The first of my friends came to visit me in
England this past week. I can’t explain how amazing it was to see her after
nine months of being separated by the Atlantic. The most amazing thing is that
we were able to pick up our friendship right where it had left off last
September. Over the course of six days we explored the UK from London to Durham
to Edinburgh. This is a brief retelling of our adventures.
25 May 2014 – Day One: London
I took an early train to London on Sunday.
I packed lightly, carrying only my rucksack with enough clothes to last me the
two days and two nights I would be in the city. The weather report had insisted
it would be chilly and rainy; a report I desperately wanted to ignore because
the past few days in Durham had been among the most beautiful so far. The train
was delayed, as per usual for a bank holiday weekend and I arrived at King’s
Cross Station a little after twelve.
Erika was running in the BUPA 10K that
morning with a friend of hers who I only knew as Lee. I had received a
mysterious text message from Lee stating that he had Erika and was willing to
ransom her for a small fee. I laughed as I stepped onto the platform and headed
toward the underground. I was to meet them on Dean Street. I took the Piccadilly
Line to Covent Garden and walked along the surprisingly sunny London Streets. I should have packed my summer dress, I
thought disappointingly. It was turning out to be a gorgeous day after all.
I made a right onto Dean Street and was
greeted with a street fair. People were rummaging through stalls, lunching at
outdoor tables, and milling about enjoying the weather. Then I spotted my
friend sitting at a table with Lee and his girlfriend, Sarah.
“Hey there,” I said casually, belying the
excitement and happiness I felt at seeing my old friend. We hugged and I had a
seat. I was formally introduced to Lee and Sarah and had to disappoint them as
I had no ransom money to hand over. We enjoyed a pleasant brunch with two
bottles of white.
Erika is as organised as I am when it comes
to travelling. She pulled out her itinerary for London, made hastily on the
back of a napkin. We were to proceed to Westminster Abbey after lunch to hear
evensong at 3:00 pm before potentially heading over to the Tate Britain to take
in some art. We strolled through the London streets, stopping to snap pictures
of Big Ben and Parliament before heading to the Abbey.
We were seated near Poet’s Corner and
during the readings and sermon I allowed myself to look at the names on the
stone floor and etched into the stained glass windows. C.S. Lewis, Lewis
Carroll, Shelley, Oscar Wilde, Byron; not all are buried here but their names
resound throughout the decades just as the pure tones of perfectly in tune
English voices resounded in the cavernous space of the grand abbey. After the
service, Lee and I hunted, as best we could while being quickly ushered out,
for Charles Darwin. As we made a left into the nave and began heading toward
the doors, I caught sight of Hershel. I was nerdily overjoyed and reasoned that
Darwin must be around here as Newton’s name also appeared. Sure enough, we
finally found dear old Chuck, his name hidden beneath on of the metal stands
holding up the rope barriers which were lining our route.
Once outside, Lee and Sarah made their way
back home while Erika and I decided to head to Green Park for ice cream and
sun. We didn’t make it, however once she discovered she had left her running
shoes in a locker back in Piccadilly. We took the tube back to where we started
but were again thwarted when we reached the LA Fitness. It was closed. We
turned to each other and decided to call it an evening and headed to our
lodgings for the night.
We were staying with another friend of
Erika’s, she is quite a connoisseur of friends and I have always enjoyed
meeting the many people she has come to know. Ibrahim had been a running friend
and was now living in London. We arrived at his apartment after a really lovely
walk along Regents Canal. If you enjoy canal boats, I highly recommend the walk
as you will see a wide variety of boats. The romantic in me once looked up the
prices of canal boats in the hope of perhaps purchasing one and living a much
more transient life motoring up and down the English canals from Oxford to
London.
Though both of us were exhausted upon
reaching the apartment, we soon found our second wind. We enjoyed a light
supper of cheese, crackers, and olives while chatting with Ibrahim and his
friend Georg. We ended up heading out to Hoxton Square for a few drinks before
Erika and I finally began to feel the effects of the long day.
26 May 2014 – Day Two: London
We had decided to wake up early and get to
the Tower of London before the crowds set in. I was excited. I had wanted to go
to the heritage site for what felt like ages and I was finally going to get the
chance. As we walked back along Regents Canal, we faced the grim possibility
that we would have to deal with the stereotypical English weather. As promised
by the forecast, it was overcast, chilly, and the clouds overhead were biding
their time before they decided to soak the city.
We took the tube to Tower Hill and
purchased our tickets at the tube station. Erika had brought along a handy
guidebook which featured all sorts of brilliant hacks for negotiating the city
and sites. It had recommended arriving early, buying tickets at the station,
and leaving about two hours to tour the site. It was spot on in all regards
save the last. As we walked over the medieval cobblestones and took in the
sites which had changed dramatically over the centuries since the first
fortification was built on the River Thames, we found that we would require
much longer than two hours to see it all.
We did our best. We saw the White Tower,
the torture chamber, the royal apartments, Traitor’s Gate, the armour, the
Crown Jewels, and we walked the battlements. We read about the ravens, Mary
Queen of Scots, the Princes in the Tower, and saw the amazingly well preserved
examples of ancient graffiti found throughout the site. We were coming upon
almost four hours when we decided that if we were to make it back to Piccadilly
to retrieve the shoes, we would have to leave.
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| Photograph by Erika Beth |
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| Photograph by Erika Beth |
I cannot recommend going to the Tower of
London enough. There is so much to see and do there that you will need a full
day to really do it justice. I also recommend tea at the café there. It is
pricey but well worth the short respite it provides.
We took the tube to Piccadilly and
thankfully recovered Erika’s lost treasures. As we looked at the time, we
realised that if we hurried we could just make it to St. Paul’s with time to
climb the over 500 steps to the very top. We rushed back to the tube and headed
over to London’s most impressive church. Of course that is merely my opinion,
but compared with Westminster Abbey, it is truly a remarkably gorgeous place.
The interior decoration is richly opulent the closer to the high altar you go.
The choir stalls beautifully carved, and the dome, incredible.
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| Photograph by Erika Beth |
We had only an hour and a half to make our
ascent. We began with very gently sloping wooden spiral stairs. Then we reached
the whispering gallery. We neglected to test the validity of its name but the
very kind warden who greeted us at that stage invited us to have a rest and
look around before heading up to the next stop. These stairs were stone and
were much steeper. After another climb, we found ourselves outside in the
gently misting London afternoon. We could see a great deal of the city
stretching out from us way up there. The Tate Modern, the Millennium Bridge,
the Globe Theatre, the Shard, the London Eye. Is was all covered in a grey haze
but it was all there. We determined to reach the top. This last climb was the
most difficult. The metal, grated spiral steps were dizzying and we were forced
into a single file which stopped and started frequently. Along the way though,
it was fascinating to see the dome from the other side. The head clearance was
short and my tall companion had to duck to make it through the last portion of
the climb. Then we emerged onto the tiny gallery and saw the whole of London.
The climb was worth the views from the top.
We retraced our steps, spiraling downward
at a dizzying pace before we left St. Paul’s and headed out into drizzly
London. Erika wanted to see Fleet Street and we were both hungry so we walked a
short distance to the Cock Tavern for some early dinner and a couple of well-earned
ciders. After, we headed back to Ibrahim’s and packed our things before sleeping
the sleep of the victorious and the completely tuckered out. The next morning
we were catching an early train to Durham.
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