London Calling - July 25th, 2009

Full Saturday of free weekend today.



Woke up early and headed to breakfast, then drug Candice out of bed and we got ready and made it to the train station for the 10:45 train to London. It took about an hour to get to London, then we purchased our tube passes and set off.



So, I've gotten really good at navigating the tube. Unfortunately, on the weekends they are doing a lot of repair work and things, so I didn't know what would be closed. We spent some time walking about uselessly at stations that ended up having the lines we needed closed, but it all worked out in the end.



Our first destination was Westminster Abbey. I finally got to go inside!! My third time to see it, and I finally get to go in. It was so crowded, and expensive -- 12 pounds to go in a church! But definitely worth it. Most of the past monarchs are buried there, as well as a lot of poets and famous people. The building was huge. It was cool because an audio tour was included with your ticket, so you could go around and listen to information about each thing -- I like that a lot...it just makes it so much more worthwhile and meaningful. Once we got to the poet corner I kind of felt like we were flipping through my EN 216 book...which was cool. I mean, reading works by them is one thing, but standing over their grave is another. Adds another dimension of meaning to it, I think. I also got to see Newton's and Darwin's graves as well - awesome. I wish I could go in sometime when tourists weren't allowed in...I think it would be really amazing. Another reason to one day become important in the academic community...



After Westminster, we wandered about a bit, and found a Subway for lunch. Don't judge, you know how we love Subway. And you get a lot of food for cheap. While we were eating, we spotted an Oxfam Bookshop, so of course we had to stop in there. Then we found this awesome store where all the clothes -- like cute dresses and everything -- were just 5 pounds each. So of course we spent some time in there and in a few other stores along the way...



Eventually we made it to the tube station and headed over to the area where all the museums are -- and headed to the Natural History Museum. It was awesome. They had tons of dinosaur skeletons that were really neat. And a blue whale skeleton. That terrified me. I don't even know what I would do if I ever saw a blue whale. Other than die from fear.



After our museum excursion, we caught the tube to Leicester Square, and looked around for some cheap play tickets. We thought they would be really cheap because they were trying to fill that night's seats...but they were still like 40 pounds each, so we decided we're going to look around online and maybe go in one night this week and see a show. Instead of a play, we walked around in Chinatown for a little while and ate dinner.



After dinner, we caught the tube for...King's Cross Station. Yes, the station in Harry Potter where Platform 9 and 3/4 is located. We had a bit of a stressful journey, then all this walking...and....it was kind of a letdown. There was no platform. Haha.



We finally boarded the tube for the final time, headed to Paddington, and caught our train back to Oxford. Quick naps aboard, then arrived in Oxford around 9:30 or 10....tonight was resting and accomplishing things night. Tomorrow we head out to Stonehenge and Bath!



We really got a lot done for how little time we spent in London - we got the stuff we really wanted to do. It's no fun if you're so scheduled and trying to cram stuff in anyway.



I can't believe I'm starting my last week at Oxford. There's so much I still want to do!!