Weekend in London!

London’s calling! On the Thursday after spring break, I skipped out on civ class and hopped on the Eurostar to London. Even though we had just been on break, I was really excited to go because a) I was visiting my dear friend Kayla and b) I love London (and c) it’s way better than civilisation class).

To get to London, you have to change train stations in Paris, which I had never done before without Nathalie as a guide. I was a little nervous about figuring it all out on my own, but it went off without a hitch— I stopped at my train station, successfully found and bought tickets for the RER, which is a high-speed metro train that you have to take between train stations, got off and found my way to the Eurostar area. I was pretty proud of myself for figuring it out without any problems! Like everything else the French come up with, it’s kind of a complicated process.

It was weird to start hearing English when I got to the second train. I felt sort of loyal to French—I wanted to keep speaking it! I bought a snack on the train and I started talking to the server in French but he replied in English, so I replied in English and then he replied in French. My brain had no idea what to do.

I forgot about the time difference between France and England, and when my watch was close to 6:30, I started wondering about the Chunnel. It seemed like we hadn’t gone through it, but I supposed we must have. I looked out the window to try to figure it out, and I could have sworn the countryside was French, not English. But our train was supposed to pull in in a few minutes, so I had to be wrong! I spent the next hour freaking out that the train was late and Kayla was waiting and being annoyed that my ticket had been printed an hour off, until we actually did arrive and the conductor announced the time and I realized that of course there was a time change.

London is hosting the 2012 Olympics, and there were huge Olympic rings suspended from the ceiling in the train station, which was really cool. I found the tube and navigated my way to the tube stop nearest Kayla’s school, which I was glad I had done before back in January. It was so great to see Kayla again! We were super excited and I was so happy to be in London.

It happened to be Kayla’s 21^st birthday, so after I settled in and had dinner, some of her friends came over for wine and snacks. It was cool to meet everyone she’s spent the semester with, some British and some American, and we had a lot of fun!

The next day Kayla most unfortunately had a final exam, so I was on my own for most of the day. We ate breakfast together, Kayla gave me a few helpful materials like an Oyster card for the tube and a map, and I set off to explore London solo! I never used to like doing things like that alone, but I was actually really excited. It was warm and sunny out and I felt so independent as I scanned my card and got on the tube.

My first stop was the Museum of London, which tells London’s history through artifacts and scenes from the Ice Age to the present. It was so much fun to walk through and the history is so interesting. My favorite areas were the Renaissance and Victorian times. I ate lunch at the café in the museum and started reading the next book of a series Kayla and I both love on her Kindle, which she’d lent me for the afternoon (yes, I used a Kindle…). My sandwich was really good!

From there I pretended I knew where I was going and walked to the Millennium Bridge, which I did find without trouble. Harry Potter movie spot! I crossed it and walked to the Globe Theater, which was really cool to see. I love Shakespeare, and ever since my freshman year English class when we talked about the Globe a lot (and since spending four years in that classroom looking at the student-made model of the theater), I’ve always wanted to see it. Unfortunately, tours are really expensive, so I didn’t go inside, but seeing it was enough for me!

I needed to get back to the tube after that, and there were four stops on the sign I looked at, so I picked the London Bridge station at random and started walking. It turned out to be the farthest one and it was about a fifteen-minute walk, but it was along the Thames and it was sunny and I was completely content to just walk and watch the world.

I took the tube to Trafalgar Square, which was teeming with people, and searched around until I found the stationer’s, where I bought a new journal! With this exciting purchase tucked safely inside my bag, I started walking towards St. James’ Park. You may remember the effusiveness with which I praised London for their great signage back in January, and it is quite true, except for when you’re trying to find Buckingham Palace or St. James’ Park. The Palace wasn’t even on the map shown on all the signs. I kept following arrows to the park, but I would go in one direction and then the park wouldn’t be listed on the next sign I found! Then I would find a sign pointing me in the opposite direction. What should have been a five-minute walk turned into a twenty-minute one, but I stopped in a Starbucks (it was the first one I’d seen since leaving the States; I couldn’t resist!) and bought an iced tea, which kept me cool. (it wasn’t on the menu, but the guy seemed offended when I asked if they had them, as if there was no way they wouldn’t, but then he proceeded to make it by brewing some tea and pouring it over a cup of ice… hmm…).

I finally found the park and it was beautiful. Flowers of every color were blooming all along the paths and the water was glittering under the sun. People were spread out all over the lawns, some with chaise lounges, and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. It was a stark contrast from my visit there in January when it was about twenty degrees outside (and we’re not talking Celsius!). I found a spot under a shady tree and opened my new journal. I sat there for a tranquil half hour, writing and watching the people pass by and enjoying the sunshine. It was absolutely lovely.

The tube was ridiculously crowded on the way back and it took over an hour! Kayla was long done with her exam by the time I arrived at the Queen Mary campus. I went up to her dorm and we hung out for a while before making dinner. It was so cool to be on a real campus again! I wouldn’t have expected to notice it or feel a difference, but I really did! There were students hanging out everywhere and studying and I was staying in Kayla’s dorms, and it was so cool. It made me miss Puget Sound!

We made dinner and decided to watch a movie. Given recent events and our possibly unhealthy obsession with romantic love stories, we made the solid choice to watch William and Kate, the Lifetime movie about the lovely new royal couple. It was absolutely awful in the best way possible and so entertaining. We stayed up late talking after that. Overall, it was such a fun day. I loved wandering around London and I was so happy, and it also was so great to hang out with Kayla again and catch up!

On Saturday, Kayla and I decided to take a little trip to Hampstead Heath, which is a huge park in the village of Hampstead. Upon arriving, we couldn’t believe we were still in London! The heath sprawled out so far we didn’t even cover it all on our walk, and it switched between beautiful wooded areas and exhilarating expansive fields, with a few ponds and a mansion thrown in. We had a picnic on the lawn and then we walked to Kenwood House, an old manor on the grounds. The house was really pretty, although we didn’t learn much about the history since there weren’t any brochures. We were enamored of the light blue staircases and the high-ceilinged library, and we had fun imagining living there with that entire park all to yourself.

We walked around more after that, around a pond and through another field. It was really invigorating and we just had so much fun.

We stopped at the grocery store for dinner supplies and realized how tired we were! It had actually turned into a bit of a hike, but it was a good kind of tired. We had pizza and made salad and then we watched another movie. We also spent a fair amount of time dancing in Kayla’s kitchen—I mean, it’s tradition by now! I’ve been working on some choreography for a while and despite Kayla’s avowal not to choreograph this semester, I thought that if I showed her my stuff I might just possibly convince her to maybe choreograph with me again. As I had predicted, she got excited about it and we started working on it together, so I think I came out of that victorious! ;)

The next morning I had pretty much no desire to leave. I absolutely love London; its energy is just exhilarating and the city has such a welcoming vibe. We went to the train station early so we could stop at King’s Cross and find Platform 9 ¾, and this time we succeeded! I took a picture with it, thus fulfilling a life dream.

My ride home was uneventful, aside from when the RER took forever and I almost missed my train to Dijon and had to run along the platform all the way to the last car where, of course, I happened to be seated. When I got home, my host mom prepared a special dinner of crepes for me, which was really nice and delicious. It was a refreshing, lovely weekend and I was so glad Kayla had been able to host me! We won’t see each other again until we’re back at Puget Sound in August, which is a weird thought! I can’t believe everything is starting to come to an end—but that is definitely a subject for a different blog post. London was lovely and I can’t wait to go back!