Sunny Days in Londontown

Hello all,

I figured I should try to get one last post in before my spring break adventures begin--more about that later. As those of you who know my parents have probably already heard, I spent last week in London with them during my mom's spring break. I may have skipped a few classes, but it was definitely worth it! We did a lot, so I can't talk about everything, but here are the highlights.

Best (and possibly only) free thing to do in London--attend Evensong at Westminster Abbey. It's a beautiful Anglican service of prayer and singing, and the boys'/men's choir is phenomenal. You get into the abbey free (though you don't have much time to look around--it's worth paying for a sightseeing visit too) and you can sit in the beautiful old choir stalls by the main altar--where monks and royalty have been sitting for centuries! We went to the service Saturday afternoon as something low-key that wouldn't be ruined by jet-lag, and it was a really fun experience. Oh, and I forgot to mention my favorite thing--we got to sing the last hymn accompanied by the organ!

The "high" point of any London visit: climbing the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral (pun courtesy of my father...). First of all, St. Paul's is beautiful--it was designed by the only British architect with any sense of taste, Christopher Wren. It makes Westminster Abbey and any other Gothic monstrosity look pretty tacky in comparison. The sheer size of St. Paul's is impressive, and the details of the building are stunning. I love that there isn't much stained glass--the clear windows let so much natural light in. We decided to be brave and climb the 400-something steps to the top of the dome, and were rewarded not just with a spectacular view of London, but the chance to look down through the oculus of the dome to the center of the cathedral floor--it was a long way down! It's an amazing building. Too bad there weren't more like it...

The Museum of Things Stolen from Their Rightful Owners by Self-Important Imperialists Who Should Give Them Back: aka the British Museum. This was a visit I'd been looking forward to for awhile, and it lived up to my expectations. But it also made me do a 180 as far as my opinion on where important pieces like, say, the Elgin Marbles (surviving statues from the Parthenon) should be on display. Walking into a cool, almost clinical marble gallery lined with marble statues after an entire corridor lined with other marble statues, admiring them for a few minutes, and then walking out into the display on Egypt and not giving Greece a second thought is NOT a good way to see some of the most important remnants of THE most iconic Greek building ever constructed. How different would it be if you walked down from the top of the Acropolis itself, through sunny streets that the ancient Greeks once walked themselves, into a museum dedicated exclusively to the amazing finds from the Acropolis, up the stairs and into a glass-walled gallery, aligned with the Parthenon, which can be seen just to the right from every corner of the room, and THERE were the statues that once graced Athena's temple! That's how something with that kind of cultural and historical significance should be displayed, not lined up neatly in a room next to hundreds of other rooms with equally important artifacts. I understand the many ramifications not just for the British Museum but for museums everywhere if they were to start returning artifacts to their homelands, but it's a shame that they can't be returned on loan or something so that they can be appreciated properly in Greece.

So that's my rant about the British Museum...went a little longer than I anticipated! It was pretty cool to see the Rosetta Stone (which, to be consistent, would have more impact in Cairo) and recognize Greek words (yes, I looked at the Greek more than the hieroglyphics. Deal with it). It honestly got kind of bewildering after awhile, being surrounded by so much history, but it was overwhelming in a good way. It's like the Louvre--I need a month to see it properly, and even then I'll feel rushed. But it was cool to see the things we did.

Another highlight was Shakespeare's Globe. I would NOT want to see a show there--the benches were uncomfortable even for ten minutes!--but it was cool to see the reconstruction and hear the spiel about how the Globe worked way back in Shakespeare's day.

Oh, and the shiniest things in London: the Crown Jewels. SO PRETTY. The kind of hilarious part of the exhibit, though, was all the crowns that had just been reduced to skeletons with empty holders for jewels because the jewels had been "recycled" in another crown! It was pretty entertaining. Sadly, no reasonably priced replicas of the real things were anywhere to be found, or I would have come home with nothing but shiny stuff in my suitcase...

The Tower of London itself was pretty amazing too, though creepy as only a former prison and execution ground can be. We found the tower where many prisoners were kept, possibly including Anne Boleyn, and even though I'd read that this was the case, it was still a horrifying realization that the window of that room looked out at the spot where executions took place (now covered by a lovely memorial). That's worse than torture--watching other beheadings take places as you wait for your own. See why I found it creepy? The history of the place was pretty amazing though, so I definitely enjoyed it.

Best food in London: High Tea at the Kensington Palace Orangery. SO GOOD. Mom and I went Tuesday afternoon while Dad was at the Maritime Museum, and it was just this amazing tower of plates of pastries, starting with an assortment of cute little finger sandwiches, then a warm orange scone with a pot of cream and jam, then an eclair, then a tart...it was amazing. Overpriced, naturally, but worth it for the experience. High Tea is now my new favorite meal...

At the other end of the spectrum, my dad discovered a newfound love of fish and chips. It was good, the first time. Even the second time. By the third time, well... ;) At least he found something he liked!

The last ugly building we visited was the British Library. After the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, it was kind of anticlimactic to be honest. No papyri with the gospels on them. Sad. But their collection of Shakespeare (and Marlowe!) was cool, and they had some of Da Vinci's notebooks which were amazing. Unfortunately, there was a "book club" making a nuisance of themselves and standing in front of exhibits without even talking about them, which started to get on my nerves. I wanted to see them! I eventually got to see everything, so it worked out.

Then it was back to good old St. Andrews and lovely Scottish rain. London was sunny, against all odds--apparently my mother decided to make up for the hurricane she brought with her last visit to the British Isles and bring good weather this time! I'm hoping it's still there, since I'm headed back to London this weekend for part of my spring break trip.

My spring break trip is, by the way, the following: York, London, Lyon, Avignon, Nice, Milan, Venice, Florence, Pisa, Rome, Naples, Pompeii. In 16 days. Any suggestions from those of you who've been to France or Italy would be welcome!

I'll try to post London pictures before leaving on Friday, but no guarantees. I still have this thing called...oh what's it called...right, homework, that's it. I should probably do that sometime. But I'll add pictures when I can.

A bientot!

~L