I think it really hit me that I was on my way to London when one of the flight attendants asked me what I wanted to drink in a British accent. I remember thinking, “Holy crap, I am really going to England.” As soon as I landed and tried to find my way to the Tube, I was introduced to the very friendly locals. I must have looked very obviously confused and lost because about six people offered me help between me landing at the airport and making it to the right hotel.
On the first day, we had an exercise to help us learn how to navigate the Tube. We went to Trafalgar Square which is very close to Westminster. We all decided to walk down to Westminster to see Big Ben, Parliament, and the Westminster Abbey. We could not go into these places yet, but it was nice to walk around. We got a quick lunch, and that is when we found out there are almost no trash cans, or litter bins if you were raised in England, in Westminster. Another student and I even passed a man on a different day when we could get in the Abbey that said, “If I do not find a trash can in ten minutes, I’m throwing it all on the ground.” Professor Steigerwald then told me that is because the IRA favored trash cans as a place to deposit bombs. This killed or severely injured a lot of people near tourist sites. They decided it was safer to just have no trash cans in the Westminster area.
London was very unique in the way that it has balanced mix of old architecture and modern architecture. Some of the group went to the Tower of London in the afternoon on May 10, and there was this amazing view of this mix from a spot inside the Tower. It was everywhere. Parts of Westminster Abbey have been around since before the 1100’s and just down the street there is an office building made entirely of glass. It felt as if they were trying to keep the city up with the times without losing all of the history and beauty in the old buildings.
This is the Tower of London surrounded by modern architecture.
I also realized that London can have many surprises. A group of us wanted to go to the Globe Theater on May 12. We did not leave in time to make it there, nor did we really know how to get there. We ended up getting off the tube at a station where the Monument was. The Globe had already closed, but the Monument was still allowing people in for five more minutes so we all made the spontaneous decision to walk up the 311 steps to the top to see this amazing view of Tower Bridge and basically the rest of London. We only stayed up there for about twenty minutes because the place was closing, but I easily could have spent a couple hours just looking out at the city of London. It was just a spontaneous decision we made so that our tube ride wasn’t wasted, and it turned out to be worth the time and the pain in our calves.
View from the top of the Monument looking out to the Tower Bridge.
I don’t think London would have been as great of an experience for me if it was not for all the walks by the water. One of my favorite things to do was to go down to Westminster at night and walk across the bridge to see the London Eye lit up across the water and the lights of the Parliament building reflecting off the river as well. The same group that went to the Monument also walked down to the river right by the London Bridge, and we all sat on the ledge of the walkway right by the water. It was the simplicity of walking down the river in the middle of this fast-paced city that made me love doing it so much. I have never felt more content.
Bethany, Erik, and me sitting near the London Bridge at the edge of the river.