Cathedral would not be in the shape it is today. The theme of wartime camaraderie would return even stronger for me later in the trip as I visited the Churchill War Rooms (read on for more).

Westminster Abbey

A few hours after our bus tour (which ended at Covent Garden), a few friends and I grabbed lunch and toured the city—eventually ending up back at Westminster—where we marveled at the houses of parliament and the Elizabeth Tower. Soaked by the English rain, we luckily arrived in time for a service at the equally astonishing Westminster Abbey. A site of coronations (from William the Conqueror), burials (including Charles Darwin, Ben Johnson, Charles Dickens and Sir Isaac Newton—among others) and royal weddings (obligatory Kate Middleton and Prince William comment here), the church is steeped in history. The acoustics in the building for the choir combined with a powerful silence in moments of prayer made for a unique sensory experience—though I would have liked a tour to learn a bit more about the building’s history.

British Museum

Impressed by the building alone, I entered with little idea of the millions of artifacts awaiting me inside. Our tour guide told us about the importance of the library inside the building, used by people like Marx (to write the Communist Manifesto) and Lenin.

*Food for thought: Individual panes of glass cover the “courtyard” inside the British Museum—between the outer building and the library.  The inner building is not exactly centered so, to give the appearance of symmetry, a team of designers used a computer program to create a glass ceiling that, using pieces of glass, could give the illusion of symmetry in the courtyard area. Each pane of glass has a unique shape.

Among our selected sites, we saw the Rosetta stone (with Egyptian hieroglyphs, Demotic writing, and Greek), part of a statue of Ramasses II, the Sutton Hoo Burial with Anglo-Saxon artifacts, and Cleopatra’s sarcophagus. Apart from these major artifacts, we saw a collection of African art including a throne constructed from weapons (including swords and firearm magazines), expansive collections of Greek and Roman art, and briefly looked at a few other exhibits including one on the history of clocks and timekeeping and another on the historical significance of money.

As I walked through the massive libraries and saw thousands of bookshelves alongside major artifacts I thought about how the museum was, by far, the most iconic building for history that I had ever seen in my life. I hope I can return and, for those of you that want to visit London, make sure to get in a full day at the museum—my time there was rather short. I will post pictures of the museum in the slideshow feature.

London Eye

The London Eye is the largest Ferris wheel in Europe. In a slow rotation, the ride is very comfortable and you are able to walk around the pods and take in a panoramic view of the city—looking down areas like Westminster to the major modern buildings (e.g. "the shard," "walkie talkie,") of London.

Churchill War Rooms

Down below the Treasury building in Westminster and beneath a layer of reinforced steel and concrete known as “the slab” lies one of the best kept secrets in London and my favorite place I visited. From these rooms, Winston Churchill directed the war effort in World War II. Spending 15 hours a day working with a devoted staff of military directors, civilian typists, and media personnel, many worked under artificial light for hours as bombs reined down on the city. From this concrete cave, instead of misery arose determination and heart as these qualities emanated from Churchill.

We slowly made our way from room to room—from his transatlantic telephone room where he communicated with other world leaders (as demonstrated in our audioguide through a reenacted transcript between Churchill and FDR), to his bedroom, to the dining room, to the media control room, to the map room—used by the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force.

Map Room in the Cabinet War Rooms, Copyright Kaihsu Tai

In addition to the war rooms, there is a massive museum housed underneath as well. With pieces including Churchill’s preferred one-piece suit, his cigars, sunlamps used by those with him, a lock of Churchill's childhood hair, and private letters between Churchill and his wife Clementine, I would describe the museum as thorough, to say the least.

In addition to many of Churchill’s personal effects, I found the amount of supplementary material including a thorough audio guide accompanying each room and area of the museum, video testimonials from those who worked with Churchill, and recordings of Churchill’s speeches to be fascinating. Additionally, the museum has a light table where visitors can search by year and month and pour through important dates and documents from Churchill’s life and career.

Churchill served a prescient purpose in making bold predictions and staying true to his convictions. The museum gives a very unbiased portrayal of the man and, even after looking through some of his flaws (including opposition to India’s independence from Britain), I felt inspired by the guy. He followed his intuitions about Hitler, he thought highly of his company (in both his experience as a soldier and leader), and he thrived under pressure—though he fatigued greatly because of it.

Rapid Fire:

St. James Park

Located in front of Buckingham Palace, this park has ponds and lush greens, alive with squirrels, pelicans, swans, and ducks. This was one of the most idyllic city parks I have been in and, though I couldn't make it to the vast Hyde Park, I realized why London is renowned for its parks—more than any other large city in Europe.

King’s Cross Station, 221B Baker Street

Needed to add these two locations to my list, even if just for a few moments. I took the tube (metro) to these two places and had fun reliving some of my favorite childhood film/book interests at platform 9 and 3/4 and outside Sherlock's mythical apartment.

Camden Market

Filled with tourists, trinkets, and food—Cambden Market could easily take days of exploring. Unfortunately, I only had an hour and a half. For that reason I explored shops quickly and shoveled in a burrito before catching the tube back to the hotel for our bus back to the airport.