LONDON

Getting back on a Monday and leaving on a Wednesday was not easy this week. With only one full day in between trips, we went to our classes, responded to a few emails and re-packed just in time to make our 7:30 night flight to London! Upon arrival, Bonnie and I walked to our hostel, “Hyde Park Hostel.” While the name makes it sound like a pleasant place to sleep for the night, don’t be fooled! We walked into our 15 roommate room and were greeted with a blend of ages and genders, some conscious, and some unconscious, none speaking. We tried our best not to laugh, set down our things and quickly left for dinner! We got in late and got up early, spending minimal time there. (That’s what 7 pounds gets you). Although the hostel was sub-par, the location was ideal. Right across the street was Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. We spent the morning roaming around the gardens, sitting by a pond with some swans, and visiting Peter Pan. By noon we headed to the outskirts of London to meet our friends who had a later flight. And by outskirts I mean the London projects. In short…it was an experience!

I won’t bore you with all the sites we saw…we hit all the typical tourist hot spots that one sees when they go to London. It was grand, yes, but it wasn’t the high point of our trip by far. My favorite things we did began on Friday night, when we all went to see the Lion King on Broadway! Thanks to Erin we had floor seats that were in the center of the audience. The show exceeded my expectations. The movements of the actors, the costumes, the overwhelming backgrounds and props, the color, the songs and voices…it was remarkable to be honest. I would be happy and lucky to be able to see it again. The next day, Erin’s dream to ride a double-decker bus came true! While she and three others explored London on wheels, Leah, Bonnie and I left the projects and headed to the city on foot. The first thing we saw was Buckingham Palace. We only stayed there a few minutes, and headed towards the London Eye. On the way there we stopped to take a few pictures and mock the guards (like in the movies) who were “defending” some building. It looked like a telephone booth, but I’m sure it was important. As we were leaving--we ran into the infantry performing the famous “Changing of the Guards” ceremony. This wasn’t supposed to happen on the main street for another half hour, so this was a definite surprise for us! It also made it a lot more exciting to watch since it wasn’t planned and being literally an arms length away from them! On the way to Westminster’s Abbey, again, we stumbled upon something we weren’t expecting. Right behind Parliament a British “Freedom Rally” was being held. There were probably 50 to 100 tents put up, tons of banners, and signs with typical political sayings and phrases. After talking to a few people we found out that this rally had been going since May 1st, and this coming Thursday they were being taken to court by the mayor of London in effort to make them move location. Now I know that political rallies happen everywhere, and though I’m trying not to get caught up in thinking this was neat, merely because I was in London… it really was. We talked to a few guys in charge of the rally, and the first thing they asked us was our views on our government, the war, and Obama. Shamefully, none of us could form a good answer or opinion. They knew a great deal more about what was going on in the states than we did, and were clearly more “concerned citizens” than we were.

That night we met up with our double-decker friends at the Texas Embassy! This is a Tex-Mex restaurant with everything Texas imaginable. Upstairs there were even banners of universities from Texas, Baylor included! It was a great taste of what we were missing at home, especially since the 4th of July was so near. During dinner, we watched the U.S. soccer team lose to Ghana in overtime, but our spirits were too high to care. (Holland is picked to win anyway!)

The following day (Sunday), was our last day in London and Blake, Bonnie and I were lucky enough to spend it in Hyde Park with Paul McCartney! This was by far the most exciting part of our entire trip and completely worth the sunburn and overpriced food and drinks. We had been anticipating this for awhile. We planned our trip around this concert. In fact we didn’t even have a place to sleep until the day before we left, but had these concert tickets since March! We arrived at 2p.m. and left at 11p.m. Joshua Radin, The Alternatives, Elvis Costello and a few more opened for Paul. This was a huge surprise since we thought we only had tickets to see Paul, but instead got a full day of entertainment. He deserves an entire page of me doting over him, but it still wouldn’t put in perspective how happy we were to be there. Out of the thousands of fans that attended, we managed to push our way up to the 8th row, centered with the stage. He played all the favorites, told us stories about Lennon, and kept us smiling for over three hours without taking one break. It was amazing to see the range of demographics the Beatles appeal to. Just in front of us was a gay couple from Brazil. In the back of us was an old man with his shirt off wearing high socks and a diaper from London. All around us there were kids, families, couples, friends, and singles singing and dancing along. Just three days before the concert we went to visit Abbey Road to recapture the “walk” that has been printed on t-shirts, posters, mouse pads, and key chains. Sunday brought that to life for us.

London thoughts: Expensive, grand, over-populated, green, lively. Great!