London Day 1 & 2

March 14:

Travel to London

Yesterday I woke up at about 9:30 am. I was really nervous about all the traveling I would have to do and figuring out by myself so I had some trouble sleeping. I just tried to look stuff up as much as I could and get to know my route. At 10:45 I left my room and took the metro (subway) to the bus station. I had already practiced the route to the bus station the day before so I was pretty comfortable with that and made it there with 30 min to spare.

At 11:30 the bus left to go to Brno. The trip was about 2 hours and 45 min but the bus service I traveled on was really nice. I've been on it before when going to Brno with Antonia and when going to Vienna. They give you free hot beverages and you have the little screens where you can listen to music, watch tv, or play games. I tried to sleep but was too nervous (also, I was drinking a cappuccino) so I just ended up playing sudoku.

At 2:15 I arrived in Brno and was pretty ready to go. Thankfully, I had just been to Brno through the same bus agency with Antonia a few days before and had made sure to locate the bus I needed to take while there. It was a bit nerve-racking though bc I wasn't sure if I had missed it or something. An old man who didn't speak much English came up to me and asked Stanstead? and then nodded that the bus I had been checking out for the last few minutes was indeed the right one. I don't know how he knew I was going there but I guess he was going too.

It was only about a 20 min ride to the Brno Airport which, btw is one of the smallest airports I've ever seen. They only had two flights going through it! I made it through though, and got to London. From the London airport I had to take a 1 hour bus to the actual city. Thankfully, when my bus got to the London stop, Kyle was there to pick me up. I had initially planned on taking the subway and walking to her place by myself but I was pretty nervous about trying to find my way in the dark. Luckily, she showed up and we took a bus to her place.
This whole London part was my biggest concern and while there was some self-doubt and minor confusion, it went pretty smoothly. Actually, the whole travel thing did. I was really nervous but most of the time I just figured it out. I'm really proud of myself.
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March 15:

Borough Market, walk the Thames, Tower of London

Borough Market

 Today was busy but very nice. I'm staying with a girl named Kyle from Bryn Mawr. This morning we took the tube (subway) and walked around a bit, then met up with her friends and some fellow Bryn Mawrters at this cool outdoor market. It was sort of like Reading Terminal in that there were stalls with fresh food everywhere except it was outside. I took pictures of it. I got a homemade vegi burger and some fresh passion fruit, pear, and mango smoothie and we has lunch in the courtyard of a cathedral.


Then Kyle went to class and I walked with two of the Bryn Mawr girls to the Tate Modern Art museum. I only stayed there for an hour before I left and walked all the way past the Shakespeare Globe Theater (not the original but still made a nice picture), past the London Bridge (not actually all that exciting), over the Tower Bridge (that is pretty cool), and finally to the Tower of London. It took a while to get there but the weather was so nice (in the 60s!) and I found my way pretty easily.

The fake Shakespeare's Globe. Rebuilt after a fire burnt down the original, the new version is supposed to be very accurate but I didn't go inside.

The real London Bridge. Not quite what I pictured after hearing the nursery rhyme

The Tower Bridge. Now that's more like it.

The Tower of London was really expensive to get in (like $22.85 USD) but it was really cool. The Tower of London really isn't so much of a tower as it is a stone castle looking thing with two layers of walls. So much history happened there that it blows my mind. I walked through towers where royals were imprisoned, people were tortured, wild animals held. The only drawback was that it was suuuper touristy so it was kind of hard to really relate what it is now to what it used to be. Surrounded by loud American kids of old German tourists, it was a bit tough to transport myself to the times when the Tower of London was used as something other than a museum so the history wasn't able to penetrate fully. Still, it was really cool and definitely a must see.


After I got tired of the Tower of London, I took the subway and then walked to the British Museum. By that time it was like 4:30ish, 5 and since the museum closes at 5:30, I only saw one full exhibit on African art. The museum itself is huge and one of the greatest in the world, full of artifacts and art taken by the Brits from the colonies (ok, not all of the things in the museum are but quite a bit). I'm going to go again on Saturday morning but I wanted to see some of it today so I wouldn't be overwhelmed later. It was nice and very educational; I learned a lot about African art and tribes. My favorite parts were the masquerades which the men of the tribes wear and dance with during ceremonies and stuff to embody other spirits. Some were funeral masks to represent the dead and others were woman masks, asian person looking masks to represent foreign powers, and animals to embody their spirits and bring the wilderness to the people. My favorite piece that I saw in the African exhibit was this modern art piece of a chair made out of gune called the Throne of Weapons. I don't remember everything the little plaque said but basically, there was in influx of guns in Mozambique at one point and much later on the president, not wanting there to be so many guns, offered to give people agricultural tools and stuff if they trade in their weapons. The chair is made out of the discarded guns and is supposed to symbolize dignity, like a throne. Very cool. I can't wait to see more!

Right now I'm looking up tickets to hopefully see a play on the West End (like Britain's Broadway) tomorrow night. Apparently they do this thing where they reserve a certain amount of tickets each day for students to buy that day for really cheap. I'm hoping to get one tomorrow morning before they are all gone. Once I'm done deciding which play to choose I'm going to go upstairs (I'm in the computer lab in Kyle's dorm) and help her make these delicious Bryn Mawr lemon bars. Two of her friends are coming over for dinner and she's making vegetarian zucchini lasagna for dinner and lemon bars for desert. After that, I think we're going to a pub to meet up with the Bryn Mawr girls. Should be fun!