London

 

Jon and I 

 

 Westminster Abbey

 Changing of the Guards

 Trafalgar Square 

I returned to the UK to visit London for a week and get to know the city that all the French people rave about. Everyone wears the United Kingdom flag; on their clothes, bags, even cars! I had never been to London so it was really interesting. I am a fan of the Royal Family and it was lovely to see things I had seen in movies or on TV, right of front of my eyes. I didn’t see the sun for seven days, the weather was not great, but that is not a big change from the North of France. I stayed with Samantha’s friend, Jon, who goes to the London School of Economics and is living there this year.  

I took the Eurostar from Lille to London and Jon met me at the “Harry Potter Wall” which was covered up due to construction. I arrived in the early evening so we went to his residence and planned roughly what we were going to do that week, then went and met his friends. 

The next day we went to Convent Garden, had tea, and then went to China town. It was really authentic and there were decorations for Chinese New year. After visiting a famous round-about called Oxford Circus, we spent some time shopping on Oxford Street and Regent Street. We also walked along Saville Road which is an area with very famous suit makers. We could see into some of the workshop and they were making the suits by hand. 

We had a touristy Saturday which started in the Lincoln’s Inn Fields, a park, where Jean Chrétien had planted a maple tree in honour of fallen Canadian Soldiers. We headed to the Somerset House and on the way saw the BBC Building and I took a classic London picture with a police officer. We went to Trafalgar Square and there was a large protest going on there for Amnesty International. Minus the protesters, the square was really beautiful, with flowing, icy fountains and the Nationally Gallery at the top. We continued on and I saw a statue of Earl Haig (Earl Haig Family Fun Park, only the Brantfordians would get that. Haha) and statues of other war Generals. There were police men on horses which is one of the stereotypical images of London. We finally got to the Parliament Buildings where I saw Big Ben. I never knew, I thought Big Ben was the clock, but in fact it is the bell inside. It was impressive; the architecture of the building and the stone work was incredible. There were people dressed up like the Queen looking to earn money and people who sold little Clock Towers, etc. Jon and I went to a restaurant for a late lunch and then to Evensong at the Westminster Abbey. It was amazing, took my breath away. The abbey was perfect; it is one of my favorite Churches/Abbeys in Europe. The choir was moving, their ensemble blew me away. I am also a Will and Kate fan, so I imagined I was at the Royal Wedding. After, we went to Buckingham Palace where there were guards who stood as still as a statue. We headed home for a party at Jon’s residence that was themed, Mathletes and Athletes. It was fun!  A few of us went out afterwards and I got a taste of London’s nightlife. 

I spent the next day shopping and bought some London souvenirs. It was weird being surrounded by English speakers, although I did come across many French people. 

I got up early the next morning to go to the Changing of the Guards at the Buckingham Palace. Jon had class, so I went out and tackled London alone (I got lost for about an hour in the late afternoon). There were so many people and I waited for an hour and a half to have a good spot. It was pretty neat to see although it was long and repetitive. A lot of tourist sites say that it is good to do if you have the time, but not vital, I can see why. The band was neat and the show was appealing to the crowd. After, I went to the National Gallery and it was wonderful. It is full of some of the world's most important and most beautiful works of art and it was free! I saw Leonardo Di Vinci’s “The Virgin of the Rocks” which was just beautiful. The rest of the Gallery was great and I drifted from room to room in awe. It was massive; one could easily spend an entire day there. 

I decided I would go to a few Markets in London and I also made the horrible decision of walking. I was so dead by the end of the day. I visited The Chapel Market which was a garage sale style market, not very exciting. I headed to Petticoat lane which was a textile market and was it was not great either. From Petticoat I went to Spitalfields Market which was a relief. It was an upper-class, indoor market that sold some great art, clothes, accessories and food. I bought a little money pouch and a snack. I took the bus back to Oxford Street because walking would have taken forever. I had lunch where a met an old lady who lived in London and told me all about these mosquitos or tropical bugs that are in her house and how she had a doctor’s appointment and a meeting at the bank.  She was cute. I went to the British Museum after which was very different from the National Gallery. It is also really big and I didn’t have all day so I chose to visit the exhibition of different countries. In the Egypt exposition, I saw the mummy of Cleopatra and The Rosetta Stone! In China, there were beautiful statues of Buddha and glass work that was amazing. The Latin American one was interesting and so was Northern America. There were a few pieces about Artic Canada and Native Americans.  There was another piece called “Cradle to Grave” by Pharmacopoeia. The piece incorporates a lifetime supply of prescribed drugs knitted into two lengths of fabric, illustrating the medical stories of one woman and one man. This is over 14,000 drugs in each story and that number does not include the medicine we buy over the counter.  It was absolutely eye opening to see what the average person puts in their body over a lifetime! Jon and I went out for dinner and hung out with some people from his floor that night. 

The next day was low key. I drank tea in a little café and did some work on my computer in the morning while Jon went to class. We later went to St. Paul’s Cathedral which is a really old, pretty church. Outside the church is the longest lasting sit in called, “Occupy London.” They had been camping for about 4 months and were fighting against a warped capitalist system that created a global financial crisis in the UK. They ruined my pictures. We had Pizza Hut for dinner and then went out with Jon’s friends, Matt and Andrew. 

Jon and I said goodbye that morning and I headed back to France. It was a good voyage and I certainly got a good taste of London, literally, I drank a lot of Tea. The Westminster Abbey was so moving and London was really nice and it was good to see a friend from home and to speak English for a week! I can now understand why people in France, and all over the world, love London so much.