Brad's England Journal- March 28th Entry
Friday, March 28, 1997
I write this from my room in London, at Hughes Parry Hall, one of the dorms
for the University of London, where we are staying. This trip has continued
to be a busy one, and I can't believe that we have finished our second
day in London, and we only have one full day left before Alex and Jeff
return to the States. The view from my room is quite nice, and I look towards
the south and can see the dome of St. Pauls Cathedral lit up against the
sky line, with a full moon overhead. I tried to take some pictures, but
I doubt they will turn out very well, since my camera does not have a very
long exposure time.
Yesterday morning we left from Bath fairly early in the morning, in
the hope of getting to London at a reasonable time. Although it was a
little bit out of our way, we decided to swing by Stonehenge on the way
to London, as it is one of those things that you just have to see. We also
figured it wouldn't take to long to see it, as it can't take to long to
see a bunch of stones (albeit very old stones). When we pulled in there
were lots of signs indicating that there was a free audio tour of Stonehenge,
and the surrounding area, which seemed like a nice change from having to
pay for everything. Just as we were getting out of the car, though, my
contact lens fell out, and I ran to the bathroom to put it back in while
the others went to check out the details of the tour. By the time I met
back up with them they had found out that
the "free" audio tour was just a ruse-- it was free if you paid the 5 pound
admission fee, which none of us were willing to do. Instead, we were forced
to cross the road and stare at the monument from behind a fence (see photo
at left). Overall, we wouldn't have seen much more even if we had gone
in, since the actual stones are roped off and you can't get near
them anyway.
After our stop at Stonehenge we headed on in towards Heathrow, where
we were going to return the car. Unfortunately we were distracted by signs
for Legoland, and decided to go see what that was about. I can remember
reading about it in World magazine when I was a kid, and remembered
thinking it must be really cool. We were all expecting a sort of museum
with lots of huge sculptures made out of millions of Legos. Instead, when
we got there it was a Lego themed amusement park, and the admission was
around 20 pounds, which wasn't worth it since we wanted to get to London
anyway. We took a few photos with some Lego sculptures near the gate (including
a cute one of a little boy and girl rushing to the bathroom at right),
and then were back on track for Heathrow.
We made it to Heathrow this time, checked the car in and took the Tube
into the city. Getting from the final station to Hughes Parry Hall (HPH)
where we are staying was a little bit of a chore, since we had to lug all
our bags, and I chose a somewhat inefficient route to get there, but we
made it there and got checked into our rooms. We all have singles here,
so we don't have to worry about disturbing anybody else.
Carrie and I Near St. Jame's Park
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Carrie and I with Big Ben in the Background
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Carrie and I in front of Westminster Abbey
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Jeff and Carrie with one of the Trafalgar Square Lions
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Touring Central London
After this, we headed into the central London area to see the main sights:
Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, Parliament, etc.. Unfortunately when we got
off at Leicester Square, Alex went to transfer to another train, while
we went up to the street. Carrie, Jeff and I waited for a while, but then
gave up and went around on our own. We started at Trafalgar Square, then
walked down towards Parliament, detouring through St. James Park to see
Buckingham Palace. We then wound our way back around past Westminster Abbey,
before catching the Tube back to HPH. When we got back Alex was waiting
and we found out how he had gotten lost. Fortunately he had gone and seen
most of the same things on his own.
Then, Carrie and I ate here, since as students our dinner was included,
while Alex and Jeff went out to a "fancy" dinner, since they have jobs
(we later found out they just went to a cheap local restaurant). After
dinner we all went and saw "The English Patient" which was showing at a
a nearby theater. I think everybody thought the movie was good, although
it certainly wasn't an action film.
Alex and I with the Tower of London in the Background
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Carrie and I by one of the Towers
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Jeff and I with a Cannon
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The Tower of London
This morning we went and saw the Tower of London, which I had been looking
forward to since when Rebecca and I came on New Years Day it was closed.
It was very interesting, and the Yeoman Warder who gave the tour was very
entertaining. It was also amazing to see the Crown Jewels. There were so
many large gemstones that it was difficult to believe that it wasn't all
just costume jewelry. Jeff and I were a little disappointed though, since
my guidebook had said that the chapel was the home to the headless skeletons
of several of the people executed by Henry the VIIIth. We had both read
this to mean that they had the skeletons hanging up on the walls, but what
it really meant was that they were just buried there, which was not nearly
as exciting.
Group Portrait
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Alex Feeds a Squirrel
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Another Group Portrait
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The Flower Walk in Kensington Gardens
After the Tower we had lunch at the Tower McDonald's, located in the Tower
of London Cellars right next to the tower. I guess if you are McDonald's
you can rent space anywhere! Then we went and walked around in Kensington
Gardens, which is actually more of a park. We stopped at Kensington Palace,
home of the Princess of Wales, for a quick photo. The best part,
however, was the Flower Walk, which was a long straight path planted with
lots of flowers on both sides, although most of them weren't in the peak
of bloom. There were a lot of friendly squirrels on the path, and they
would climb right up the fences and take food out of your hand.
By the Serpentine
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Carrie and I with a Statue
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In Front of Kensington Palace
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Around Kensington Gardens
Jeff and Alex then went to the Natural History Museum, but Carrie wanted
to do some shopping so I went with her. We walked through Knightsbridge,
which is a big shopping district which includes Harrod's, perhaps the most
famous department store in the world. We tried to go into Harrod's, but
Carrie and I both had backpacks, and we were supposed to go in through
a special entrance where we could check the bags. We kept walking, but
the store is so huge that there are about a million entrances and we eventually
decided it was not worth finding the right one just to go in the store.
Carrie mainly wanted to find a place to buy some souvenirs and postcards,
and we didn't really find anything there, so we went back to HPH, and found
a store that sold some stuff right near there.
Carrie's Picture
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My Attempt
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Jeff's Try
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Our Attempts at Photographing the Moon over St. Paul's
Carrie and I ate in again, and Jeff and Alex are supposed to be off to
a "real" fancy meal tonight. I am not sure if they are back yet, but I
before I go to sleep I will go and see if they want to take a picture of
the moon over St. Paul's, since it really is spectacular and this is our
last night here.