the London Bridge is not falling down.
Long time....
Two weekends ago, (feb. 22) I went to London for the first time. I stayed with my friend from home (Neeta) and also met up with one of my friends from school (Liz). I had so much fun seeing them and seeing as much of London as possible in the short amount of time I had! So, I left Copenhagen on Friday and took the 15 minute train ride to the airport...in less than 3 hours, I was in London! Europe is so cool. Anyways, my first stop before exiting was obviously baggage claim, even though it was just a weekend I still needed to check my bag because I was bringing liquids. As soon as I came out of the main terminal my bag was making its way around the conveyor belt. Everything was going great so far....then I stopped at the passport station. No line for U.S. Citizens! (Not surprising when you look at the pound to the dollar...$2.00 for every pound! yikes). So I went up to station number 17 and handed the man my document and passport. I filled everything out except for the address of where I was staying.....something a)I thought I didn't really need since it was only for two nights and b) I didn't know cause I forget to ask that before coming. So the passport guy gave me a bit of a reality check as I stood there looking like a ditz because I had no idea where I was staying, but I did have an e-mail telling me how to get to the tube station closest to Neeta's place....so...I handed the man my e-mail and he filled in the missing information. Luckily he humored me a little bit and thought the fact that I had no idea where I was going was funny...and just let me get by with a warning about always knowing the address of my destination in case of emergency, etc. I thanked him a lot and went on my way. I found the exit and was very excited to have to go through the welcoming area (like the one in LoveActually) where people are lined up along a pathway waiting for their passenger to walk through the doors. I found the tube and hopped on the Piccadilly line towards Cockfosters. The first thing I noticed were two Americans dressed in shorts and Arizona State t-shirts. I pretended to be European and tried not to make eye-contact. (Actually...I sat pretty close to them and really wanted to ask where in the States they were from...but the train was crowded, so I assumed Arizona or the mid-west because of their accents and sat quietly).
An hour later, I reached my stop, Kings Cross. I went up the escalator and realized I was actually in London. There were people everywhere, moving quickly, in all different directions. I saw a dozen red double decker buses fly by the station before I figured out how to get to Neeta's dorm. The cabs are old cars and everyone was driving on the left! The buildings were all different sizes and designs. Short, gothic style apartments next to huge blue and purple glass skyscrapers. I couldn't quite place the feeling I got from London had until Neeta said it's an 'in-your-face' kind of town. It's kind of a mix between New York City, Boston and D.C. New york for the fast-pace and high-fashion, boston for the big parks and in-your-face attitude, and D.C for the confusing streets and government stuff. Granted I only spent about two days in London, I could tell that the city didn't try to be charming. Everything is as it is, or as it has been for a very long time. Buildings face which ever direction they like and the streets seem to purposefully zigzag through the city.
As for my visit, on Friday night, Neeta made me dinner (which was delicious!), and we went out to an awesome Jazz Bar called Troy. They had a live band playing hip, upbeat jazz. They were great, and the drummer was only 18! The place was packed but we stayed through the first set before meeting up with Liz and her friend, Nick, who was hosting her. After the Jazz club, we all walked along Brick Lane looking for a cheaper and not so crowded place to go...but we soon found out that a place like that didn't really exist around that area. The bars also seem to close pretty early, like 12 or 1230, unless it's a chain bar. Neeta took me to an area called Angel to check out a few places, but a lot of things were closed. So we made our way back and stopped at one last bar before heading home for the night. The next day we went to Borough Market, an outdoor and indoor fresh food and restaurant market. It was packed and smelled so good. It was near the London Bridge/Tower Bridge, so I got to see that! Neeta, Liz, Nick, and I all ate in the middle of the market at a really cute garden restaurant. Then we walked along the London Bridge Walk to the Tate Modern Museum. Neeta and I saw an exhibit on Juan Munoz, a sculpture who likes to play with the viewer's comfort zone. In one particular part of the show, he filled an entire room with 100 sculptures of men who resemble people from Asian descent. All the men were scattered around the room in clusters, facing each other and looking like were talking to each other and having a great time doing it. None of the men had feet....but the point of the room was to make the viewer feel uncomfortable as an outsider, from the Asian race and physically from the conversations going on between the men. The whole show was really cool---check him out!
After the Tate, we went to Harrods Department store to check out 'high-tea'. We found out that is was extremely expensive (like 80 bucks for tea, cookies, and cucumber sandwiches). So we went for pizza instead. The pizza was amazing and the head chef actually sang while he tossed the pies...he even had a c.d. you could buy. Then Liz insisted on having ice cream, so we kind of shared some sort of sundae. Harrods is huge, expensive in every room, but definitely a place to see. You have to walk through about 4 different 'luxury' rooms to get to the food court, including the jewelry area. The whole store sparkles (except for entrance by the people who were protesting Harrods’s because they sell Fur)....but besides that, the store was full of excessive and unnecessary luxuries, and really good food. On our way back to Neeta's we stopped at Regent's Park...but it was after dark and seemed to be locked or something, so we just looked in from iron gate edges. Neeta made dinner again, fantastic as usual! Then we headed out to Covent Garden, a very crowded hot-spot for bars and shows, it's the theatre district. The streets were cobble stone and people were everywhere. There is a huge market area in the middle of the area with a bunch of cafe bars with balconies around the edges. We found a little bar with some really loud live music and then we walked around the area a bit longer but most places were closed. We ended up walking to a huge square with a large fountain and the National Portrait Gallery and took some touristy pictures. London is so lit up at night. On Sunday, we went to Breakfast in Angel at a place called 'The Breakfast Club' ---yep, it's modeled after the 80s classic movie--and we had some good old American breakfast (french toast and pancakes). So good. The sun finally came out on Sunday...but sadly I had to catch an afternoon flight, so I missed most of it. The worst part of the whole weekend was not being able to exchange my 2lbs for 20 kroner....they told me I didn't have enough to exchange because they would be charging me a fee, too, so I had to spend it. Oh and the swedish kids (i asked them where they were from in danish!) next to me on my flight thought it was funny to get up everytime I started to fall asleep...making me wake up and move my legs for them to get by. Finally, I put my tray table down and read instead...I really showed them...they didn't get up anymore during the flight :).
I've learned some important travel tips from my trip to London: 1. always have the address of your destination handy, and 2. never try to sleep on a plane when sitting in a row with energetic kids.
I'll keep those things in mind as I go on Spring Break. On Saturday the 8th of March I will be taking an overnight bus to Prague, then to Berlin for a study tour. Then on the 17th of March through the 30th of March I will be traveling with a buddy from my program to Milan, Cinque Terre, Chieti, Rome, Naples, and finally, Paris. I will try to update my blog along the way....but I can't guarantee that I'll have internet access.
So, Farvel for now, I'll be back in April!
Emily
Two weekends ago, (feb. 22) I went to London for the first time. I stayed with my friend from home (Neeta) and also met up with one of my friends from school (Liz). I had so much fun seeing them and seeing as much of London as possible in the short amount of time I had! So, I left Copenhagen on Friday and took the 15 minute train ride to the airport...in less than 3 hours, I was in London! Europe is so cool. Anyways, my first stop before exiting was obviously baggage claim, even though it was just a weekend I still needed to check my bag because I was bringing liquids. As soon as I came out of the main terminal my bag was making its way around the conveyor belt. Everything was going great so far....then I stopped at the passport station. No line for U.S. Citizens! (Not surprising when you look at the pound to the dollar...$2.00 for every pound! yikes). So I went up to station number 17 and handed the man my document and passport. I filled everything out except for the address of where I was staying.....something a)I thought I didn't really need since it was only for two nights and b) I didn't know cause I forget to ask that before coming. So the passport guy gave me a bit of a reality check as I stood there looking like a ditz because I had no idea where I was staying, but I did have an e-mail telling me how to get to the tube station closest to Neeta's place....so...I handed the man my e-mail and he filled in the missing information. Luckily he humored me a little bit and thought the fact that I had no idea where I was going was funny...and just let me get by with a warning about always knowing the address of my destination in case of emergency, etc. I thanked him a lot and went on my way. I found the exit and was very excited to have to go through the welcoming area (like the one in LoveActually) where people are lined up along a pathway waiting for their passenger to walk through the doors. I found the tube and hopped on the Piccadilly line towards Cockfosters. The first thing I noticed were two Americans dressed in shorts and Arizona State t-shirts. I pretended to be European and tried not to make eye-contact. (Actually...I sat pretty close to them and really wanted to ask where in the States they were from...but the train was crowded, so I assumed Arizona or the mid-west because of their accents and sat quietly).
An hour later, I reached my stop, Kings Cross. I went up the escalator and realized I was actually in London. There were people everywhere, moving quickly, in all different directions. I saw a dozen red double decker buses fly by the station before I figured out how to get to Neeta's dorm. The cabs are old cars and everyone was driving on the left! The buildings were all different sizes and designs. Short, gothic style apartments next to huge blue and purple glass skyscrapers. I couldn't quite place the feeling I got from London had until Neeta said it's an 'in-your-face' kind of town. It's kind of a mix between New York City, Boston and D.C. New york for the fast-pace and high-fashion, boston for the big parks and in-your-face attitude, and D.C for the confusing streets and government stuff. Granted I only spent about two days in London, I could tell that the city didn't try to be charming. Everything is as it is, or as it has been for a very long time. Buildings face which ever direction they like and the streets seem to purposefully zigzag through the city.
As for my visit, on Friday night, Neeta made me dinner (which was delicious!), and we went out to an awesome Jazz Bar called Troy. They had a live band playing hip, upbeat jazz. They were great, and the drummer was only 18! The place was packed but we stayed through the first set before meeting up with Liz and her friend, Nick, who was hosting her. After the Jazz club, we all walked along Brick Lane looking for a cheaper and not so crowded place to go...but we soon found out that a place like that didn't really exist around that area. The bars also seem to close pretty early, like 12 or 1230, unless it's a chain bar. Neeta took me to an area called Angel to check out a few places, but a lot of things were closed. So we made our way back and stopped at one last bar before heading home for the night. The next day we went to Borough Market, an outdoor and indoor fresh food and restaurant market. It was packed and smelled so good. It was near the London Bridge/Tower Bridge, so I got to see that! Neeta, Liz, Nick, and I all ate in the middle of the market at a really cute garden restaurant. Then we walked along the London Bridge Walk to the Tate Modern Museum. Neeta and I saw an exhibit on Juan Munoz, a sculpture who likes to play with the viewer's comfort zone. In one particular part of the show, he filled an entire room with 100 sculptures of men who resemble people from Asian descent. All the men were scattered around the room in clusters, facing each other and looking like were talking to each other and having a great time doing it. None of the men had feet....but the point of the room was to make the viewer feel uncomfortable as an outsider, from the Asian race and physically from the conversations going on between the men. The whole show was really cool---check him out!
After the Tate, we went to Harrods Department store to check out 'high-tea'. We found out that is was extremely expensive (like 80 bucks for tea, cookies, and cucumber sandwiches). So we went for pizza instead. The pizza was amazing and the head chef actually sang while he tossed the pies...he even had a c.d. you could buy. Then Liz insisted on having ice cream, so we kind of shared some sort of sundae. Harrods is huge, expensive in every room, but definitely a place to see. You have to walk through about 4 different 'luxury' rooms to get to the food court, including the jewelry area. The whole store sparkles (except for entrance by the people who were protesting Harrods’s because they sell Fur)....but besides that, the store was full of excessive and unnecessary luxuries, and really good food. On our way back to Neeta's we stopped at Regent's Park...but it was after dark and seemed to be locked or something, so we just looked in from iron gate edges. Neeta made dinner again, fantastic as usual! Then we headed out to Covent Garden, a very crowded hot-spot for bars and shows, it's the theatre district. The streets were cobble stone and people were everywhere. There is a huge market area in the middle of the area with a bunch of cafe bars with balconies around the edges. We found a little bar with some really loud live music and then we walked around the area a bit longer but most places were closed. We ended up walking to a huge square with a large fountain and the National Portrait Gallery and took some touristy pictures. London is so lit up at night. On Sunday, we went to Breakfast in Angel at a place called 'The Breakfast Club' ---yep, it's modeled after the 80s classic movie--and we had some good old American breakfast (french toast and pancakes). So good. The sun finally came out on Sunday...but sadly I had to catch an afternoon flight, so I missed most of it. The worst part of the whole weekend was not being able to exchange my 2lbs for 20 kroner....they told me I didn't have enough to exchange because they would be charging me a fee, too, so I had to spend it. Oh and the swedish kids (i asked them where they were from in danish!) next to me on my flight thought it was funny to get up everytime I started to fall asleep...making me wake up and move my legs for them to get by. Finally, I put my tray table down and read instead...I really showed them...they didn't get up anymore during the flight :).
I've learned some important travel tips from my trip to London: 1. always have the address of your destination handy, and 2. never try to sleep on a plane when sitting in a row with energetic kids.
I'll keep those things in mind as I go on Spring Break. On Saturday the 8th of March I will be taking an overnight bus to Prague, then to Berlin for a study tour. Then on the 17th of March through the 30th of March I will be traveling with a buddy from my program to Milan, Cinque Terre, Chieti, Rome, Naples, and finally, Paris. I will try to update my blog along the way....but I can't guarantee that I'll have internet access.
So, Farvel for now, I'll be back in April!
Emily
posted by Emily Bell @ 2:53 PM
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