London

Last Saturday I went to London with most of my fellow SCIO students. It was an exhausting, exhilarating, and wonderful day. Thankfully, it did not rainy and it was actually fairly warm and sunny. First, we made our way to a small park with a statue of Pres. Roosevelt, which is near the U. S. Embassy, just because Jonathan wanted us to feel close to home. Then we went to Hyde Park, which Jonathan says was created by Henry VIII. Basically, Henry dissolved the monasteries that were originally on the grounds and then used the park for his pleasure in hunting small animals. The park was lovely, with great big trees and the most wonderful green grass. We walked across the park to Buckingham Palace. The palace itself isn't really that pretty, but the gates are splendid and the big statue for Queen Victoria is fabulous. I was very excited to see the guards, which reminded me of the A. A. Milne poem "Buckingham Palace."

After taking several pictures, we hurried along through another lovely park complete with black and white swans and pelicans. I saw a very interesting man sitting on one of the benches, a pigeon in one hand and a squirrel in the other. We made a brief stop by Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, but we didn't have time to go in. Next it was lunch break. I got a sandwich and drink at the cafe in The National Gallery and then spent about twenty minutes wandering through a few of the galleries. Even that brief space of time was wonderful, around every corner was another master: Titian, Velazquez, Rubens! I can't wait to go back to London and properly visit the Gallery. We all regrouped outside the Gallery where a concert was going on for London Peace Week. By now the group had split up into various groups, but I remained with the tour. We went on the tube and then traveled down various winding streets. We saw the place where the Great Fire started and then we visited several of Christopher Wren's churches. Then we stopped by the castle where Guy Fawkes was imprisoned and tortured--a terrible story and very sad. We saw Tower Bridge, which was quite lovely. We also saw the site of England's first coffee house, which I was very excited about, but unfortunately, they no longer serve coffee because the building is now a Jamaican wine house. Finally we made it to St. Paul's for Evensong. St. Paul's defies description and is altogether magnificent. The choir was truly angelic, but sadly, I was so tired from walking all over London that I actually fell asleep! Lastly, we went to China Town for dinner, which wasn't so great because the restaurant owners segregated me and the other vegetarian and they weren't very nice to us. Plus we couldn't take the leftovers (which were plentiful) home. At last we got on the bus and came back to sleepy Oxford.

Overall, the trip was great and definitely whetted my appetite for further exploration.