Second Half of London Trip

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Well, it's been a fun-filled second half of the week here in London. Tomorrow afternoon, I leave for Glasgow, so today was my last full day in the city.

Wednesday, I took the opportunity to get some much needed rest and sleep in before two performances: The Book of Mormon and Dogfight, both of which were incredible and very cool to watch. They were very different, but really special in their own way.

Thursday began my journey on the double decker tour bus around London. It was a great way to see a lot of the sights without having to worry about how to get there. Thursday I spent most of the day on their blue line, which included around 40 stops all around London. Some of the highlights were Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben (which they noted is the name of the the largest bell, not the tower itself which is named the Elizabeth tower after Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II), The Tower of London (which was decorated with thousands of poppies in remembrance of WWI - this year marks the 100 year anniversary of the start of that world war), Tower Bridge, London Bridge, the Shard, just to name a few. The ticket for the bus tour also included a small boat journey that took us down the River Thames, which was a scenic and enjoyable ride. While I thought it was going to be a tour as well, it was more of a transport mode, but was still nice. On the bus, they supplied headphones that were linked into a guided tour of the sights, which was beneficial because there were multiple languages that different people could each tune into. However, the downside was that they didn't always sync up completely with where we were due to traffic and other uncontrollable factors. All in all, it was a full day of sights that was concluded by Billy Elliott that evening, which was again an incredible performance. The dancing talent that the young boy had was truly remarkable.

Friday, I joined the double decker tour bus again, this time on the red route, and we journeyed a bit farther to the business district of London and the fish market, which they noted had been moved from central London because the "fish was fresh, but the language was foul." I got off at Westminster Abbey with the intention of going in to have a look around, but it was much more expensive than I had anticipated and I didn't think it was worth the cost. I figured that maybe we can go back when my family visits and do Christmas Eve or Christmas there. I noticed that the worship ceremonies are free, and everyone is welcomed. I then hopped onto the lilac route, which took us farther north to King's Cross, because I faintly remembered that this was the site of the Platform 9 3/4 from the Harry Potter series. I wanted to see if I could find it. I got off at King's Cross and ventured into the station, looking anxiously for Platforms 9 and 10, to see if it was there. I looked between the two platforms, but there was nothing there. Then, I noticed off to the side a brick wall that was labeled with Platform 9 3/4, and a line of people waiting to take their picture in front of the sign. I decided to wait in the line, which only took about 25 minutes. Well worth the wait! When I got to the front, I got to choose which house's scarf I wanted to wear along with glasses and a wand. One of the girls in front of me was nice enough to take the picture with my camera as well, since the photographers were not allowed to do so. It was such a fun experience and really a cool memory. That evening, I had another performance: The Lion. It was one man who used six guitars to tell the story of his childhood and early adulthood. A simple, intimate piece, it was incredibly moving and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

This morning, my intention was to make it to the Shakespeare Globe Theatre for a tour, but I was running a bit later than I was hoping to. I made it to the stop I was supposed to transfer at to find that the District and Circle lines were not running this weekend. This was the only way I knew how to get to the theatre was on one of those two lines, and without wifi, I didn't really know what to do. I ended up missing the window of time since they close earlier on Saturdays. So instead, I got lunch and walked around near the River Thames before heading to Wicked, which was my final show. It was really cool, and even though I've seen Wicked multiple times, it was still quite enjoyable.

I'm looking forward to heading to Glasgow tomorrow and getting situated in my flat, and starting to meet my new classmates. It's been a fun journey so far, and I know there's a lot more to look forward to!



Note: I won't be posting all of the pictures on the blog, but you can view a complete set of pictures on my facebook in the Richter & Study Abroad album. It's also updated more frequently 😊

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Comments

[Simon Harding]

Billy Brilliant
So glad you enjoyed Billy Elliot - did you get a special offer on the tickets?

[Jack Ryan]

Thanks! No, I didn't.