Last Day in London

Our last day in London was a great one. We started out by doing one of my very favorite things: touring an old church. Westminster Abbey is absolutely spectacular. The stone work, the monuments, and the history combine to make it my favorite London site this visit. I'd never been to the Abbey, though I'd seen plenty if it during royal wedding coverage. I remember sitting in my little living room in Xi'an, watching the wedding and thinking about how strange it was to think I'd be in London in a couple of months. And there I was. We wandered around the Abbey for about an hour before we got to Poets' Corner. would you believe that I actually had tears in my eyes there? To stand in that spot where so many great writers are buried or memorialized is extraordinary. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Johnson, Milton, Dickens, Elliott, Browning, Tennyson, the Brontes, Austen. There were too many to keep track of. I found T.S. Eliot's grave, a key study abroad spot, given that we'll be reading some of his poetry. I think the students will be as awestruck by this place as I was, though perhaps not teary-eyed. No photos were allowed inside, so here are w couple of exterior shots.






We bought a quick take away lunch at Tesco, and boarded a boat on the Thames to cross over to the Tower of London. We had a lucky ride: there was a tall sailing ship ahead of us, so we got to see gorgeous Tower Bridge lift up at road level to let it pass through. The tower was crowded. No surprise there. We toured through its history of imprisonment and torture, as well as its history of royalty. I hadn't been there since I was 17, so much of it was nearly new to me. Andy seemed to really enjoy the armor and weaponry; Maria and I were dazzled by the sparkling crown jewels. All that cobblestone was hard on my feet, but I'm glad we made this stop. I'm having second thoughts about bringing students here, though. I can't say exactly why. They can certainly make this stop on their own, but I don't know if I want to build it into the program costs or not. Something for Eric and me to consider later.






A Beefeater.






Legend has it that if Ravens leave the Tower, the empire falls!


On the way back to the dorm, I checked out a hostel called The Generator. They gave me a tour, and it looks great. It's well located in Bloomsbury and seems clean and safe. It has a restaurant and bar, offers free breakfast and free wifi. We're going to be looking for rooms in the midst of a terribly busy London travel year: both the Queen's Jubilee and the Olympics will be in London next summer. We might not get rooms at all, but our fingers are crossed. Eric checked a hostel on the other side of town, but they don't take groups, so they're out.

We had a great final night outing: a literary pub crawl. Our guide, John, took us to four pubs not far from St. Paul's, each with some long London history, and each connected in some way to Charles Dickens. John didn't care if we had a drink at the pubs or not, so it was totally suitable for the whole group of us. We wandered around town with him for four hours, and we learned more about London and Londoners in that time then we had in any other part of our visit. The pubs were gorgeous: all dark wood and ornate ceilings, long polished bars and dark patterned carpets. The last one we went to is said to be haunted--it was built on top of the remains of an old prison, and it still has a cell in the basement. We went down and saw it, and Maria got such a cold chill of fright that she went running back up the stairs to the pub! It was a great night, really. Eric and I would love to do something like this with students, but we'll need to find a way to ensure that the crawl doesn't end in a coma for anyone consuming too many pints. Our guide made the evening memorable--so much so that we'll definitely contact him next year to guide us around again. He says he can give us a long list of great London-off-the-between-path excursions, so he is definitely on our contact list.



All in all, London was a great success. We covered an amazing amount of ground in just a few days, we did a good deal of scouting, and we had fun, too. Andy lost his wallet for about an hour last night, but even that ended well. John called the last pub we'd been at, and someone had found it and turned it in to the barkeeper. He went back for it and everything was in it, safe and sound. Tragedy averted. Right now, we're whizzing along in the Eurostar, heading for Paris. The last leg of our scouting trip/adventure awaits us. Cheers, London! Bonjour, Paris!


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