"Looking Left" in literary London!

Cheerio!  (Actually no one really says that in London, but whatever)!

As I have been back in Vienna for a couple of days, I am eager to report on my incredible Easter Break in London!  Things got off to a bit of a slow/weird start as Matt and I had to wait a few hours in the Bratislava airport (we took a student airline out of Slovakia instead of Vienna) before checking in for our flight.  Although we hunted for a snack, we couldn't find anywhere to eat, so by the time we got through security, we were super hungry!  We thus had some fun at the duty free shop after security, buying pounds of candy and chocolate (pictures below).  We then had the very odd experience of flying a student airline.  We didn't have seat numbers on our tickets, so as soon as the flight screen flipped from "check-in open" to "check-in closed," everyone in the terminal leapt out of their seats bounded over to the gate, scurrying to form a haphazard line.  Matt and I, confused, pushed our way through and scanned our tickets, only to be herded into another line to get on the plane.  We were luckily able to sit together!

A happy Matt post-duty free shop!

Upon arriving in London, Matt and I met up with Rachel (a fellow Dartmouth '13 interning in London this term), and we promptly began adventuring!  We took a ride on the "tube" (the metro) and saw several London highlights such as Big Ben, the London Eye, and the Houses of Parliament.  We then walked along the Thames, as it was a warm, beautiful day (people always complain about the weather in London, but it was gorgeous basically the whole time we were there).  We got to see Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, which, although a recreation, was still cool.  I also got a bit of a sense of London culture - for example, the streets are often labeled "Look Left" or "Look Right" because tourists are unaccustomed to cars being driven on the other side of the street.  Also, each time the tube stops, a voice says "Mind the Gap between the train and the platform!" and "Mind the Gap!" has become a London catchphrase (it is even on t-shirts and mugs in souvenir shops - I was going to use it as the title of my blog post, but Matt unfortunately "called it"as the title of his before I could)!

View across the Thames of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament

Big Ben and the London Eye in the background

Rachel and me munching strawberries and cream along the Thames

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

Classic.

Also classic.

The next day, we took a double-decker bus around London to get our bearings and sense of the city.  We then visited Platform 9 3/4 (the famous Harry Potter site) and King's Cross station.  Matt (a huge Harry Potter fan) was particularly excited.  We all certainly wished we could hop on the Hogwart's Express, but alas, our magic wasn't working that day!  We then visited the British Museum, where we saw the Rosetta Stone.  We walked around Bloomsbury (a very intellectual borough where figures such as Virginia Woolf, William Butler Yeats, Charles Dickens, John Maynard Keynes, and Charles Darwin lived).  My favorite part of the day was our trip to the Charles Dickens House on Doughty Street - the home in which he wrote "Oliver Twist" and "Nicholas Nickelby!"  We saw many of his manuscripts, his writing desks, and parts of his own book collection.

Platform 9 and 3/4 at King's Cross!

My pal Virginia Woolf and me

Reading (haha) "Oliver Twist" in front of the Charles Dickens House

Red telephone booth - playing with cool settings on my new camera (thanks Dad!)

Matt and me - Matt is a guard; I am Paddington Bear!!

As the next day was Easter, very few attractions were open, so we had a relaxing day just hanging out.  After I went to Mass, we ventured out to find Fish and Chips for Matt and Rachel (I, not being a fish fan, ordered a hamburger).  We then went to Regent's Park (after passing 221b Baker Street - Sherlock Holmes's residence) and sat in the grass, as it was again, a lovely day.

Matt with his fish & chips

Me and Rachel in Regent's Park

Matt staring down a heron in Regent's Park

Although all of our time in London was wonderful, Monday was by far my favorite day.  We began our morning with a visit to the British Library, which quickly became one of my favorite places in the entire world!  One of the rooms contained original Chaucer, Austen, Wordsworth, Bronte, and Woolf manuscripts, as well as Jane Austen's writing desk.  I squealed and jumped excitedly (and in hindsight, a bit embarassingly) when I saw the "Jane Eyre" manuscript written in Charlotte Bronte's own hand.  The museum had opened the page to the Conclusion of "Jane Eyre," with the famous phrase "Reader - I married him."  I made Rachel and Matt go back to that room three times and, of course, took illegal photos!  We then journeyed to Westminster Abbey, where, of course, I was in awe of Poet's Corner, where literary giants such as Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling, and Lord Alfred Tennyson are buried.  Poet's Corner also houses memorials to some of my other favorites, namely Shakespeare, George Eliot, the Brontes, Jane Austen, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Henry James, John Keats, John Milton, William Wordsworth...the list goes on and on.  Our visit to Westminster was also very timely, as the Royal Wedding will be taking place there tomorrow!  We saw the aisle down which Kate will walk and the altar at which she and Prince William will be married.  (This was a very cool time to be in London, as Royal Wedding hubbub overtook the city, and the excitement was contagious)!  Although I was hesitant to leave Westminster and the resting places of my beloved writers, we departed to attend a High Tea.  This was one of my favorite parts of the trip - it felt so classically British!  We had tea, scones with jam and clotted cream (one of my new favorite dishes!), four tea sandwiches, and three little tea cakes.  We were completely stuffed, but it was so worth it to partake in a London tradition.  (And you didn't think I could get through a whole blog post without mentioning a single pastry, did you?? :))

Me, giddy with glee, posing for an illegal picture in front of the "Jane Eyre" manuscript

Westminster Abbey

High Tea fare 

Time for High Tea!

The next day, we parted with Rachel (sad!), as she had to go to work, and Matt and I ventured out on one last morning of tourist-ing.  We first toured the Tower of London, a historic medieval castle, parts of which date from the late 11th century (from the times of the Norman kings).  We saw the Crown Jewels of the British monarchy, the site on which Anne Boleyn was executed, several of the towers, a Changing of the Guard ceremony, and the ravens that guard the Tower of London (a British legend relates that if no ravens are at the Tower of London, England will be invaded - so the wings of the ravens are clipped so they won't fly away).  Another cool part of this trip was that the CBS Early Show was filming at the Tower of London/in front of the London Bridge, so we tried to get on TV, but unfortunately, we don't think we were caught on camera.  After quickly darting to Buckingham Palace (so we could say we saw it), we caught our bus back to the airport and headed home.  Thankfully, everything ran smoothly transportation-wise, and we were back in Vienna by midnight!

White Tower at the Tower of London

Changing of the guard (we stumbled upon this and got so close to them!) 

Royal Wedding segment being filmed at the Tower of London - hi CBS!

Buckingham Palace 

Me and Matt in front of the London Bridge

I absolutely LOVED London and cannot wait to go back someday.  However, it is great to be back in Vienna, if only for a couple of days (tomorrow, I head to Prague again with my class for the weekend).  Last night, we saw Wagner's opera "Parsifal" (which lasted FIVE HOURS!!), and tonight we are seeing Leif Ove Andsnes perform several piano sonatas.

Cheers!  And thanks for reading!