Europe 2016, Part VI: England

SUNDAY, JULY 3^rd

Current State

In a Starbucks in Madrid, I think close to the city center (“el centro”). I’m here for just over 24 hours total, so won’t be doing much sightseeing, but it made the trip from London to Málaga cheaper and gives me more time to get used to the significantly warmer climate!

It’s been a while…

Wow, sorry for the lack of updates this week! England was amazing and packed full of exciting adventures (and catching up on sleep), but left little extended time for writing my thoughts. Here’s what’s been happening “across the pond,” as it were.

Monday – Robyn and I took an early flight to London and dropped our bags off at the Airbnb. This one was similar to where I stayed in Galway in that it was run like a BnB business, rather than as a room rental in someone’s house. The hosts, Stefano and Sara (business partners, not a couple), were very kind and accommodating. They also had free tube (London Underground) maps we could take! After dropping our things, we rallied and went to lunch at Whetherspoon’s. It’s a British chain and Robyn informs me that everyone calls it “Spoon’s,” which I think is cute. Our food was good and it was right across from our first destination, the Tower of London.

A female "beefeater" (or yeoman)!

I’m so glad that we went to the Tower. It was originally built by William the Conqueror in the 11^th century, so it has a long and storied past. Although originally used as a castle, it’s purpose quickly turned to being a fortress of defense. It is best-known as the place where traitors to the crown were executed during the Tudor era. Two of Henry VIII’s wives, Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, were executed here. Another claim to fame is the story of how Richard III trapped his two nephews in the Tower and allowed them to conveniently disappear so he could be king. Now we know that he actually killed them (or had them killed) and hid their bodies under a staircase. The remains of the bodies were uncovered a few centuries later during renovations and modern forensic work has confirmed their identities. One of the most interesting things about the Tower is that it is staffed by “Beefeaters” or Yeomen of the Guard. These are men and women who have served a certain number of years in the army and been selected to serve in this special role of Tower guards. They wear formal and slightly medieval attire, emblazoned with E II R (Elizabeth Rex the Second), and live on the premises. One of their duties is actually leading tours of the site, but they also have more formal duties. The most important items kept at the Tower are, of course, the Crown Jewels of England. The line (queue) was ridiculously long, so we didn’t actually see them but I’m sure they are marvelous.

Tribute to those executed on Tower Green.

"Traitor's Gate"

Above: The only Tudor era building remaining in London (the others
burned in the 17th century fire) - originally made for Anne Boleyn.
Right: The view of the Tower Bridge from a walkway at the Tower.
As we were taking this picture, a little kid walked by with his family
and yelled, "it's sad because I love you but you hate me!"

We were already feeling exhausted but we wanted to make the most of our time, so we had a quick snack and relax on the bank of the Thames. It was beautiful and I got my first sunburn of the trip despite the temperature being below 65… Typical. Then, we took the tube to South Kensington and walked around “The Royal Buroughs of Chelsea and Kensington” (aka Chelsea, the fancy / posh area of the city – basically the London version of the Upper East Side). We had a nice walk down one of the main shopping streets, enjoying how late it stays light out. For dinner, we had take away in our Airbnb and turned in fairly early. (Have I mentioned how exhausting traveling is?!)

We stumbled upon the theatre
for "Harry Potter & the Cursed
Child" - All previews sold out
months ago, so we couldn't go. 

Tuesday – In the morning, we went to get day-of tickets to the Mousetrap and ate breakfast at a small pub-style restaurant in the West End. After breakfast, we wandered in a few West End shops and made our way to the British Museum. This is where the UK keeps all of the artifacts that are important to preserving the memory of the British Empire (read: things that were stolen from countries Britain colonized and some actually British things). Highlights included the Rosetta Stone and a really fabulous exhibit on the history of clocks! We strolled through the Covent Garden area next and a market-style mall with a name I can’t seem to remember. We then walked down the Embankment to the Westminster area. It was a beautiful walk and we got to see the outside of Westminster Abbey and Westminster Palace (which houses Parliament, not the monarchy, as we discovered after far too long wandering around looking for signs). I didn’t realize that Big Ben was part of Westminster Palace / Parliament, I always imagined it was its own structure. It’s more beautiful as part of Westminster as a whole. We both wanted to do different things in the afternoon – Robyn wanted to go to the Tate Museum of Art and I wanted to ride the London Eye. It was beautiful, but a little expensive, all things considered. I don’t think I would do it again. I then walked along the South Bank of the Thames, which is a very cute waterfront featuring little shops and restaurants. We met at the Globe Theatre just to say we’ve seen it, then went to dinner at an Italian restaurant nearby. By the time we finished our dinner, it was time to take the tube back to the West End to catch the Mousetrap! We sat literally front and center, which was a very interesting way to see the play. I definitely made eye contact with some of the actors, but they kept in character marvelously. At intermission, both of us speculated on parts of the solution that turned out to be right, including my guess of who the murderer was. Thoroughly enjoyable! And yes, they swore us to secrecy at the end just like Grandma said they would.

At the top of the Eye!

Viewing compartment on the London Eye.

Camden Market

Wednesday – We started our day with a visit to Camden Town, which has a cool and well-recommended indoor/outdoor market. It was kind of similar to Portland’s Saturday Market, but with some indoor shops as well. Our visit was brief but enjoyable. I would definitely go back to explore this area further on a future trip. We then did a quick tour of the Museum of London, which yielded some interesting information but was maybe a little broad for my taste. Basically, it goes through the history of the city from the Roman era to modern day. There were some eras that had tons of artifacts on display and some eras with very few. For example, neither of us found anything about World War I, which seemed very odd. It’s possible we missed it, but I’m not sure how. I would definitely go back though because our trip was relatively short. This was for good reason, however, since we had to go meet Allison for lunchtime tea! For those who don’t know, Allison was one of my best friends in high school and also just finished her first year of teaching. We keep in touch a bit but we hadn’t seen each other in a few years so it was wonderful to see her! We all enjoyed ourselves so much that we lost track of time and I had to rush off to collect my luggage and get to the Victoria Coach Station to catch a bus to Bath.

Bath

After a bumpy three hour bus ride, I arrived in the town of Bath in the Southwest of England around
8:45pm on Wednesday. I had a short walk to Annabelle’s Guest House, a cute and traditional BnB just outside of the city centre. I rang the bell of the row house and was greeted by the manager, a very friendly, middle-aged Italian man. In the mornings, he cooks made-to-order English breakfast (sausage, egg, ham, tomatoes, mushrooms, baked beans) and there is self-serve bread, pastries, cereal, and tea/coffee. Woah. Talk about hospitality.

Just hanging out, regency-style.

On Thursday, I started my exploration of bath with a walk through the main area of the city to the Jane Austen Centre. It was University of Bath graduation day, so the streets were packed with graduates and their families. They hold their graduation ceremonies at the Bath Abbey, which must be absolutely stunning but also means they exit the ceremony right into the city centre. A little chaotic. Per usual, I spent more time than expected at the Jane Austen Centre. It’s a small exhibition, mostly focused on how Austen’s time in Bath influenced her writing. That said, I thought it was very well done and thoroughly enjoyable. They also have costumes to try on and you can pose with them next to their unique Jane Austen wax model! They believe it to be the most accurate representation of her that exists because it was made with the help of a forensics expert. The Centre also has a Regency Tea Room, which is where I had lunch. The sandwiches were okay, but the scone (“scawn,” as they say) was incredible. I wanted to buy everything in the gift shop, but was able to limit myself to one Pride & Prejudice spin-off book and a copy of the first thing she ever wrote – “The History of England, By a partial, prejudiced, & ignorant Historian.” I’m quite excited to read both while lounging on the Malaga beaches this week.

A high school student from Seattle sampling
the medieval thumb screws on the ghost tour.

After I had my fill of Jane Austen for the day (just kidding, I can never be full of Jane Austen), I decided to stroll through the city centre and see if there was a good walking or boat tour I could do. Around 5:00, I found a brochure for a boat tour that claimed to leave at 5:20 and 6:40. It was a 1-hour cruise up the Avon River to a smaller town called Bathwick. The weather was relatively nice and I was looking forward to some scenic views, but when I arrived at the harbor at 6:30, there was no boat to be found! When I looked on the company’s website later, it didn’t list a 6:40 tour, so the brochure must have been outdated. I was a little disappointed but I ended up going on a walking ghost tour of the city, which was perhaps even more fun than the boat cruise would have been. It was led by two older men, one dressed as a monk and the other as a doctor. They showed us different supposedly haunted sites around the city and told some pretty great stories, both histories and their own paranormal experiences. I didn’t see any ghosts, but I’m hoping when I look through my pictures more fully I might see something spooky.

View of the large bath from a Victorian era balcony.

On Friday, I went to the Roman Baths. I had been on the fence about whether or not this would be worth the money, but a woman on the ghost tour said she really enjoyed it so I decided to give it a go. It was pretty awesome and I’m glad I went. This is the original site of the Roman Baths in the town, an enormous complex built around a naturally occurring hot spring. The Romans considered hot springs to be holy sites, and they believed the goddess Minerva lived in this spring. So, they created a series of pools from the springs that citizens could use as well as a temple to honor Minerva. Unfortunately, citizens of Bath during the Victorian era ruined the original springs by uncovering them so they are now full of algae. However, they do provide a sample of untainted spring water at the end of the tour. It’s full of minerals, so it’s supposed to be very good for one’s health.

The holy hot spring - home of Minerva.

Minerva - the goddess believed to live on site.

London, Round 2

After seeing the Baths, it was time for me to leave Bath. I was excited to get back to London but also sad to be leaving this cute and friendly town. I would love to go back – it’s got tons of tourist activities that I just didn’t have time to do and a great variety of restaurants and tea shops. I took the bus back to London and went via tube to Palmer’s Lodge - Swiss Cottage, the hostel where I stayed for Friday and Saturday nights. I didn’t have very long to settle in because Allison and her parents very kindly invited me to join them for dinner and a performance of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.

We ate a delicious meal at a French restaurant in the West End called Le Garrick, which is where Lori (Allison’s mom) took the picture of Allison and me that is now on Facebook. We then walked to the Gielgud Theatre and took in a truly spectacular show. And I use spectacular not because the writing or acting were particularly great, but because the show was a stunning display of technical prowess. There were tons of lights, chalk drawings on the walls and floor, incredible use of paneling. It was a spectacle in the best sense. Allison and I discussed the show (and teaching/life) over drinks afterwards. We both agreed that they kind of had to rely on tech to make the show good because the book has a fairly mundane plot. What makes the book and the play great is that they allow the reader to understand how Christopher experiences the world. The book does this through its narration, the play uses technical elements to thrust viewers into Christopher’s mind. It’s hard to describe, but I would highly recommend it to anyone.

Selfie in front of Hampton Court.

Example of ornate ceiling.

On Saturday, I took a train 40 minutes out of London to Hampton Court Palace. This was Henry VIII’s favorite palace for the second half of his reign and was also favored by William III (of William and Mary) and Georges I and II. I spent about three hours just going through the exhibits (and there were two I didn’t visit!) and an additional hour walking the magnificent gardens. This palace was originally created by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, one of Henry VIII’s closest advisors before he decided to split with the Catholic Church. Wolsey was criticized heavily both in life and death for his extravagant lifestyle, and Hampton Court is possibly the best example of it. It’s a beautiful building right on the Thames river, and I’m not even slightly surprised that Henry VIII took it over after Wolsey died. The tour basically takes us through all of Henry VIII’s reign, showing how different parts of the Palace were adapted as his life progressed. The architecture is stunning and we can see when things were built based on which wife was incorporated into the construction. It’s hard to describe in writing, but it made for a very engaging audio tour walkthrough. I won’t go into detail here on the exhibits about William III and the Georgians, but I’d be happy to talk about them with you when I’m back! The palace gardens are stunning and have been added to throughout the many years since Hampton Court was built. They have been open to the public since the Victorian age and are home to the world's oldest hedge maze! I completed the maze at the end of my visit and, of course, took a selfie to celebrate. 

Hedge statue of Henry VIII

I found the center of the maze!

The guards look tiny from the gate!!

Coming back, I stopped by Buckingham Palace to take some quick photos. I was surprised that people try to make the guards flinch. They’re super far back from the gate, so it seems a little silly… that being said, it could be that they do things a little differently when the Queen is not in residence as is the case this week. I then walked to Belgrave Square because I’ve been reading (listening to) the Julian Fellows book “Belgravia” throughout my trip. Fellows created Downton Abbey and wrote this book after the series finished last year. The interesting thing about the book is that it’s only available digitally right now because it is released in episodes. I got a late start, so I’ve been listening straight through. But, if you started when it first came out, then you would have a week between when each chapter arrives on your phone. It’s a very engaging story about a social climbing merchant who (fictionally) helped create Belgrave Square and Eaton Square in the 1820s and 30s. It’s an engaging book and definitely plays with some of the same ideas of Downton Abbey, such as the relationships between wealthy families and their servants.

Buckingham Palace

One corner of Herrod's.

I knew my mom would be disappointed if I didn’t go in Herrod’s, so that was my last stop for this trip. It is enormous. It’s the Powell’s of department stores, but five times bigger. I got overwhelmed just with all of the food options on the first floor, and I wasn’t even trying to get a meal! I was literally walking around with my mouth gaping open like a fish. I also checked out some price tags in the women’s evening wear section: sale dresses for over $1,000! Ah! After seeing that, it was a little difficult to return to meager hostel life but I survived. In all seriousness, Palmer’s Lodge was a nice place to stay with the exception that the pillow I got was very lumpy!

I think I’ve said more than enough for now. I’ll post some thoughts on Spain and pictures tomorrow.

Cheers,

Colleen