London Bridge Didn't Fall Down

On the subway

Last year, my family in College Station had a girl from Germany live with them for 11 months. Nadine and I coordinated this semester how we could meet up on her home continent. She said that she’d like to go to London and Scotland and get the UK experience. Thus, I met her in London the day after I got back from Italy to do mostly the touristy things. I accidentally took the wrong train to meet her, and I ended up in the Hamptons. So by the time I got to London, we didn’t have much time to do anything in the day. Our hostel was suspiciously located when we started looking for it. The directions took us to a sketchier part of town, and told us to go in a pub. I walked in the pub, and asked if there was a hostel around here. The bartender said I was in the hostel; our rooms were right up the stair inside the pub. Our room was actually pretty nice—just the two of us—and now I can say that I’ve slept in a pub! My friend Mary Lou Hudson messaged me earlier this semester and told me about something called Secret Cinema that happens in London. Basically, every month, this company puts on shows that are set in a time period, and people come to watch a themed movie and dress up. I don’t know about you, but that sounded like a blast to Nadine and me. This month’s theme was set in the 20’s, so I went out and found a pair of elbow length gloves and a 20’s outfit from a thrift store in Oxford for the occasion. I thought we looked pretty dressed up, but when we actually got to the Troxy in London, we were some of the most underdressed people there. Flapper dresses, feathers, and beads were everywhere, and they took the theme very seriously. The people we talked to would only respond in accents, and they would really get into the show. After the show part was over, we all watched a 20’s black-and-white movie together, and it kind of felt like we had been transported in a time machine back 100 years. Cool, one-of-a-kind experience.

Sipping on my milkshake!

View of the stage where they performed

On London Bridge

Crown Jewels

London: Day 2

Our touristing began in Trafalgar square. Since we only had one day, we thought we might do a tour bus thing, but it turned out that those things were expensive. Instead, we decided to do our own tour for a fraction of the price. We went to Big Ben, Wesminster Abbey, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, London Bridge, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Palace, St. Paul’s Cathedral, David Cameron’s (the British Prime Minister) house, and ended up in Piccadilly Circus. Of course, we weren’t able to go inside of everything, but we did get to do and see a lot. I still have to go back and see the British museum, but I’m dedicating an entire day to spend there. I had planned with friends before I left to meet in Piccadilly Circus to go see the play, Les Miserables. We bought tickets ahead of time online, but when we got to the box office, they weren’t there. The woman offered us standing tickets, however, for only 10 pounds. Other people were paying the equivalent of $100+ because this is a world-class performance, but we only had to pay a little bit of money (albeit we did have to stand). I have to say that it was an amazing play, and I would recommend for everyone to see it at sometime in his or her life. The play was so superbly staged that it actually felt real, and it really drew in the emotions of the audience. Fun fact again: Eddie Redmayne (my movie star from Florence) is going to be in the new Les Mis movie that comes out this year. Guess who’s going to be in that theatre on opening night?? This girl!!!

London Eye, Big Ben, and Westminster Palace

Les Mis!