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.
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| 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.
Each sculpture, or falla, has a
similar style that can only be described in pictures (think of adult-themed
Disney cartoons in three dimensions). At the end of a few days celebrating,
people take to the streets to watch others light the sculptures on fire in the
middle of the city, with the fire department managing the chaos as flames shoot
up along nearby buildings.
Las Fallas ceremonies include an absurd
amount of fireworks shows and in the two days I spent in Valencia we saw one
show by day and another by night. The daytime show came as a big surprise.
Sealed in a slow-moving crowd, we felt the ground shake and saw more smoke than
colors as a rapid-fire ensued. Surrounded by buildings in the central Plaza del
Ayuntamiento, each shot reverberated and the spectacle quickly overwhelmed me.
Our small group saw a group of adamant musicians playing flutes and drums while
dancing and singing—inspiring others to chime in.
After the “Gran riada de Valencia,” the
city’s greatest flood, the city decided to create a place for locals and
tourists alike to take calming strolls (in Spanish people say ”dar un paseo”) through
nature. The park snakes through the city and offered a great contrast between
nature and city—offering an escape without leaving urban commodity. I thought
the water features were spectacular, particularly the “Fuente del Jardín”
located close to our apartment. One of the weirdest/coolest parts of the park
for me was a play structure made to look like a man lying down.
A great spot to grab some cheap eats or prepare for a quality home-cooked meal. I snagged an empanada filled with
morcilla (blood-sausage) and a fresh glass of kiwi juice.
