Week 13- The Best Tour Guide

This week, we spent most of our class time working on our enmodes project. We got a ton of feedback from Madeleine and Dr. Wasser when we presented on Thursday, and I'm sure we'll spend a lot of time addressing that next week. Claire and I also spent multiple hours this week working on our part of the enmodes booklet. We have the first 8 pages, which is actually the part of the booklet that takes the most work, although it's still not too bad.

I've been looking forward to/ nervous about my Easter trip for a while. My cousin Katy is getting her master's degree at Kingston University in London. She told me about her plans to move to London last spring, and we've been planning on me visiting her there since then. After all the anticipation for this, I was so paranoid about missing my flight. My train to Dusseldorf had a lot of issues and was delayed by 20 minutes (typical), but luckily I had left very early. I was so relieved when I successfully boarded my flight.

I arrived at London Heathrow Airport at around 7pm on Thursday. Katy met me there with her extra oyster card and after missing a few buses, we took the long bus ride to Kingston upon Thames. We ate at a pub called the King's Tun and then went to bed. Her dorm room at Kingston is nice but tiny. We blew up a small air mattress that just barely fit on her floor. We would deflate it each morning because technically I wasn't supposed to be staying there. I was really happy to be staying with her and we had some good laughs in that little room.


On Friday morning, we took a tour of the All England Lawn Tennis Club where Wimbledon takes place. My family and I have watched Wimbledon all my life, and I seriously couldn't believe I was there. Being there made me love tennis even more than I already do, and now I really want to go to the actual Wimbledon tennis tournament. We spent the rest of the day back in Kingston exploring Katy's part of town. We took a short river cruise down the Thames to Hampton Court Palace. This was the party palace of King Henry VIII back in the 1500s. It was extensive and beautiful with lovely, flower-filled grounds. Katy is a member there and she studies there often, which I think is the coolest thing ever. We ate dinner at a nice pub across the street called the Mute Swan. We laughed at a sign on the outer wall of the palace that said, "Enjoy Easter activities at your local palace!" We then returned to Hampton Court Palace for a Good Friday Anglican Evensong in the Chapel Royal. A boy's and men's choir sang John Stainer's Crucifixion oratio, which was beautiful.

On Saturday, Katy took me to a surprise breakfast location- the Sky Garden on the top of a skyscraper in Central London nicknamed the Walkie Talkie. The views were great and the breakfast was very fancy. We made plans for our day by picking places to go from our viewpoint above the city. Also when we were up in the skyscraper, we made an impulse purchase of very good day-of tickets to Les Miserables. It was such an exciting moment but also a "wow I can't believe we just did that" kind of moment. The rest of the day was a whirlwind. We walked by St. Paul's Cathedral and then crossed the Millennium Bridge, which is a really cool pedestrian bridge that was featured in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. We took an interesting tour of Shakespeare's Globe- Katy is a member there too! We then walked down the South Bank, passed the London Eye, and crossed the Westminster Bridge where we saw flower memorials to the victims of last month's terrorist attack. By then, the clouds had cleared and we had beautiful blue skies as we took in Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. We relaxed in Parliament Square Garden and FaceTimed our Grandma in Missouri. She was really happy to see us and told us to behave ourselves. We walked by Westminster Abbey and ate lunch in the lovely St. James Park. Our next stop was Buckingham Palace, which was quite impressive and cool to see after seeing it so much on TV. We then headed to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square to see some Van Goghs and Monets. Monet's Water Lily painting is so perfect that when you look at it, you feel like you're there. At the last minute, we decided to try to fit in the British Museum that day too. We ran through the West End and made it to the museum just in time. I was able to see the Rosetta Stone, which I had really wanted to see. We then ate in a pub and headed to our highly anticipated musical at the Queen's Theatre. Our seats were in the 9th row, and I was able to see every expression on the actors' faces. Les Miserables in London was absolutely incredible and so worth splurging for. Jean Valjean had the best male vocals I've ever heard, and I loved the choreography and effects in "At The End of the Day." I'm still getting over this performance and am listening to the soundtrack as I write this. We spent 16 hours in central London that day, and we were exhausted but so happy by the end of the night.

On Easter morning, Katy/the Easter Bunny surprised me with Easter baskets filled with chocolate and an Easter egg hunt in her little dorm room. It was so so sweet and thoughtful of her to do that! I love her. We then went to Mass with two of Katy's classmates at a small church next to campus. We then had afternoon tea together, which is my new favorite type of meal. The pastries and clotted cream were amazing. I also really enjoyed her friends, Nora and Adrianna. It was really cool to hear about their lives as international students in London. Katy, Adrianna, and I then headed into central London again. We hurried through the crowds and made it to an Easter Anglican Evensong service at Westminster Abbey. The interior was gorgeous and the choir sang beautifully. It was similar to a Catholic Mass, except they kept interjecting "God save the Queen" and "Pray for the royal family", which was pretty funny to me. Per Katy's recommendation, we went to the Victoria & Albert museum next. I didn't know anything about this place, but it ended up being a very interesting museum and I'm really glad we went. Once it closed, we visited the bustling Covent Garden and the impressive Piccadilly Circus. At dusk, I said goodbye to central London at Katy's favorite place in the city, Trafalgar Square. I took in Big Ben in the distance and thought about all the amazing memories I'd made in London with my wonderful cousin.

On Monday morning, I got up early and Katy was nice enough to accompany me on the hour long journey back to Heathrow. I was sad to go, but so happy to have spent this unforgettable time with her. When I first got to London, it was cold, windy, and grey. It didn't feel too different from the U.S. and I wasn't too impressed. By the end of my time there, I absolutely loved it. I could definitely see myself living or studying there at some point, and I hope to return many times. I'm also so thankful to Katy for taking me all over London. We ended up walking 19 miles in 3 days. Since she'd been to all the places we visited, I was able to see everything I wanted (and much more) with the help of a knowledgeable and patient tour guide. I'm so impressed with her for mastering such an incredible city and so thankful to her for sharing this experience with me.