Time passes quickly when you are not paying attention to it. As such, I now look ahead and see that in a mere 7 days I will be boarding a plane and heading home away from London. It is hard to believe that it is already time to leave when it feels as though I just got here. At the same time, I have grown homesick and I am eager to see the faces of the people I love.
So now the question becomes, what to do with the last week in London. Well, as I have not been as good at keeping up with my blog as I should have been, the first step is to remember what I have enjoyed most about being here. The second step is to find more new and exciting things to do and somewhere in there study for finals and write an essay or two.
I think some of my most memorable and fun days have been spent down by the Thames. Once, when my friend Jessica, who is studying abroad in Paris, came to visit, a few of us went to Borough Market. This is a food market, and everywhere you go you seem to get free samples. It was fun just being around the craziness of it all, and hearing the vendors shouting. After we had all sampled our way through the market, we each got a cup of mulled wine to warm our hands against the light rain and some Thai curry stir-fry to warm our bellies. Then we wandered. Wandering has been by far one of my most favorite aspects of London. There are so many places to get lost in and discover, and when one is ready to find themselves, it is easy to find a tube or bus stop and look at a map. This day we wandered down to the Thames and walked alongside the water, people watching.
Another of my favorite memories of the Thames was a much more tourist-y day. In one fell swoop, we decided to do the London Eye and the Globe. We even walked the bridge to get to the London Eye, enjoying the sound of vendors selling food and trinkets on our way. I don’t believe that I have heard as many different languages in one place as I did that day, most of which I couldn’t even recognize to put a name to. We moved swifter through the crowd and the line than I ever expected. Plus, if you buy a train ticket day pass, you can get a two tickets on the Eye for the price of one. We may be tourists, but we are savvy ones. The Eye had its very own special presentation, complete with 3D glasses and a bubble machine. I think that the cheesiness of it all, made it all the more fun. Like a theme park attraction, they had the expensive photos taken pre-ride and after ride available for purchase. The actual ride was quite wonderful. It was amazing to see most London, because even though we had chosen a clear day a light haze covered some of the city. It was very beautiful and warm in the glass bubble. Afterward we wandered down along the Thames. There were street performers for an entire block as you left the Eye, anything from mimes, to oddly bedazzled creatures, and men who will pose you for any type of photograph from dancing to fighting. It was great to see this side of London, walking from the Eye to the Globe, a much longer walk than anticipated. Yet, it was a beautiful day and the distance didn’t seem to matter much as long as we could see the water. The Globe was must see, but slightly disappointing. It is disheartening to find out that it isn’t on the spot where the actual Globe was and that archeologists now believe the Globe was a bit bigger. However, it is still like walking back into time, stepping into the theatre where the groundlings stand to watch the shows. We were very lucky that night that my friend is studying here as well, and has a friend who had spent the last semester studying theatre in the globe. Though it was rather chilly, her class performed Twelfth Night, and it was phenomenal. The music they set to Shakespeare’s words made me believe that it was meant to be sung like that always. After a wonderful show and a great day along the Thames, we found the nearest tube and headed homeward.
So, to mark some of my favorite days and to help my friend Meredith complete one of her to-do’s, today after eating lunch in Queen Mary’s Rose Garden (just starting to bloom), Meredith and I tried to walk from Whitechapel to the Thames. This is something Meredith has wanted to do since reading a book centered in that area, and I am always up for an adventure. The weather in London today was so warm that by the water seemed like the best place to be. It was fun walking through a new part of town, and stopping along the way at anything that looked interesting. Eventually we started seeing signs proclaiming Tobacco Port and Pirate Ships. Knowing that these two things had to mean some type of water, we followed the signs and found ourselves in the quaintest quay I have ever seen. We walked the quay until it was time for Meredith to head home for dinner at her home stay, then we found a bus stop and headed in. Today was a small adventure, but nonetheless a fun one. It is exciting to explore some place new in London, yet feel so familiar with the city that I am able to find a bus stop and recognize the bus I would need to take.
As these next 7 days unfold, I will do my best to both remember my times here in London and to recount the adventures that are filling my last days.
Until next time,
Kylie