Miark’s parents live in Harrogate, which is the smallest, quaintest British town I saw while I was in the UK. It is out on the countryside, surrounded by hills and little stone walls (less than three feet high) that trace the properties through the fog. It’s the kind of place where you can walk down to the bakery and the baker knows your name. Harrogate also makes Yorkshire Tea, which is a standard British tea that gets served everywhere, at least in the North where I was. Anyways, my wonderful friend Sally (Mom #2) has found me a box from somewhere in town, and in the last 12 hours I have drank at least 5 cups of tea, including the one I have cradled in my hand now. I am definitely on my way to becoming an addict.
I will endeavor, from this proverbial point (or rather, sentence) on, to explain to you all of the significant events of the last 10 months (since I returned from the UK) to that I can, without significant guilt, begin again musing into the endless void of cyberspace. In short, I’m picking up the blog again, and I want to fill you in on what’s happened since I stopped writing.
Last you knew, I was in England finishing out my three-month adventure (of grand proportions) and preparing to return home. Shortly before I left I made an eventful, 2-day trip to London where I touristed like nobody’s business, and endeavored to see everything worth seeing in a insufficiently short amount of time.
London: The London trip started off early in the morning. With a train to catch at 6:45 in Darlington, the day saw me up at 5:00 am (which is never something I enjoy). We all met up (Miark, Roger, and I) and drove to Darlington where Roger dropped us off at the train station while he left the car for a few day’s with Leigh’s aunt (who lives nearby) and we got set for our adventure. The train ride was pretty uneventful and quiet, we got placed on four seats around a table and so Roger and Miark slept on and off and I read the London section of my guidebook twice through to see if there were any last-minute places I wanted to add to my must-see London list.
We arrived at London King’s Cross Station at about 10am and Miark stowed our overnight bags while I discovered that you have to pay 20 pence to use the station bathroom. Now that isn’t fair. I estimate I spent over a pound in London just on the toilets. I also visited platform 9 3/4 (which is a brick wall labeled “Platform 9 3/4” with half a shopping cart sticking through the wall, apparently it’s been great for tourism).
Straight away we started out touristing, we had booked tickets online the night before for the London Eye, which is a giant ferris wheel-looking thing that takes you on a 30 minute sky view of some of London’s most famous sights. The London eye flew us 135 meters (443 feet) high and is the tallest observation wheel in the world (the second is 30 meters shorter in Yokohama Bay) and is the 6th tallest structure in London, behind the three Canary Wharf towers, the BT tower and Tower 42. To find out more about the London Eye visit http://www.londoneye.com. It was fun first thing to visit because it gave me a good view and also a preview of some of the other stuff I’d get to see later. Next we walked over the Westminster Bridge, saw a town hall, the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Cleopatra’s Needle, the Ministry of War, Horse Guard’s Parade, through St. James’ Park, Buckingham Palace, through Green Park, Covent Garden, saw the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B Baker Street (which is between 237 and 241, interestingly enough), Piccadilly Circus, Charing Cross road, Soho (almost), then food and to Roger’s sister’s house.
Day Two was back into the city where Miark and I wandered from one place to another, takings pictures and spent so much time on and off the Tube that my pass never left my front pocket. The notable adventure of the day was the absolutely stunning St. Paul’s Cathedral, which is very cleverly placed near an Underground entrance so that you get off the Underground and you approach it from the side (which is breathtaking) and there is actually a narrow street, sandwiched by tall buildings, running straight toward the side of the Cathedral. So if you stand right up close to the Cathedral, facing it, with the buildings on either side of you, and back up, the Cathedral actually grows, towering, in front of you. It is dizzying enough that it actually makes you stumble. The front, of course, is about 10 times as spectacular as the side.
Near St. Paul’s is the Tower of London and Traitor’s Gate, which is quite funny, because to be totally fair it really is not one tower, but several, with a castle and a moat besides. By the time we got there it was dark and so the whole scene was made eerie by the foggy green lights which lit the base of the Tower, and the talk of all the executions that had gone on there.
After that was finishing up and heading home, late and absolutely tired.
The rest of the UK was packing, saying goodbye, and a birthday party in a foreign country with my newfound friends.
Hope Helps 