Seeing the Sights of the Second Day

“We’re really going to leave them?!”

If there is one thing I’ve realized here in London is that I will not be getting many hours of sleep on this trip. Honestly, I guess I would rather experience all London has to offer than sleeping the experience away.

We rode the tube for the first time today! After getting our tube passes and figuring out what stop to get off at, we were off to Gloucester station. I’m glad I have experience with trains and subways. I probably won’t have any problems with the tube while I’m here.

Our first stop was Westminster, and our first view walking out of the station was Big Ben. Needless to say, cameras were whipped out in a second! I didn’t realize it, but “Big Ben” is actually the bell not the tower, so we weren’t looking at “Big Ben,” but at the Parliament building. Just around the corner was the London Eye as well. As if we weren’t already wide eyed by the famous British landmarks, as the subway, or as it’s known in London “the Underground,” stop implied: Westminster Abbey was just a block or so away. Only the second day, and boy did we look like it: we were the stereotypical American tourists gushing over the sights and taking up the sidewalks trying to take pictures. The British locals didn’t seem all too happy, muttering tourists as they walked past. At least the older Brits. The younger just kind of laughed as they walked by.

We got to the Abbey a little early, so Angie told us about the history of the Abbey and how it was just barely finished before the King who paid for it died. The outside is stunning, and I’m glad we got to admire it in the nicer weather. Above the entrance were these etchings that had God, then the apostles, and so on. Again, we couldn’t really take pictures inside, which is a real shame. There are many famous people buried and memorialized within the walls of Westminster. One of the first areas we got to explore was the scientific minds. I was able to step on Sir Isaac Newton’s grave. Charles Darwin was within sight, but just out of reach. Another area, called poet’s corner, had the many of the great British writers of history, including Tennyson. Just around the corner there were also memorials for Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, and the grave of Charles Dickens. Musician’s corner was there as well, including Handel. I have to say though, the British get what they want. Even if you don’t want to be buried somewhere: they’ll bury you where they want. Arguably the most important grave though was for the Unknown Warrior: the only grave you can’t walk on. Again, the British American ties are evident as the U.S. gave the Unknown Warrior the Medal of Honor. Westminster Abbey is amazingly beautiful but it takes a lot to upkeep. Apparently, they had to clean all the stone by hand, which is pretty crazy.

The next stop for the day was the British Museum. We saw three major items: the first being the Rosetta Stone. The Rosetta Stone has three languages written on it: old Egyptian hieroglyphics, spoken Egyptian, and ancient Greek. This is what allowed them to finally decode the hieroglyphics. It was cool being able to touch the copy of the stone, then stand in front of the real one. Next, we looked at the Greek architecture. Even though we didn't go to the Parthenon, we got to see all the work that went into it. Each etching told a story, like of the centaurs that crashed a wedding and wreaked havoc. They were quite ingenious, such as how they displayed time by showing the god that brought the sun from the east and the god that brought the moon. Lastly, we got to see the Egyptian side, including some awesome mummies. I wish we had more time at the British Museum, but as it was we had to rush for lunch.

Speaking of lunch, we had our first first-hand experience of how cutthroat London Honors is. When a few of the group were quite late to meet before leaving to the football (soccer) game, we were actually leaving WITHOUT them. It was only by chance that we passed by them on the way to the tube. I would definitely not want to get left behind. 

The last big event for the day was the football match. The match was the Queen's Park Rangers vs. Fulham, with QPR being the home team. I don't know how we managed it, but we ended up right in the middle of a full-on rivalry between the two groups of fans. After that match, I pretty much lost that image of Brits being very reserved and quiet. Basically, mixing loyal fans and alcohol yields tons of yelling of very choice words. Honestly, it wasn’t even creative the way they were using all those swear words. I didn’t know people could be so crude. What was interesting, though, was that the people who surrounded us were more diverse than I would have thought. For example, the guy behind us had just recently moved to London from Germany. The bluntness of the fans, however, didn’t seem to be only at stadiums. In the short time I was at the hotel (once we finally got back after Ray got us lost for a while...), I was watching a British comedian. Again he was very blunt, though extremely funny. Apparently the Brits say “wanker” quite a bit. One of the reasons he was quite funny was because he was talking about the differences between social classes. I guess I don’t really think about class in the U.S., but the differences between the “posh” and the “commoners” seemed a lot more clear in London.

For free time, me and a few other girls from another group decided to hit Oxford Street. Apparently, I’ve already become an expert tube rider. I knew exactly what tube lines we were taking. Then we got separated on a busy Piccadilly line. Nonetheless, I didn’t freak out too much and soon enough we were reunited. I’m glad I know the trains because if not I would have been flipping out. In Oxford, not much shopping was done, but I saw tons of people. Again, there were so many different languages: Portuguese, French, and even Bengali. So I still had fun.

As for food, I haven’t necessarily had any good “British” food. My roommate Noor and I have figured out the grocery stores. We’ve been trying to save some money by eating there, and so far it’s been working.