London, Oxford, and Edinburgh, Oh My!

Travel Break, Week 1

  I have to start this post by saying thank you to DIS for deciding it was a good idea to give students the first two weeks in November off of classes, so that they can travel around Europe, either on their own or with DIS. Well, the first week is over, and I chose to spend mine visiting friends throughout Britain. I spent from Friday night to Wednesday morning with my friend and labmate Laura, studying at Queen Mary University of London, in the East End. On Monday I took a day trip to see my friend Bridget, who is spending the year at Oxford, in Lady Margaret Hall College. And from Wednesday to Friday, I traveled up to Edinburgh to see my roommate Carroll at University of Edinburgh. I came back to London late last night and napped with Laura at her flat before both of us left at 3 am to catch our flights- hers to Dublin for the weekend, and mine back to Copenhagen. My day has been spent unpacking, sorting souvenirs, and doing laundry. And really, I should be repacking now because I am leaving my house at 5:15 tomorrow morning for the next leg of my travel break- a trip to Russia with my DIS class on Russian history. But that's the subject of a future post. For now, I'm going to focus on this past week, which has been absolutely incredible.
  I arrived into London late on Friday night, after completing my last test and being somewhat braindead for the rest of the day. Flying out of Copenhagen Airport is incredibly easy, and since I'm not a huge fan of flying I definitely appreciated it! I even met a few nice girls around my age, one from Sweden going to visit her boyfriend, and another a fellow DIS student embarking on a similar adventure. After taking the bus to Queen Mary, I was picked up by Laura and taken to her flat, where we pretty much immediately fell asleep.
  On Saturday, Laura and her friend Kelly, also from Richmond and visiting from St. Andrews University for the weekend, and I set out on quite an active day. Desperate to see everything possible, we started our morning walking by Buckingham Palace, but the crowds to see the changing of the guard were so impossible that we decided to keep going. We came to Westminster Abbey and decided to go inside- definitely a good decision! The cathedral is astounding, and so full of history it was more than a little overwhelming. The adjacent cloisters are also beautiful, and seem quite removed from the bustling streets and the Houses of Parliament, whose towers loom over the courtyard. After Westminster Abbey we walked to the nearby Big Ben (apparently the title of the bell, not the clock or tower) and the Houses of Parliament to see them more closely. We then wandered down to Trafalgar Square, which was bizarrely the host of an NFL fan rally. Being Americans who sorely missed our Spiders football, we had to see what it was all about! Once we recovered from the initial shock, we decided to head to the Tower of London, where we joined a 'Beefeater' Tour (apparently the nickname of the Tower guards) around the premises. We also got to see the (extremely decadent) Crown Jewels and a few torture devices-fun! By that time though, we were pretty exhausted, and settled into a nearby outdoor cafe for some refreshing hot chocolates and rest. We eventually rallied ourselves, went to Covent Garden for dinner, and returned to Laura's flat for a good night's sleep.

Chapel of Henry VII in Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey Cloisters

The three of us in front of Westminster Abbey!

London telephone booth picture

London Underground

Tower Bridge!

Our Beefeater tour guide for the Tower of London

Buckingham Palace!

  On Sunday we went to the nearby Brick Lane market, before Kelly had to leave to get her train back to St. Andrews. Laura and I spent the afternoon being dazzled by Harrod's, having lunch at an almost-as-overwhelming department store Selfridge's, and shopping at the more affordable stores on Oxford Street. Sunday night being Halloween, we dressed up as angels (shout-out to Pi Phi!) and went to a pub for some traditional sunday roast, ale, and cider. Some guy even told us we were heavenly!
  Monday I had planned a day trip to visit Bridget at Oxford, getting there around 11:30. Bridget met me at the train station and we walked through Oxford, seeing some of the central buildings and streets before making our way to Oxford's Covered Market, where we ate lunch at a delicious place called Pie Minister- my first british meat pie! We then walked back to Bridget's college, Lady Margaret Hall, where I got a lovely tour before Bridget had to go to a tutorial. I spent the rest of my afternoon wandering around Oxford, doing a nice bus tour and exploring more of the Covered Market. Bridget and I met for dinner at the Eagle & Child, a pub where C.S. Lewis and JRR Tolkien used to meet and talk. I was pretty thrilled about it, and the cider and sandwiches were delicious. I then got on the train back to London, after a great day with Bridget! Laura and I's friend Shelby, who also goes to Richmond and is studying at Queen Mary this semester too, came over and the three of us made cookies (although most of them were burned, due to the faulty ovens, not our skill at all).

Entrance to Oxford's Bodleian Library

Lady Margaret Hall, where Bridget studies 

Oxford Canal

Periodic table bus

Eagle and Child!

train on the way to Oxford!

  The next day Laura had class, so I embarked on my own London adventure. I took the tube to the British Library, where I saw letters from Darwin and Freud, as well as Beowulf,  Shakespeare's first folio, an original Audobon, the Gutenberg Bible, and tons of other incredible books. From there I set out for the British Museum, one of my must-sees of London. It was amazing- the first thing I saw was the Rosetta Stone! I spent about 4 hours wandering through the incredible exhibits and am so glad I got to see it! I then left the British Museum and went to the Capital Hotel, where I met Laura for a fancy afternoon tea, complete with tarts and scones. It was all delicious and we spent almost 2 hours just relaxing and catching up, and trying to be as dignified as possible... it was worth a shot at least! After tea we took the tube to the National Gallery for about 30 minutes of frantically attempting to see some of the most famous pieces, before heading to the Apollo Victoria Theatre to see the musical Wicked, for which we had booked tickets the day before. It was a great show and we had a lot of fun- a very cultured day if I may say so!

Laura and I at tea!

The Tower of London

The Rosetta Stone!

Regent's Canal, outside Laura's flat

Me outside the Apollo Theatre for Wicked!

  Wednesday morning I left really early to catch my train to Edinburgh, although underground strikes made me miss my booked train by less than 5 minutes. Fortunately, although I was very upset about it the man at the ticket counter put me on the next train for free, and I got to Edinburgh only an hour after planned. The train ride was so gorgeous that I felt immediately better, and was just completely thrilled to see Carroll again! We met at the Waverley train station after her class was over, dropped my backpack off at her flat, and set out to the Beehive Pub for a lunch of fish and chips (my first! and really good) before heading off to Calton Hill, full of monuments and overlooking both the Old Town and the New Town in Edinburgh. After Calton Hill we returned to Carroll's flat, where the two of us made macaroni & cheese and salad for us and two of her flatmates. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing and catching up. Even though I'd seen Carroll two weeks earlier, it felt so great to be with her again and we still had lots to catch up about!

Calton Hill

Edinburgh from Greyfriars Churchyard

Dr. Livingstone I presume? 

Me standing on the Execution Spot of Grassmarket Square

  The next day we did a short walking tour of the Old Town, walking by the Medical College, where Darwin and Arthur Conan Doyle attended and where Carroll has a few classes! I was pretty thrilled about that one too. We then went up to Edinburgh Castle, where we spent the rest of the morning. The castle was incredible and offered amazing views of the city. When we'd thoroughly explored the museums and royal apartments, we began to head down the Royal Mile, a main street of Edinburgh that leads from Edinburgh Castle at the top down to Holyroodhouse Palace, the official Scottish Residence of the British royal family. On our way down the Royal Mile, we stopped at Carroll's flat for a leftover lunch. We then returned to the Royal Mile, where we found matching Claddagh rings and popped in to a tea room for afternoon tea (including scones!). We looked inside the grounds of Holyroodhouse Palace, then headed back up the Royal Mile and relaxed for a little while in Carroll's flat. We then went to meet Hannah, a girl from Richmond also studying at University of Edinburgh, for dinner at The Elephant House, apparently where Harry Potter was created. After dinner (another pie!), Carroll and I went to the highly recommended Black Bull Pub, where we, at my friend Meredith's insistence, got pints of a very special, absolutely delicious beer named Edinburgh No. 3. Carroll and I continued the night with some cider and drinks called Snakebite (a mixture of beer, cider, and blackcurrant juice- fantastic!) at a pub called Biddy's. We also wound up trying some Dominican rum, but only because they were giving away free t-shirts with it! It was a very nice night, we were able to hang out and chat the whole evening, while enjoying the Scottish pub atmosphere.

Edinburgh Castle!

Edinburgh from the Castle

Carroll and I at the top of the Castle!

Edinburgh No. 3- delicious!

  Friday was my last day with Carroll, but we definitely made the most of it- the morning was spent touring New Town and getting lunch at an African restaurant that made delicious sandwiches. We wandered back to Carroll's flat, picked up my bag, and spent a few hours relaxing in the nearby cafe Chocolate Soup, which specializes in, if you couldn't guess, chocolate. We got Chocolate Mint, a sugar-shock inducing hot chocolate that went really well with the cinnamony carrot cake we split :) Finally the time came for me to get on the train back to London. I had a grand total of 5 hours back in London before heading to the airport and coming back to Copenhagen! And now I'm almost ready for Russia... who knew traveling for two weeks could be so hard?