Travel Journal: England
Wednesday is the last day of Fashion Week in London! Naturally, a few of us had to head down to the Somerset House to see what the fuss was all about. And, well...we didn’t really get to see much. The Somerset House has a big courtyard inside of it, and when we walked through the gateway and into the courtyard, there were a decent amount of people inside, but most seemed as if they actually belonged there—quite unlike us. Folks in designer clothing from head-to-toe were gliding around, some having their photos taken. It was quiet. We walked around for a while, definitely looking a bit lost and out of place. I’d never been to a fashion event before, and you had to have tickets to see any of the runways. But even just the outside area was a pretty different world—so much obvious and intense focus on appearance. It was easy to begin to feel self-conscious in such a place.
After about 20 minutes, away we went. And we finally got around to seeing a few of the classic London sites that we hadn’t been to yet. We strolled along since we didn’t have anywhere in particular that we needed to be. We went down beside the Thames. There were bikes leaning up against the railings (it would be wonderful to have a bike here), books for sale on tables along the sidewalks, people jogging by, and simply a type of calm that is the complete opposite of what we experience every day on our way to classes and around the Kings Cross area.
while we were walking.
Well, it WAS quiet until we walked closer to the London Eye where there were swarms of folks. But that was a nice kind of crowd—people were smiling and excited to be there. We saw the London Eye and all of the street performers around it (which always amaze me, by the way), and then we walked on to see Big Ben and Parliament.
Let me backtrack for a moment. While we were strolling past vendors selling books on the sidewalks, we came across a wonderful place—a small skate park! Now, I've never been on a skateboard, and I’ve only long-boarded once in my life (which was a blast), but I love watching people do both. And I love graffiti when it brightens up a dull area—and there was a ton of graffiti at this park, not to mention folks on bikes, skateboards, and a small crowd watching breakdancers. It was awesome—I’ll definitely be going back there.
After taking a photo with an Abraham Lincoln statue close to Westminster Abby, we continued our walk towards Trafalgar Square. There was a protest going on—signs showing support for Egypt and Libya...there's so much chaos happening over there right now. Not sure what’s up? Click here for a video about the situation.
After observing the rally in awe for a good 10 to 15 minutes, we made our way to Trafalgar Square and then wandered a bit further. Afterward, we hopped on the Tube to head back to Kings Cross. It was a long and wonderful day. Dinner was perfect, just like home...well, minus the bread that I burnt...hah. But I had baked chicken, peas, corn, potatoes, bread, and cheese—a taste of home.
There’s this pub close-by called The Rocket that has been a Centre student favorite in years past. So after having done some homework in the cafe downstairs, some of us headed to The Rocket for the evening. And man, it was packed!
Today was a pretty wonderful day. An exceptional day.
(Apologies for this blog being so long, I’ll be impressed if you’ve made it all the way through.)
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