England was a whirlwind. If Edinburgh was made to feel familiar, London was made for a quick in-and-out trip to everyone and anyone. Strangely enough, one of my fondest memories of London was taking the Underground all around the city. The intricacies and the timeliness was oddly beautiful and fascinating, not to mention impressive. The city, while looking old, almost oozed sophistication and business, surging with a kind of hurry and focus that made me feel like there was no time to stop at take pictures, no time to slowly walk around the park, no time to really take a second to breathe it all in. Not to say I didn't enjoy England, because I did. The history and the... regal-ness? of the city resonated in my bones, as did the pride of the people who lived there. There was just a lot of competition between them and all the many, many, many people that didn't live there.
First up was one of my most anticipated stops during the whole trip: The Harry Potter Studio Tour. I, like so many others, loved and grew up with Harry Potter and I couldn't wait to take a look at the making of the movie and, most importantly, by a wand and try a butterbeer.
(This is an unemployed muggle with an English degree begging the Daily Prophet for a job.)
We took a bus trip out into Bath and then to Stonehenge. While the English countryside with pretty, the thing I remember most is how proper and off topic our tour guide got, at one point telling us all about her son's stinky rugby shoes and uniform. However, the city of Bath was quaint and adorable and beautiful. Janna and I tried the Curative Spring Water, which did not do anything that we know of except for leave the taste of a thousand minerals in our mouths. But who knows, right?
I never thought that I'd find a whole bunch of stacked rocks interesting. However, after reading all the displays and learning more about it, it's really everything we don't see that's interesting. The mystery surrounding Stonehenge is endlessly fascinating - much like the ancient temples in South America, we can only imagine how and why people so long ago made such a thing, and how small this piece could be in reference to the whole. While we couldn't get very close, due to shifting soil and such, it was still an impressive sight and an even greater mystery.
We wholeheartedly embraced our inner tourist during the last few days in London, taking the tube to see Big Ben, the Parliament Building, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and the Globe Theater, walking around Camden Market and riding the London Eye. This was the first place that I really felt like I was sticking out as a foreigner, only because there were So. Many. Foreigners. But, as Janna dragged me to see the building used as 221B in BBC's Sherlock and subtly take pictures and we wasted time trying to find a museum and being asked directions by two British girls, I felt more comfortable in those few hours than all the days before. We wandered through a park because we thought it was a short cut before realizing there was no way out the other side, and then only had a few moments to walk around the lobby of King Edward the Seventh's Galleries.
In those few hours, wandering haphazardly through mostly empty parks and streets, I felt like I was truly experiencing London.
No comments:
Post a Comment