London Calling, Part Two

After the disaster that was Glasgow, I was ready to be in a city that had plenty to do. So when Evan mentioned that he was planning to spend a few days in London, I wasted no time inviting myself along.

I was able to book an evening flight from Glasgow to London for a mere $16 with RyanAir, and transportation to and from the airports cost me a grand total of $20, setting a new record in the "Cheapest Flight Jess Has Ever Taken" category. I also realized, shortly after boarding the plane, that it was my first flight since the one that brought me to Europe in the first place.

It was a relief to be back in London. Though Evan and I were staying in an AirBnB in a completely different part of London than I'd stayed in before, it was still a familiar city, and one that I already knew how to get around. Which came in really handy when I started to get motionsick on the shuttle from the airport; I didn't have to spare too much thought to figure out which bus to take and how to pay for it.

Since we hadn't gotten in until 1:00am, we let ourselves sleep in a bit on Evan's first morning in London. Then we caught a red double-decker bus to Hyde Park Corner and walked by Buckingham Palace, where we were surprised to find a huge crowd of people waiting. First we thought the Queen herself must be putting in an appearance, but it turned out that everyone was waiting for the changing of the guard. Evan and I were too hungry to stick around for the whole ceremony, but we caught the very beginning of it as we continued on in search of breakfast.

Evan was set on having a full English breakfast that morning, but I was craving waffles, so we found a place that served both. #winning

He also had Earl Grey tea, because he thinks he's posh or something.

Of course, then I changed my mind and got French Toast:

#stillwinning

Then I got to relive my days as a University Student Ambassador by playing London tour guide for Evan. First we headed down towards the Thames so that Evan could check off the stereotypical touristy picture with Big Ben. 

Okay, fine. He didn't care whether he had a picture with Big Ben. But I did. 😜

Ditto for the phone booth picture.

Then we headed to Covent Garden, where--in the week and a half since I'd last been in London--they'd set up a Santa's Workshop made entirely out of Legos.

We also got freebie Lego kits to build our own reindeer. Because we're children.

It turned out to be a bit of a Lego-themed day, because after that, we visited the Lego store around the corner. 

Child.

Children.

Once we managed to grow up a bit, we left the Lego Store and headed for Regent Street, one of the most expensive shopping streets in London. We had a lot of fun window shopping (being too broke to do any real shopping), and when we started to get hungry, we asked one of the shop assistants to recommend a place for a late lunch. Once we'd followed his directions and swooned over the burgers, we decided on a new motto for traveling: AAAL (Always Ask A Local). 

Next up on Evan's tour of London was Harrods, where we fought the Christmas crowds to do a little Christmas shopping of our own. Still in the Christmassy spirit, we looped back around to Hyde Park to visit the Winter Wonderland (it's much more fun when you have someone with you than it is to go by yourself).

We called it a night not too long after that, since we were getting up early for a day trip to Stonehenge and Bath the next morning. 

It turned out that we didn't have to be up quite so early as we'd thought. We arrived at the meeting point only to discover that I'd gotten the time wrong and we were an hour early. Oops.

Well, the tour was worth the wait. Our tour guide was a hilariously narcissistic Londoner who kept an entire double-decker coach (not bus, he was very adamant on that point) full of people informed and entertained for the whole day. 

First stop was Stonehenge, that mystical prehistoric monument that has fascinated researchers and tourists alike for centuries.

They don't let you get closer than this because apparently there's a lot of archaeological evidence in the area under and around the stones as well, which of course they don't want tourist disturbing.  

There are a lot of fascinating questions surrounding Stonehenge, including not only why it was built, but how. I mean, thinking back to prehistoric times, what tools could they have used to cut the stones, haul them from where they were cut (some from 32 km away, others from up to 250 km away), and raise and stack them? It's kind of crazy to think about, and researchers still aren't sure what the answers are. 

After standing around staring at a bunch of rocks, we boarded the bus--sorry, coach-- and headed for Bath, another place steeped in ancient legends. 

Apparently, the city of Bath began around 860 BC, when Prince Bladud (father of King Lear) caught leprosy. He was banished from the court and forced to scrape together a living by looking after pigs. Apparently, some of the pigs also had some sort of skin disease, but were cured by rolling around in the hot mud of the springs.Prince Bladud followed their example and his leprosy was miraculously cured. A short time later, he became king and founded the city of Bath as a place of healing.

When the Romans came to England in the first century AD, they built spectacular temples in the city, as well as the famous Roman baths, which were buried in a mudslide after the decline of the Roman Empire, and left undiscovered until Victorian times. The city had grown on top of them, passing in and out of fashion as royalty and members of the gentility followed the legend, seeking cures for their various ailments. 

Queen Victoria was one of those people, and her preference for Bath made it more popular than ever. The construction of a new bathhouse in the center of the city led to the discovery of the old Roman baths below, which had been well-preserved by the mud that had buried them. Since then, the ancient Roman baths have been the main tourist attraction for the city. 

You can no longer actually bathe in them, as the plumbing (which was incredibly modern for its time) is rusty and full of lead. However, a new pipe has been connected to one of the underground springs to allow visitors to drink some of the famous healing water, which Evan and I both did. Can't say it was the tastiest water I've ever drank (drunk? Ugh, grammar), but if I come back to the States with superhuman powers, you know where they came from. 

Because of our super-early start that morning, by the time we got back to London that evening, Evan and I were pretty wiped out. But we managed to muster up enough energy to visit a pub near our AirBnB, called the Earl of something (almost every pub in England is named after a Duke, an Earl, or a King). 

We got a much later start the next morning, but still managed to make it to the British Museum not too long after they opened. In all honesty, we didn't really do the museum justice--since I hadn't had any coffee yet, I was seriously dragging--but we did check out the museum's most famous artifact: the Rosetta Stone.

Our best Easter-Island-head faces.

After a quick pick-me-up in a café (coffee and baked goods were a necessity), we headed off to the British Library, which turned out to be one of the coolest things that I have seen on this trip (and I've seen a LOT of cool things).

In the Sir John Ritblat Treasures of the British Library Gallery, there are hundreds of amazing texts, from gorgeously illustrated Bibles and Qur'ans to pages from Leonardo Da Vinci's notebook to drafts of original Beatles music to the actual Magna Carta. It was mesmerizing, seeing these things firsthand. One of the coolest parts of the exhibition was that they had headphones, so you could listen to recordings of Handel's Messiah or Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik while looking at the page where it was first written down by the composer himself. It was practically a transcendental experience.

If you ever find yourself in London, this is a must-do. Seriously. 

Evan and I spent so much time in the British Library that by the time we left, it was dark outside (and had been for a little while already). We once again braved crowds of Christmas shoppers to check out Oxford Street, the other main shopping street in London. Unlike Regent Street though, Oxford Street has stores that real people can afford to shop at.

The next morning, we got up early and took a short bus ride to Abbey Road Studios, which we had realized was actually pretty close to our AirBnB. Because I refused to leave London without this picture:

Shoutout to the random bystander who was willing to stand in the middle of a busy street to help us get this shot.

Before heading back to the AirBnB to get packed up, Evan and I had a pretty delicious brunch at a restaurant a few blocks from Abbey Road.

    

It was a great way to say goodbye to London before I headed off to my next city: Cardiff!

Old York

"Start spreading the news....I'm leaving today. I want to be a part of it! New York, New"--oh. Dang it.

Why aren't there any songs about old York? If you know any, hook a sister up, would you? Thanks.

Anyway, I arrived in York at about 7:00PM, so it had already been dark for several hours. But York is not a terribly big city--or is it a town?--so my hostel was only a short walk in the dark from the bus--sorry, coach--station. 

It's easily one of the strangest hostels that I've stayed in yet. Which isn't to say that it wasn't nice, because it was. In fact, it's one of the nicer hostels I've stayed in. But strange. Well, you'll see.

There was no reception desk; instead, I had to lug all my bags through the restaurant next door to the bar to check in. Luckily, it wasn't very busy (it was a Monday), so it didn't take long to catch the bartender's attention. She was very friendly, chatting as she walked me up to my room. The room, though, turned out to be more like an apartment. There was a living room (featuring a flat screen TV and a hella comfy couch), a bathroom, and a kitchen in addition to the bunk room I was expecting. And the kitchen had all kinds of goodies in it, including free coffee, tea, and juice. There was even a washing machine in there to do laundry, for free! *gasp* It was such a homey place that there weren't lockers, which are usually a given in hostels. Normally, this would have made me nervous for the safety of my stuff, but my roomies turned out to be pretty nice people, so I felt okay about leaving my stuff out in the open.

Anyway, once I managed to pop my jaw back into place, I cooked some pasta for dinner and headed to bed. I was so exhausted that it didn't take long for me to fall asleep, despite the mattress clearly being made entirely out of springs. Oh well. Can't have everything. 

I finally had the type of English weather that I'd been expecting when I awoke: chilly and foggy. I was thrilled, and headed out to explore York. I'd only given myself two nights there, so I was determined to make the most of it. 

I started with a full English breakfast at a restaurant overlooking the main square.

Black pudding=not my thing. 

After spent most of the day wandering, checking out the mostly-intact city wall, which dates back to Roman times. 

Part of the city wall.

I also stumbled upon the birthplace of Guy Fawkes:

Remember, remember: the fifth of November. 

Once it got dark again, I headed back to the main square, where I had seen the Christmas market setting up earlier that day. Now, it was all lit up, with Christmas carols playing and the smell of mulled wine in the air...Christmas markets are easily one of my favorite things about traveling this time of year. 

Check these guys out!

I spent the rest of the evening relaxing in my hostel, lounging on that supremely comfy couch and chatting with my roomies, before heading to bed. I had a train to catch the next day. 

York was a lovely place to spend a day, but it was only ever a pit stop on my journey north. I was on to the next exciting place.

Scotland!

London Calling

The day after Thanksgiving, I took my first night bus. I usually prefer to travel during the day, but in this case, I didn't have a day to waste. The clock was ticking.

You see, the average passport-bearing American is allowed to stay in the Schengen Area for 90 days, total, within a 180-day period. And the Schengen Area includes pretty much every country I had planned to visit. (For more information about the Schengen Area, click here.)

So I did my research during the months before I left, and got everything in order to apply for a visa from the German embassy in Washington, DC (since I have family in Germany, it seemed like the best bet). But when I arrived for my appointment, completed application in hand, I was informed that I wasn't eligible for the visa, and that the only way that I'd be able to stay in Germany longer would be to apply for an extension visa from an immigration office once I was actually in Germany.

Well, it turns out my aunt has connections in German immigration, and the guy she spoke to said he could extend my visa, no problem. But the evening before my November appointment to go see him and actually get the extension, he said that he had looked into it more and found that he apparently couldn't actually do that.

Fan-freaking-tastic.

Since I can only (legally) stay in the Schengen Area for a total of 90 days within a 180 day period, I've had to leave the Schengen Area for a total of 47 days. (Since I'd already booked my flight home from Germany, I was committed to being Europe for a total of 137 days.)

So I had to pass on Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece this time around. Luckily, I hadn't booked too much for those countries yet, so I didn't lose too terribly much money. (But losing any amount of money still stinks.)

So where did I go instead? To the UK! (It's one of the countries not included in the Schengen Zone, even though it is/was part of the EU.)

Since every day now counted, I decided the best use of my time was to take a night bus from Paris to London, rather than waste one of my (now very limited) days in the Schengen Area by sitting on a bus.

I didn't get much in the way of quality shuteye on said bus, partially because of the passport checks at the border, but also because I was too busy chatting to my seatmate, a friendly native of England who had taken it upon himself to offer advice for my upcoming travels around the UK.

When we arrived in London at 5:30am--an hour and a half ahead of schedule--my new friend proved extremely helpful, helping me through a minor crisis involving every ATM refusing to pony up any cash for me. (I guess I probably should have let my bank know when I decided to come to the UK. Oops.) He also navigated the process of getting an Oyster card, which would allow me to travel London's public transportation like a local.

Once my new friend departed to catch his connecting bus, I headed out to explore the city for a bit. I had a few hours to kill before I could check into my AirBnB, so I headed to Buckingham Palace, just a short walk from the bus station. Sorry, coach station. They're very particular about that in the UK.

Guess the Queen was still sleeping...can't blame her. It was still pretty early!

After I popped by to see the Queen, I walked down to the Thames. On the way, I passed Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, and, of course, Big Ben!

Did you know that the clock is actually named the Elizabeth Clock? Big Ben refers to the bell inside!

After lounging on a bench in St. James Park for a while, I finally made my way to my AirBnB, which turned out to be further from the center of the city than I'd anticipated. I had to take the Tube (that's the London Underground train) to the end of the line, then take a bus. In total, it took more than an hour. Oh well. I settled into my room for the next ten days, then headed back out for the afternoon. I went to check out St. Paul's cathedral at the recommendation from my host, but it turns out that it costs £16 to visit! Nope. I'll pass, thanks.

Instead, I went to check out St. Bartholomew's Hospital. Generally, it's not a touristy place, but if you're a Sherlock fan, it's one of those things you check out when you're in London.

It was actually a pretty surreal day. Maybe it was partially the sleep deprivation, but I think it had more to do with my inner Anglophile freaking out about the fact that I was finally in London, in person, seeing all of the places and things that I'd only seen on TV or read about.

The sleep deprivation did strike pretty hard, though, once the sun started to go down, so I made myself an early pasta dinner and hit the hay not too long after.

I let myself sleep in the next morning, before I got up and did some planning for the next leg of my trip. Since my itinerary had changed on such short notice, I'd given myself ten days in London to figure out what to do and where to go next, as well as to see all the sights there.

By early afternoon, I was burned out with planning, so I decided to treat myself to a movie. When I'd been in Paris, I keep seeing posters for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (but of course, it was Les Animaux Fantastiques), so I was excited to be in an English-speaking country where I'd actually understand what the actors were saying.

I ain't no plagiarizer. I got this photo from: https://logganeo.fr/

The next morning, I got up early, ready to really start to experience London. I went for a short run to kick-start my day (I doubt I'll ever truly be a city runner), then hopped on a double-decker into the city.

My first stop was to pick up my London Pass. Since I'd gotten so much use out of the Paris Museum Pass, I was eager to see what the London Pass had to offer. It turns out, A LOT. I used the heck out of that thing over the next few days.

I then headed to the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B Baker Street. It was super cool to actually be at the legendary address, but the museum itself was a total rip-off. Since it's supposed to be a museum, I was expecting things about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's life and career, about how Sherlock has been reinterpreted over the years, you know, informative museum exhibits, but I was extremely disappointed. Nothing about it is a museum. You basically pay £15 for five cramped rooms full of crappy (and creepy) wax figures and props. Fellow Sherlockians, steer clear. Just take your photo outside the front door and just keep on walking.

Okay. Rant over.

The rest of my day was more enjoyable. I checked out Regent's Park, one of London's many gorgeously-landscaped green areas, then went to the Victoria & Albert Museum, better known as the V&A. They had some pretty cool exhibits, including a fashion exhibit featuring the history of undergarments. (Scandalous!) Then I went to check out one of the world's most famous department stores: Harrods.

If you've ever been to the Macy's flagship store in New York City, picture that. Now multiply its size and extravagance by about twelve. Harrods is insane. Holy cannoli. It's seven floors of some of the most diverse, luxurious, and, yes, expensive merchandise I have ever seen. It was even more overwhelming because of Christmas: both the decorations and the crowds simply added to the madness. I only had the energy to tackle about two of the floors that evening before skedaddling back to my AirBnB.

The next day dawned as clear and bright as had my first few mornings in London. It was kind of freaking me out, actually. Isn't London supposed to be rainy? Or at least cloudy?

At least it was good weather for (surprise, surprise) a free walking tour! We walked through the City of London, which is the part of London where the original London town stood way back when. This part of London is still governed separately from the rest of the city, by a Lord Mayor, rather than your garden-variety mayor. Another stop on the tour was the oldest pub in London, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. The pub has been in the same spot since 1538, and it was one of the first things to be rebuilt after the Great Fire of London in 1666: the Cheshire Cheese was up and running again within a year of being burnt to the ground. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese was frequented by many famous writers, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Charles Dickens. Right around the corner from the Cheshire Cheese is the home of another one of its famous patrons: Samuel Johnson, writer of the very first dictionary. Outside of his house is a statue of his beloved cat, Hodge, who famously dined only upon oysters.

The tour finished at the Tower of London, whose name is rather misleading:

That's the original Tower, the corner right above my left shoulder. But I was actually inside the Tower of London when I took this; the name now refers to the entire complex. 

I used my London Pass to bypass the line at the Tower of London, and caught the start of a Beefeater tour. "Beefeater" is the nickname of the Yeomen Warders, the ceremonial guards of Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress: the Tower of London. They supposedly first got the nickname in the 1660s, by those who were jealous of their beef-heavy diet (culled from the King's dinner leftovers).

My favorite fact of the Beefeater tour was that the Tower of London has six resident ravens. Legends dating back to the Tower's beginning claim that wild ravens were first drawn there by the smell of the corpses of the executed enemies of the Crown. However, the start of the royal tradition of keeping ravens with clipped wings there can supposedly be traced to Charles II and his royal astronomer, who complained to the King that wild ravens were flying past his telescope and making his work in the observatory at the Tower difficult. Charles II was prepared to remove the ravens, but shortly before he gave the order, he heard a prophecy that if the ravens ever left the Tower of London, England (and the King himself) would fall. The superstitious King--who had only just regained the throne--instead set measures to ensure that there would always be ravens at the Tower. 

The best part of my visit to the Tower of London, however, was getting to see the Crown Jewels. (Can you say "ba-bling?") If you've ever gone to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History with me, this won't come as a surprise. I always insist on seeing the Hope Diamond when I visit.

Once I managed to tear myself away from all the sparkly things, I headed to Tower Bridge, flashed my London Pass, and took the elevator up, up, up. 

View of the Tower Bridge.

View from the Tower Bridge.

My interest had been piqued by the Cheshire Cheese earlier that day, and now that my day was winding down, I decided that, yes, I did want to have a drink at the same pub as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, thank you very much. So I made a one-beer pit stop there on my way back to my AirBnB for the night.

The next day found me--bright and early--at Westminster Abbey again. But this time, I was armed with my London Pass, and actually got the audioguide and did a tour. And man, that thing is not one of the most famous churches in the world for nothing. 

No spoilers, though. Go check it out for yourself. 😉

Afterwards, I headed to the Churchill War Rooms, not realizing until I arrived at the balloon-bedecked entrance that it was, in fact, Winston Churchill's birthday. It was meant to be. 

The War Rooms were far more interesting than I had expected them to be; I think that spending so much time in Europe has managed to make World War II an interest of mine, despite what I told my World History teacher in 11th grade. (Sorry, Mr. Richardson.) I actually spent so much time in the War Rooms and the attached Churchill Museum that I was late for lunch.

That's right, I had plans to meet someone for lunch in London! As soon as I knew I would be in London, I reached out to my fraternity to see who was around, and made plans to meet a Brother from a chapter in Washington, DC, who was studying abroad in London. He introduced me to the wonder that is Wagamama, an Asian-style chain restaurant that became a slight obsession of mine while in the UK. So. Yummy. 

After lunch, we headed to Covent Garden and found a red phone booth, taking the requisite super-touristy pictures. 

So obvious I'm from out-of-town it's embarrassing.

Afterwards, my friend had to split to take care of some school things, so I made my way to the Royal Mews, home to the Royal wheels, carriages and cars alike. I was just in time to see the horse-drawn Postal Carriage depart on its daily journey to collect the Royal mail, a tradition that has been going on since 1843. I then headed next door to the Queen's Gallery, to check out an exhibit called "Portrait of the Artist."

I was still in museum-mode when I left the Gallery, so I headed back to the V&A to explore some of the exhibits that I hadn't gotten around to the last time I visited. I also stopped in the museum café for afternoon tea, courtesy of the London Pass.

That evening, I had tickets to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in the West End, which I was SUPER excited about. I listened to the Wicked soundtrack quite a bit growing up, but never actually saw the musical, or even read the synopsis. (I didn't want any spoilers for when I finally did see it, and boy, was that a good move on my part!) So when I found out I could get a ticket for under £20, I jumped on the opportunity. 

And I am so glad I did. It was wonderful. (Or dare I say wicked good?) High-five through the past to young Jess for not reading the synopsis, because those plot twists were pretty dang awesome. 

The next morning, with the Wicked soundtrack still on repeat in my head, I set off for Windsor Castle. Since you have to buy tickets almost a year in advance to see Buckingham Palace, I had to settle for a tour of the Queen's weekend residence, which is a bit outside of the city itself, and which boasts the title of both the oldest and the largest inhabited castle in the world.

Fun fact that I learned while touring Windsor Castle: Her Majesty was a Girl Guide (the European equivalent of a Girl Scout)! As a lifetime Girl Scout, I got pretty excited about that. I also got kind of hungry, wondering what kind of cookies Girl Guides in England sell. So after finishing up at the castle, I headed into the town of Windsor itself, in search of fish and chips.

After lunch, I moseyed back over to the train station and headed back into the city. Next up was the London Transport Museum, which didn't actually sound all that interesting to me, but since it was included in my London Pass, I figured I'd give it a shot.

That place is amazing.

It's an elementary-school teacher's dream, with tons of hands-on and multimedia exhibits. There was even a simulator that allowed you to be a Tube driver...SUPER cool! My inner child was so thrilled to be in a museum where I could actually touch things that I ended up spending almost three hours there.

The museum is located right next to Covent Garden, so that was the only logical next destination for me. The Christmas decorations there were next-level.

I also took advantage of the free samples at a tea shop there before heading to the nearest Tube station, where I found a huge crowd of people waiting. Apparently, several of the Underground lines were "operating with severe delays." So I busted out Citymapper (this app is a must-have for getting around London) and figured out which bus I needed. I passed the hour-plus bus ride by becoming best friend with the kid sitting across from me. We made faces at each other, much to his mother's amusement, until my stop came up.

Over the next three days, I structured my days around what was included in the London Pass, traveling all over the city and becoming a pro at London's public transportation in the process.

I checked out the Banqueting House:

Saw the changing of the Horse Guard at the Royal Calvary:

Visited Shakespeare's Globe Theater:

The only thatched-roof building in London. This is actually a reconstruction of the Globe, built in the 1990s. When applying for the building permit, they had to get special permission to have a thatched roof, due to building regulations still in place from the aftermath of the Great Fire of London. (Thatch is pretty flammable.)

Checked out the HMS Belfast:

Did a riverboat cruise:

Got my Christmas on at the Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park:

Saw all the critters at the London Zoo:

I also saw the Reptile House. You know, the one from Harry Potter. 

Went on a tour of Stamford Bridge, the Chelsea FC Stadium:

Visited Kensington Palace, home to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge:

And, for my last geeky London shenanigans (for now, at least) I went to Platform 9 and 3/4 at King's Cross Station:

Did I actually make it to Hogwarts? Stay tuned!