Foggy London Town and the Diamond Jubilee

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Cheerio! (Peter Caldis speaking)

I hope you know by now that the three of us are still alive! We're currently in Amsterdam, but I'll take this time to fill you in on our fun times in the city of London, England! (Again, we apologize for the lack of photos, but these computers in our Amsterdam hotel lack the ability to upload.)

WARNING, THIS IS A REALLY LONG POST!

After dropping off the rental car, we got into the Underground (Tube) to get to our hostel (The Meininger Hotel) in the South Kensington area of London (south of Hyde Park). The Underground proved to be very easy to use, and we charged up our "Oyster Cards" with enough money to get ourselves around quickly. After checking into our place, we had a relatively quiet night, getting dinner and stopping in at a pub for a few beers before knocking off.

We knew going into the weekend that the Brits would be going crazy celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee (60th year in reign). It immediately became clear to us how big of a deal this was, as the whole city had a 4 day weekend, with people coming in from all over the commonwealth (Australia, South Africa, other parts of England). The English really do love their queen, as I'm sure many know from the Royal Wedding last fall. Well of course, we joined in on the fun!

On Sunday, we took the Underground to Picadily Circus (sort of like the "Times Square" of London) and walked around that area for a while. We made our way to Covent Garden, a shopping area, and grabbed some food. We ended up chatting with a funny couple next to us from Hampshire (outside of London), and they were fed up by the packs of people in town and had resolved to watch the upcoming boat parade on TV. We didn't let that stop us, and we made our way down to the banks of the Thames River to see the queen go by in a 1000 boat "floatilla." People did flood the streets, and it was a real struggle to catch a good view of the river. We waded through the crowds, all clad in their "red, white, and blue" and even decided to snag some Union Jack flags for ourselves for a pound to get in the spirit! We eventually found a spot where we could see over/through enough people to get a somewhat decent view of where the queen and her ships would be sailing, but we were pretty far away. Then we waited for 2 hours... Finally, the floatilla arrived, coming in waves. First were the manpowered boats, an impressive group of row boats that stretched from bank to bank. Then the royal squadron, with the queen's massive boat. We could just barely see Elizabeth, dressed in white, waving to the adoring public as flags waved all around us. People of all ages showed their appreciation for her, and parents told their children that they would be glad to say that they were at the queen's Diamand Jubilee. (And we can too!) After the queen came steam boats, motor boats, barges, boats with bands in them, etc. Also, there was the rain, which soaked us and drove most people away, although we did tough it out longer than most. It was a memorable time, and we headed back to warm up, find some grub and call it a night.

The next day (Monday, June 4) was one of our busiest in London. We got up and took the Tube to Leister Square, where we picked up some day-of tickets to see Sweeny Todd for the evening. Then, we went to the British Museum in North London, a massive place where we found a huge collection of artifacts from around the world. We walked through exhibits on Greece, Rome, Japan, China, Mesopotamia, Africa, ancient Europe, and more. Even then, it felt like we had barely scratched the surface. We also saw artifacts from Egypt, including the famed Rosetta Stone. Next, we grabbed a sandwich and then bopped down to Westminster, getting off right next to the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. We made our way to the Churchill War Rooms, a brilliant museum set up in the underground headquarters of Winston Churchill and his staff during WWII. The museum was really great, as it walked us through the underground base and then through a wonderful exhibit of audio, video, and objects from Churchill's life and from the war. Hearing the recordings Winston's powerful speeches was really meaningful, for me at leaast. Next, we made our way up towards Trafalgar Square, passing by the road to Buckingham Palace that would host a massive Jubilee Concert (Elton John, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, and many more) later that evening and was already filling up around 5pm. But we had bigger fish to fry, so we walked up to the National Gallery and walked through it during the hour before it closed. We saw paintings by Rembrant, Van Gogh, Monet, and others, and despite our lack of true appretiation for art, we all enjoyed it. We next headed towards our theater and stopped for a dinner of English pies at a pub called The Porterhouse (probably the same one from Dublin). We then went in to see Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The show was really incredible, all of us agreed. What's more, during the curtain call, the whole cast came back on stage and led the audience in a rendition of "God Save Our Queen," a number we'd been hearing all weekend, in honor of the Jubilee. To cap off a great day, Trevor and I talked to a group of boy scouts back at the hostel who had been to the big concert, and that was pretty fun too. Really, all our interactions with the Brits were pretty enjoyable, and it's fun just seeing how similar and also different they really are.

Moving on to the next day, we checked out of our hostel, and after killing time in the Natural History Museum (by now we're pretty bored and tired of seeing dead animals), we trekked across beautiful Hyde Park to the Lancaster Gate Hotel, our new lodgings where we would meet up with the AESU tour. We relaxed for the afternoon, watched the Queen's Jubilee procession from the hotel, and in the evening we finally met our new group of travel companions and went out for dinner and drinks. Our group is really big (about 40 people), so it's been awesome to meet a bunch of new, fun people! (Truth be told, it was also probably good for the three of us, as we had spent over a week of 24/7 time with each other.) Most of our new fellow travelers are from UT Austin, and there are several others from Texas A&M, as well as a few from schools like BU, VTech, Clemson, and UVA who tagged onto the UT trip just like we did. Everyone has been really cool, and the new trip, as well as the organization it has brought, has made things much less stressful. Also, it has helped to have hotels instead of hostels. Oh, and on that night we also met a hilarious Norwegian guy named Gerald. In a drunken game of truth or dare in Stockholm, he ended up taking a one-way plane to London and spent the evening with us going out. We also met up with Trevor's friend Brent, and we went out and had some fun with him (and with Gerald).

Also, that night on the way back from going out, Trevor and I had a run-in with a group of guys posing as police 2 blocks away from our hotel. They were shady, and accused us of being suspicious and demanded our identification. Being 2 vs 4, we reluctantly played along, and they ended up not taking anything and sending us on our way. We called the police from the hotel and filed a report, and also cancelled our credit cards, as they had seen them and could have taken down the numbers. But not to worry! We are both safe and are moving on, although I'll now be taking out loans from Trevor and BP until I can get my new debit card.

On our last day in London (and then I promise this post is done), we had a walking tour of the city, seeing all of the major sights, many of which we had already seen. We went to Buckingham Palace and saw the changing of the guards, which was pretty cool. We next went back to Westminster and saw the sites there before hopping on a train east to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge, where our tour ended. Our guide was okay, but I would've hoped for someone more knowledgeble/funny, but oh well. Next, we grabbed food at the noodle chain Wagamama, and then a group of us went into the Tower of London. The medieval castle was the location where many famous prisoners were held and executed. We had a very charming tour from a Beefeater (the guards of the tower, clad in their funny outfits), and he walked us through the grounds, sharing the stories of those who were held and executed in the tower over time. Famous prisoners included Queen Anne Bolynn and Sir Thomas Moore, and our guide also shared some of the other tales, some of them gruesome, funny, and even romantic. After the tour, we got to go through and see the Crown Jewels, a collection of diamond-adorned objects (crowns, sceptors, robes, swords, etc.). Then we went through one of the towers that had a pretty cool and extensive exhibit of weapons and armor from throughout England's history, including King Henry VIII's armor, and stuff like that. After the tower, some of us went back to the hotel and later went out and had fun with our newly met friends from Texas and elsewhere.

Having completed our time in England, we looked back and saw all we had accomplished, and boy was it alot! Overall, I got pretty sick of the food (too many pies and that sort of thing), but I really did enjoy the beer, the people, and the sights. The cask ales were pretty tasty, and it was fun to see them pump them directly out at the bar. We met a handful of chatty Englishmen at bars, etc. and it was a good time just shooting the breeze with our friends from across the pond. I also really liked all of the castles, museums, and such that we went to and felt that most were time and money well spent (except for Stonehenge). We're all having a blast thus far and miss you all! We're still alive, which is in line with what we set out to do (come back safely). Look for updates on our time in Paris, Belgium, and the Netherlands soon. Again, sorry for the lack of pictures, we'll add some as soon as we can (and sorry I wrote so much). Ta-ta for now!

Peter Caldis (and BP and Trevor)

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