The Rest of London

Sorry it has been so long. The process of ending my first course in London and moving to Swansea kept me pretty busy. I’m going to finish with everything I saw in London to kind of catch you guys up.

So, I left off with our trip to Westminster Abbey, which was nearly two weeks ago! That Tuesday we visited Parliament. We had a guided tour throughout Parliament and when we were inside, there was a debate going on in the House of Lords, so the guide was really bummed we wouldn’t get to see the room. Then he thought for a while and was like, “Oh, I may be able to get you in to watch a bit of the debate.” This must not happen too often if he wasn’t too sure it would work! Anyway, we got in to watch from a spectator’s balcony, and we got to hear the Lords discussing the bill on dropping 50 of their representatives. The House of Commons had passed the bill, and the House of Lords could only delay it, it is going to be passed at some point in time. This was very cool to get to see, but it was hard to understand them with their accent but more so because of the politician language and terms I was unfamiliar with.

Parliament

Lauren, Allie, Shannon, and Me in front of Big Ben

Another pretty view of the building

That Wednesday we had class for three hours and then went to the “East End” with John (our professor). He took us out to eat Indian cuisine which is very popular in Britain because of the immigration from South Asia. We went to a buffet which was great because we could try a little of everything. We walked around the East End and there was a clothing market with so many dresses, custom tees, hats, etc. We didn’t spend much time there so the girls all went back the next day to do a little shopping, Jake didn’t want to join us.. imagine that.

The clothing market

Bangladeshi residence right in front of a college student residence.. Kind of interesting to see such different places of living in the same area.

Next, we headed to the 2012 Olympic site. London chose the East End to house the Olympic site in order to improve the area, because it is not a very well developed part of the city. The Olympians housing will be housing in the future, there will be a park built for the occasion, all to ensure sustainability in the area after the Olympics.

The 2012 Olympic Arena

The 2012 Olympic Aquatic Center

Millennium Dome, 2012 Olympic Basketball and Gymnastics Arena (in the bottom right corner). We didn’t get very close to this building, so I attempted to snap a shot from the train.

That night we went to club Jalouse in Picadilly Circus. Thursday we had no class, but we got up to go to Platform 9 ¾ from Harry Potter. This is at King’s Cross station. We searched Platform 9 for it and could not find it. We walked up to someone to ask where it was and before we said a word he says, “Harry Potter?” They obviously get a lot of questions about it. He directed us back out and around to Platform 8.. This was a little disappointing in itself. When we got to it, it was even more disappointing, it was a wall-paper looking, fake brick wall with half a trolley attached so it looked like it was half way through the brick wall. Not as cool as we thought it would be, but still fun to do. This is the day the girls went back to the clothing market.

My wonderful Platform Nine and Three Quarters pose

Friday was a trip to the South Bank (just south of the river Thames). We crossed the London Bridge and walked through Borough Market, which was this huge market of fresh meats, produce, and cheeses. They also had ready to eat food like bratwursts and soups. This was fun to see, but again since we were with John we didn’t spend a lot of time here. We walked along Thames and walked by Shakespeare’s Globe which is not where Shakespeare’s Globe actually was, but was a remake of the building. You can get a 5 pound standing ticket to a play. The feel of the theater resembles the days of Shakespeare in the way that everyone stands around this small stage. Few props are used and if you can barely see it’s alright, because the point of plays back then was to hear them not necessarily see them. We continued walking to Tate Modern, a modern art museum. We spent some time there with John and then he left us to roam around by ourselves. The main exhibit was a large display of ceramic sun flower seeds all across the floor. The artist wanted it to be interactive and whoever came to see it could walk around and play in the exhibit, but the seeds were cracking from being stepped on and was creating a dust in the museum. The museum closed it off so you can no longer walk on it.

John on the London Bridge

That’s me with the London Bridge in the background

Tate Modern

The Sun Flower Exhibit

Me and Lauren, St. Paul’s Cathedral in the background

The next morning Lauren, Jake and I went back to the Borough Market. I got a few things, but had to haul them around all day because we went a few more places before going home.

Borough Market

Another walk across the London Bridge

Next, we went to Abbey Road. Jake really wanted a picture walking across the same crosswalk as the Beatles, so Lauren and I did as well. After that we went to Wimbledon to see the tennis facilities. We ended up just kind of seeing the courts from a distance, but it was pretty.

Abbey Road

Wimbledon

That night I decided to get some quality studying done so I walked around Kensington Park for a couple of hours and then went to the Imperial College library to study. The park was so pretty. It had 4 large sculptures from Anish Kapoor, who did the bean in Chicago. Those were really cool to see, and I also saw the Peter Pan statue.

Peter Pan Statue

A view of the park, on the far left and the far right, you can see two of Anish Kapoors sculptures

This is The Tower on the Imperial College Campus where I studied ad where we had our reception early on

Monday was a fieldtrip to the Imperial War Museum. We met John there and he walked around with us unloading all of his little bits of knowledge to us. After he left we stuck around for another hour and a half, it was a reallyinteresting museum. We had class for three hours that afternoon.

Imperial War Museum

Tuesday we joined another one of John’s classes to hear a speaker, Graham Brady. He is a former Member of Parliament and he basically just talked about everything John had taught us already, but was still interesting to hear what he had to say. Wednesday was our last day of class. We had a presentation of an image that showed something visually about anything we had talked about in the class. That was a pretty fun project. We also had a final exam, which was pretty easy. We have quite a few essays to write but can send those to John later. I’m still not too far with those, but will work hard this week! That night the girls went to a club to celebrate our last night in London, Jake didn’t want to come dancing with us. :(

Well that’s the rest of my time in London. Next post will include Swansea!