Spring Break - Part 2: London

The second part of my spring break trip was a good deal shorter and less packed than the first part, but I still have a few good stories (and quite a few photos) to share. To pick up from last post, I took the Chunnel train from Paris to London on Monday afternoon with Lauren and Jamie. It was a good experience, however the one caveat was that we bought our tickets the day of our trip and they were horrendously expensive. Buying even one day early makes a huge difference, so be sure to do that (or even book weeks ahead) if you’re making the trip in the future. Lauren, Nicole, and Amanda actually booked a flight to London instead when they arrived at the train station. Regardless, we arrived safely in London to find people speaking English! I took the directions given to me by my friend Meghan and took the Tube to Hammersmith, and then jumped on the 72 bus to Roehampton University. The campus is very nice, and I stayed with Meghan, who was a cinema studies and journalism major with me at NYU before she graduated last year. She’s spent the year in graduate school at Roehampton. Since it’s fairly far from central London, I spent the next day, my twenty-first birthday, relaxing on the peaceful campus. Meghan and I went out for a nice dinner at a restaurant called Il Mascalzone. I ordered a rack of lamb, which was quite good, and the dessert wine, the Veneto, which contains smooth and subtle apricot, honey, and pear flavours (British), according to the menu description. It was a nice fun meal, and while it’s not how I might have imagined celebrating my twenty-first birthday, it was still quite pleasant. That night was very cold but Roehampton really is quite a nice place, and it’s an interesting glimpse of a campus.

A shot of Roehampton University at night

Me and my dessert wine

Meghan and me

Wednesday I had an extremely packed day as my only sightseeing/touring day in London. I got up early and took the bus and the train to near Buckingham Palace. I walked around and saw Big Ben and other major sights in London as I headed toward Buckingham Palace. I met up with all my NYU in Florence friends there, though we were disappointed to find that the changing of the guard ceremony wasn't happening that morning. Instead, we walked to Trafalgar Square and then over to the London Eye. We got our own private orb to go up the London Eye, which was quite cool. After seeing London from up high, we ran into three of the bros (my suitemates) from BC and I got a quick photo of them looking really excited. Amanda’s friend Skylar, who’s studying abroad in London, joined us at this point, and it turns out she’s actually a cinema studies major and we recognized each other so that was fun! We searched for a nice restaurant where we could get fish and chips. My dish was incredibly good, though it’s quite strange because they come with mushy peas, which aren’t that bad, they’re just a bit strange as a food item. After lunch, we walked around some more and saw the Millennium Bridge (cool) and the London Bridge (not cool). Our final attraction of the afternoon was Madame Tussaud’s wax museum, which is apparently the original and predates the one in New York. I’ve uploaded a few fun photos below.

"Hello?"

Big Ben

Buckingham Palace

The guards weren't changing, but they're certainly moving

Guards marching as we left Buckingham Palace

Winston Churchill

Gardens along the walk

Lions in Trafalgar Square

Amanda, Nicole, Lauren, and a lion

London from the London Eye

Another shot of London from the London Eye

A third shot of London from the London Eye

Standing in front of London

Matt, Nick, and Jack (a.k.a. the bros)

Lunch! Fish and chips!

Amanda and Skylar at lunch

Me and Lauren at lunch

Relaxing with Steven Spielberg

Hulk smash?

Telling Jim Carrey a joke

Answering the call for Obama

My last night in London granted me the opportunity to do something I haven’t done all semester, and haven’t even done much in New York: a play. Lauren and I went to go see Three Days of Rain, starring James McAvoy (Atonement, The Last King of Scotland). We got our tickets only an hour before for twenty-six pounds. The play was terrific, and it was really a fun experience. I headed back to Meghan’s school after that and we had a quick brunch the next morning before I went to Gatwick Airport for my flight to Florence. It was a good break, but it was also nice to be back and just relax in Florence. The next morning, Lara arrived – but that’s an entirely different story for the next blog post, coming soon.

Three Days of Rain