The Big Trip, Part 3

I have been really lazy about getting to next part of the London trip. No excuses here, but I read back over the first two London posts, and they are just ridiculously long, so I will try to make this next one a lot more concise.

Getting up Sunday morning was pretty ugly, but we made it to the dock in time for the 9 a.m. ferry and caught the 10:40 train to London. That was definitely the longest train ride ever. When we finally did make it to London, the weather was really warm, probably the high 70s, which is not usual for London I think. We got to our flat in Notting Hill, which was adorable. Two bedrooms, a fully equipped kitchen, and a the cutest little balcony from which to enjoy the lovely weather. Downside: it was the top floor of the house, so there was a lot of stair climbing, which is not the most fun with 18 suitcases.

Our new friends from the wedding, Emily and Brian, came over that evening and made up dinner. They are the kind of new friends we want to keep around.

By Monday morning, I was not feeling so well. I came down with a massive head cold and had managed to do something weird to my right leg so that it hurt whenever I moved it (perhaps too much dancing on that unforgiving slate floor at the fort on Saturday night?). However, despite my ailments, I kept on moving, figuring I could recover when I got back. Here’s a brief rundown of what we did in London:

Monday: Walked through Notting Hill area and Holland Park. Went to Lord Leighton’s House (Victorial painter whose amazing house has been preserved and contains a lot of interesting paintings). Went to the Victoria and Albert Museum, where I saw a great exhibit of Queen Maud of Norway’s dresses, which ranged from the 1890s to early 1930s (she was the daughter of King Edward VII of Great Britain). Also checked out the plaster cast and a few other things. Picked up some food and cooked it at the flat.

Tuesday: Spent morning in bed unable to breathe. In the afternoon, we went to the National Gallery to see the Caravaggio exhibit, which was absolutely worth it. He is one of my favorite artists, but I have not seen many of his paintings in person, and at this exhibit, I got to see 16 of them. Also checked out some Renaissance and Baroque paintings. Took a walk down Charing Cross Road and wandered around a few bookstores. Again, stayed in and cooked in the flat (there’s a Marks and Spencer Simply Food in Notthing Hill, which has all sorts of great food that just needs to be heated up).

Wednesday: In the morning, we went to St. Paul’s Cathedral. Really beautiful, although I think that more interesting people are buried at Westminster Abbey (St. Paul’s has a lot of military dead people, and Westminster Abbey has more literary and artistic dead people). Around lunchtime, we grabbed yet more great sandwiches from Pret a Manger (a staple of my visits to London and the best sandwiches ever) and then moved our bags to our hotel, the Royal National. The hotel is a little dreary, but it’s in a great location, right above Russell Square and about 100 feet from the British Museum, where we spent the afternoon. For a history and art dork like me, the British Museum is like Mecca. Among the things we checked out: Lindow Man (a 2000-year-old preserved Celtic burial found in a peat bog); the Sutton Hoo hoard (a Viking burial); lots of Celtic, Viking, Byzantine, and other jewelry; the Parthenon marbles (never know when they might have to give them back); loads of Egyptian mummy cases; and the Rosetta Stone. This place rocks. I picked up a new biography of Anne Boleyn and a short history of the Crusades, something I’ve been wanting the read about for a while. That evening, we went back to the flat to see Ann. Colin made fettucine carbonara, which was great, but I had pretty much lost my sense of taste at this point, so I didn’t get as much out of it as everyone else.

Thursday: The morning began rather badly when we got trapped in an elevator at the hotel right after breakfast. We were only in there for about 10 minutes, but I am seriously claustrophobic and was about one minute away from a panic attack by the time they got us out. Even though we were on the seventh floor, I insisted on taking the stairs for the rest of the trip (luckily, my severe leg pain was mostly cleared up by this point). We spent the morning at the Sir John Soane’s House. He was an 18th-century architect who designed the Bank of England. His house has been preserved exactly as it was in his lifetime. It’s an amazing collection of Roman artifacts and lots of interesting art from his time. After that, we wandered around the Inns of Court and Temple Bar, the British legal district. I really wanted to see the Temple Church, which was once the headquarters of the Knights Templar in England during the Middle Ages. This kind of thing is gravy to a history dork like myself. It was really hard to find and we wandered around in circles for a half-hour before finally stumbling upon it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t open, but I got some good pictures of the outside. It’s one of the few medieval buildings to survive the Great Fire of London in the 1660s, and it’s one of very few circular churches left in Europe. There were a bunch of other tourists trying to see it too, so I think its appearance in The Da Vinci Code has made it a popular destination.

In the afternoon, we went to the National Portrait Gallery and looked at portraits from the 16th through 18th centuries (and a few modern ones). Again, this is a great place for history dorks! After that, we didn’t want to sit in our hotel room until going out for dinner, so I suggested we find a pub nearby and have a drink. The pub we ended up going to, the Bloomsbury, turned out to be one we had been in on our last trip to London. It was really cute, and we relaxed over a couple of drinks for the rest of the afternoon. That evening, we had dinner at a very cool Chinese restaurant called Poon’s (I know, I giggled too). Then we went back to our hotel, packed, and watched the election returns (that will be its own post).

Friday: Finished packing, checked out of the hotel, and hung out in Russell Square enjoying the beautiful day for a while. Then we took a cab to Paddington, where we caught the Heathrow Express and found our way back to the airport. We were so early for our flight that we couldn’t even check it yet, but that was fine—I would rather be early than worrying about missing the flight. We spent a few leftover pounds on silly stuff at the airport (magazines and chocolates). The flight was long and we hit turbulence for about four of the eight hours we were in the air, but it wasn’t too bad. The film selection wasn’t too exciting, and I watched Analyze This! and a few History Channel documentaries. Brian’s parents picked us up at the airport and we told them we were engaged. They were very happy. Eventually, we made our way home and I collapsed into bed. It was a great trip, but pretty exhausting, and I still had my cold.

Well, it's another long post, but at least I didn't do 1000 words per day.