Welcome to my blog, where studying abroad means I hop on a plane randomly once in a while apparently. I have a mate named George who lives in England, and I impulse-decided to go to London for a day on one of our free days. A little farther than maybe they intended when they gave us the day, but so very worth it. Come with me, on this magical journey.
Super St. Albans
St. Albans, where I stayed on Wednesday night, is actually a pretty historic town. It has the oldest pub in all of England, the Fighting Cock, and has remains of the second largest Roman settlement after Londonium as well. To start off the morning, George and I went to the park that contained this wall. I got pretty excited. Hadrian's Wall was my first choice (it isn't fenced off), but that was way too far for my 24 hour stay.
That fence was so frustrating.
The park itself was pretty great too. People were walking their dogs, including us. George has a dog named Dylan, who loves the park. The park also has a pond, which is populated by waterfowl, including geese and swans. Since we had both chocolate croissants and regular croissants for breakfast, we ate the chocolate ones and used the regular ones to feed the birds. It is that time of year, so there were cute abies everywhere!
They ate them out of my hand!
We headed to London after our walk. We rode the train, our first ride in one of many, and got off at King's Cross Station so that I could get my picture taken at Platform 9 3/4. After that, we got coffee at Caffé Nero, apparently Italian-style coffee. Caffé Nero is as good of a representation of Italian coffee as Nero was at being an emperor.
Really a Brittish version of Starbucks. These are literally everywhere.
Our first big site was the British Museum. I was looking forward to this one because whenever we see something that is missing pieces in Rome, the explanation is usually that it is at the Vatican or the British Museum. I also got to take a look at some stuff that was not ancient Roman. Some was ancient Greek!
One was the Rosetta stone!
After that we headed over to Buckingham Palace. Whenever we change locations, it is pretty safe to assume we spent about 15 minutes on the Tube. That's what Londoners call their metro system. On our way there, I learned something interesting about London. Along with the traditional bike and walking trails, there is a horseback riding trail so that the horses do not ruin their hooves on the pavement and vice versa. We watched the changing of the guard. The area was packed! I was pretty disappointed that I could not get a pic with one of the guards after, but we did get a picture with a nice police officer (called a bobby!), which was just as good. The changing of the guard involved the Buckingham Palace guards marching out in formation. Some of them were playing instruments like a marching band. This is a really good example of the way that London is full of traditions like that.
The song they played was pretty good, too.
We went to get fish'n'chips next, passing by Wentworth Street on our way. I feel like that was the ancestral home of the British side of my family. Probably has no basis other than the street's name, though. The fish'n'chips was a little weird, because the restaurant expected you to season them yourself. You were provided with tartar sauce, S&P, and vinegar, so that was not a problem, but the fish and fries were both very plain on their own. George was even nice enough to give me his tartar sauce!
I was still pumped for both food and an opportunity to sit down for a bit.
After lunch, we visited Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. Both of these things were just plain fun to look at. They are both really ornate and visually interesting, and that was really all that mattered to me. Admission to the abbey is also really expensive, so we just walked around the outside.
We visited our second museum of the day at the Natural History Museum. This was a nice change from the other museums I have been to for the past three weeks, namely because of the way that alongside things to look at, there was a lot of information as well. I was able to learn about dinosaurs, Australian megafauna, and other cool stuff.
This sloth has two toes!
After the Natural History Museum, I picked up a couple of books from the gift shop and we went to Harrod's. I knew that Harrod's was swanky, but I didn't quite understand HOW swanky. The first thing I picked up, a cute printed wallet, was 500 pounds! We walked around for a bit and decided to try the Harrod's ice cream to see how it stacked up to Italian gelato. The world may never know, however. The ice cream parlor in Harrod's had a display like a typical gelato place, but did not have any option to get just a scoop of ice cream. It was all fancy (and hella expensive) sundaes.
In equally fancy cups.
We decided to leave and go to our final destination, Nando's. Nando's, of "Cheeky Nando's" fame, is a place that serves chicken. The chicken is either marinated or coated with sauce made with Peri-peri, which I feel is a fancy name for some common ingredient, and grilled. Peri-peri or chili powder, it was still good. Nando's was the ultimate goal of the trip, and we had to end up there. Nando's also served gelado, the Portugese version of gelato. We had that for dessert. It came in a cup like something that you could get at the grocery store. I had a streak to continue though, so I took one for the team.
A cardboard lid does not usually signify quality...
The plane ride was boring, the cab was expensive and I am pretty sure the driver short-changed me, I learned that the less you paid for a flight the less good it was and the more expensive the snacks were. It was all very well and good. I made it home safe and got to spend the day with my mate.
Next Time
Next time, I write about what Rome means to me. Until then? I am going to bed.
Cheerio!
No comments:
Post a Comment