18. Ottobre 2011: London Calling

Today I did everything. Ok, not everything…one would need years to do everything in London (which I plan on doing eventually, by the way). I did manage to pack a lot of the big stuff into one day. But I should start where everything should start…BREAKFAST! Remember, Italians don’t do breakfast so when we sat down for our complimentary English breakfast and were served cereal, eggs, toast, tomatoes and ham I fell in love with England.

We probably could have spent all morning eating breakfast but we quickly remembered that we were in London and boarded a bus to Hyde Park. Here, the leaves we were turning colors and I remembered something else I had been missing…autumn! Mostly it was still green but there were the most beautiful splashes of yellow and orange and red. We walked through, past a statue honoring the magic of physics and through to the Italian fountains where we found a free public restroom! What a concept! From there, we walked along the Serpentine River (which runs through Hyde Park) to find the statue of Peter Pan. As if that weren’t enough, our next stop was the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain which is quite an incredible work of art. It’s circular, going up a slight hill with as many different little waterfalls and bubbling fountains scattered within the circle but with all of that going on, it is still incredibly tranquil. I dream of one day sitting and sketching by that fountain.

 Walking out of the park something shiny caught my eye and we veered towards some equestrian training going on in a ring in the park. There were about eight horses with riders wearing what looked like half a suit of armor and hats with ridiculously tall feather plumes. We watched for a bit until Kari made the astute observation that it was probably “some royal training thingy,” and we continued towards Harrod’s. Moving through the famous department store was a little bit like walking through a museum—loving everything you see but knowing that you could never have it (in this case, afford it). It was certainly the most elaborate store I’ve ever been in (and no, I don’t regularly visit Saks, Dean & Deluca or Tiffany’s…which, rolled into one and expanded tenfold is pretty much what Harrod’s is). It was very obvious who was there to take pictures and who was there to shop, to say the least. So we changed direction and moved towards Buckingham Palace.

As we approached we heard marching music and saw a mass of people in the distance. We had no idea what was happening for a moment, then we realized that we had inadvertently stumbled upon the changing of the guard. Of course we both tried to push through the crowd and take a peek at what was going on…now let’s take a moment to picture two young women, both under 5’3”, one claustrophobic and one agoraphobic. So you can imagine how successful our ventures to see anything might have been. Standing on tip toe the entire time, I managed to hold my camera above the crowd and got to sort of see what was going on via my digital camera screen.

The Beefeaters were pretty fun looking and they all wear these platform tap shoes that are pretty dramatic when they all march together across the grounds of Buckingham Palace. They are platform though and cannot be easy to walk in. This was proven when the guard was actually trying to change; one is standing in front of a doorway, is dismissed, then a beefeater marches sideways to take his place but the beefeater right in front of me stepped on his shoe wrong and almost fell over sideways. Oops! Other than that…well, here’s about how exciting most of the ceremony was:

They played pretty classic marching music through the first part of the ceremony, but when they were going through the long, tedious process of ceremonially changing the guard (which is done inside so the assembled crowd can’t actually witness the ceremony) the beefeater band started playing some pretty jazzy tunes that got me wondering who got to choose these tracks!

Oh, and can someone please tell me what the name of this song is? I was sort of singing along and could not for the life of me remember anything more about the tune.

Pretty soon, both Kari and I were quite finished with the pushing and the shoving so we started slowly making our way out of the crowd. The policeman stopped us before we crossed the street so that some guards on horseback could ride through and we realized—these were our “royal training thingy” friends from Hyde Park! Yup, that’s some royal thingy to be training for! We eventually got out and wandered towards Westminster Abbey (plastered with Royal Wedding memorabilia), Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. All of these are quite ominous and glorious when you’re right next to them.

I wish I could have gone inside both of these important and historic buildings. However, my traveling mate had already visited both buildings and as I considered going in by myself (and paying the ridiculous entry fee) I realized that these were two places where it would really matter who I went in with. They are too big to not be able to share one’s excitement with another, so I saved those visits for a later point in my life.

We walked along the Thames past various shops and galleries (including a Starbucks-like establishment called “Eat.” by which I was thoroughly amused) until we finally reached the Globe Theatre. I will admit, as an avid Shakespeare buff it seems I was not nearly as excited as I should have been on approaching Shakespeare’s home theatre. However, this Globe Theatre is a recreation of the original. Though it is in the same place, the original burned down during a performance of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII in June 1913. Also, the Globe is currently in its off-season, so there was no chance for me to see the inside unless I wanted join a group of German highschoolers in their tour of the theatre. So we meandered through the gift shop and then headed back to the Millennium Bridge—that’s right! The very bridge that was destroyed by the death-eaters in final book of the Harry Potter series. I timidly crossed the bridge, checking the air around me for smoking black robes or maybe a dementor’s chill, and reached the other side safely and excited to see St. Paul’s Cathedral looming ahead of me.

 As we approached St. Paul’s Cathedral (where Princess Di famously chose to marry the Prince, over the traditional Westminster Abbey) we realized that we would be witnessing one of the many protests that are occurring all over the world now (most famously on Wall Street, of course). Here, the difference between Italians and the English was made incredibly clear to me. In Milan, one of these protests just a few weeks ago resulted in injuries and a building being set on fire. In London, in front of St. Paul’s, the protesters were set up in queues of tents with banners strung above them in an orderly fashion. One notable protester was dancing a traditional Irish dance in a kilt; another had a Guy Fawkes mask strapped to his belt. Other than that…not a whole lot was happening. Very English.

We separated here—I wanted to watch this strange protest for a bit longer while Kari was quite ready to leave. After I realized that nothing was actually going to happen here, I moved through the crowds to find the nearest Tube station to take me to the Tower of London. Now, the Tower is not actually one big tower, like I had imagined it when I was first becoming interested in the English Renaissance. It’s more like a huge fortress; an incredibly intimidating place to be brought when you are accused of anything (poor Elizabeth). I learned that in the 400 years that the Tower existed as a prison and torture chambers, a total of 112 people were executed on Tower Hill. As you entered the gates into this foreboding establishment, the royal beasts—lions and other ferocious exotic animals—would be the first things you saw. Not fun!

Around the corner stands the famous Tower Bridge (one would have thought that the London Bridge would be the exciting one, but it’s quite nondescript). While I took in the beautiful view, I was approached by a middle-aged woman who did not speak English but clearly wanted me to take her picture. I smiled and took her camera as she posed in front of the bridge. Then she changed pose, so I took another. She changed pose again, and I took another. Finally, she took the camera from me. I was slightly amused, but handed my camera to her, asking if she would do the same for me. And she shot three shots of me as well, telling me (in mime) to lean against the fence and then look into the light…oy. What a strange experience.

From there I ventured back to the Tube and to Piccadilly Circus, which is sort of like Times Square diluted a thousand times. I met Kari and we wandered around the theatres, seeing where Ralph Feinnes was currently playing Prospero in The Tempest (which I had originally wanted to see, but the awful reviews convinced me not to pay 66£ for a ticket). Then Kari departed to see a show and I met a kindred spirit. My friend, Hannah, from Knox is currently studying at the London School of Economics (!!!) so we met up for a great Indian meal and about four hours of conversation. It was the best night I have spent in Europe yet…so nice to just let loose and talk.

After that, we returned to the hotel and I bet you can guess that I conked out the moment my head touched the pillow. The end of an amazing day…I still have two more days to go!!!