"[Two] Short Days in the Emerald City"

ONE SHORT DAY
IN THE EMERALD CITY
ONE SHORT DAY
FULL OF SO MUCH TO DO
EV'RY WAY
THAT YOU LOOK IN THIS CITY
THERE'S SOMETHING EXQUISITE
YOU'LL WANT TO VISIT
BEFORE THE DAY'S THROUGH!

Oh wait - those are lyrics from a song in Wicked, the amazing musical Kim took Anna and me to!
Interestingly, they basically describe our experience in London. We didn't have enough time to see all that there is to see - I'm pretty sure people who have lived there their entire lives probably don't even manage that - but the time we did spend was...well...magical! I'm not exaggerating. It was so amazing to see Kim and Rich for a couple days, with the added bonus of their guidance in navigating the city and deciding what to see.

Day One: Anna and I were about to miss our bus to the airport in Cork, so we had to get a taxi - again. Same thing happened with our Italy trip. Apparently we haven't learned our lesson! The drive was nice, though. The driver was from Dublin and extremely friendly. He thought at first that we were Australian, but when we didn't respond how he expected to a joke about Australia, he asked us to confirm and we clarified. Then he talked about visiting east coast beaches in the United States and told Anna that she was going to be very happy living in North Carolina.

Our flight was quick, Ireland and England being neighboring islands after all, and Kim's instructions for getting on the Gatwick Express and pointed in the right direction at the train station were great. Instead of taking the tube, we decided to walk, since we were fairly close to Buckingham Palace and could use a route that would take us past Picadilly Circus, where Anna stayed earlier this year doing research for her thesis. Even though it was cold, the walk was nice - every block we walked was lovely. I had the definite sense in exploring London of the prosperity that has been there for centuries. In countries that have tightened their belts on and off over the years, there are ten homely buildings for every pretty one. In London you have to look pretty hard to find eyesore architecture. At least, in the areas I saw in my short days there.

Needless to say, because we walked we showed up later than we had told Kim we would be. I felt guilty about this as soon as it occurred to me, but unfortunately that wasn't until we were at her door. Hugs and kisses later we followed Kim up to the second floor flat where she and Rich are living. It was beautiful and Anna and I could tell just by looking that the guest room bed was the most comfortable we'd had at least since leaving the states, if not ever.

It was early evening, but a few hours went by fast. We ate cheese with wine and swapped stories about living abroad. We hadn't been talking long when Rich came home, carrying a tray of cherry tomatoes. The four of us alternated between general talk and focusing on what Anna and I should see over our weekend. We finally settled on a tentative plan and filed off to bed after midnight. My eyes weren't deceiving me about that bed. It was pretty hard to peel myself out of it in the morning.

Coffee and a chat and it was about ten in the morning. Anna and I disembarked to rendezvous with a tour bus service in Trafalgar square. We took our time in this search, as I especially was still marveling at what was around virtually every corner I turned. When we did get on the bus, we were surprised to find a live guide, something we'd not seen in our other tour bus experiences. The sky was clear over the part of the route we followed, then we got off to snap pictures of the tower of London and board the boat for the next portion of the tour. The boat was heated with big windows, so we took a break drinking coffee and shedding our coats. The boat took us under London Bridge and past other interesting establishments, modern and historical, along the shores of the Thames.

After we got off the boat, we walked over to Westminster Abbey and did an audio tour there. It took a couple hours and it was fascinating. There are people buried under every suqare inch of that soil, it seems, the markers in the floor so dense you can't help but walk on them. The architecture was stunning. It certainly joins the growing list of places I can't describe well so soon after seeing them. I'll get back to you when I've had more time to process. For now, know that I was awed by it, happy to have the guidance of Jeremy Irons on my headset, and found a placard for Lewis Carroll in the Poet's Corner with my favorite Alice quote: "Is all life then but a dream?"

Anna and I then completed the bus tour and returned to the flat, where we had about an hour to relax before leaving for.....Wicked! First we had dinner at an Italian restaurant, where I ordered the most enormous calzone I've ever seen, and ate the entire thing without feeling uncomfortably full in the least.

Wicked was decided by totally random selections from a bowl, with Kim exercising an executive veto that took the form of throwing the piece of paper marked "Wicked" at me when it wasn't the one I drew. Though I had said I didn't care which show we went to, and I'm sure I would have loved any of them, I now can't imagine having seen something else. I have always enjoyed live theater, but I've never seen a "big" musical. And I've never had a glass of wine in my hand at the beginning of each act. It was a very spiritual experience, and since coming back to Ireland I have downloaded the entire soundtrack and listened to it five times.

On the walk back from the show, we saw evidence of a phenomenon we thought was only a myth: the underground urinal that magically rises from a man-hole cover at night. Not only had it ascended by the time we came to it, but it had an occupant. Trying to be polite and dignified, it wasn't until that gentleman finished his business that I skipped over to pose beside the enormous silver thing for a picture. In so doing, I bumped into the person on the other side who was still engaging the urinal for its intended purpose. Anyway, we got our picture!

Anna and I stayed up pretty late again; I felt bad for keeping our hosts awake, but since we only had a few days I wanted to spend as much time catching up as possible. Rich can perform quite the spectrum of British impersonations. Finding the differences and similarities between the experiences of one group of Americans in Europe versus another has been pretty fascinating.

Day two began approximately as did day one: coffee with Kim, and then dispersal. This was Anna's day to work on her thesis research at the national archives, so we went our separate ways. I felt little stress, surprisingly, at being by myself on the tube with my map. I probably couldn't have said the same thing in other places where I've used the underground, but in London the public transportation seems clean and secure. I'm also in love with London and knew it would do nothing to harm me.

I stopped at Tower Hill for the Tower of London, a place Anna and my cousins had both assured me I could spend hours. As soon as I followed the Yeoman Warder from the entrance to the chapel for my guided tour, I understood why. From the outside looking in it's hard to see that the Tower is in fact a series of towers, a fortress that has been built onto and redesigned in sections over the course of dozens of Kings and Queens' rule. I took my time and tried to see the highlights.

One of my favorite areas was the lawn where the ravens are kept. The story goes, roughly, that ravens were considered pests in the tower and the ruler of the moment made plans to have them disposed of. This was interrupted when a mystic prophecied that should the ravens go from the Tower of London, the White Tower would fall. Since then, ravens have been kept in the tower - there is even a Ravenmaster appointed to attend to them - and their clipped wings make certain they aren't going anywhere. Close to, ravens are beautiful, heavy birds that seem very powerful for their size. I watched one cleaning the moisture from his feathers with his beak (London was drizzling that day, which I understand is characteristic), and his deftness impressed me. He could curve his wing at the perfect angle to barely need to bend his head, and then tilt it just slightly to reach the next feather, working very quickly. He seemed to be more bothered by the precipitation than the other birds, who very possibly have realized that, be their feathers wet or dry, they aren't going to be flying anywhere. The oldest raven at the tower is Gwylum, who is a 20 year old male.

I checked my phone after about two hours and found a message from Anna. She hadn't been allowed into the archives without a driver's license, so she was headed early to our rendezvous point at the British Museum. She asked me not to hurry, and I didn't, but I was almost through every point I wanted to hit at the Tower, anyway. I got only moderately lost on the way to the museum. This time the tube stop wasn't a block away and I had to use my map, which wasn't so detailed that it identified the smaller side streets. Regardless, an hour later Anna and I were visiting the mummies in residence, the Rosetta Stone, and the Greek Parthenon. The British Museum is beautiful, enormous, and could absorb the historically-inclined for hundreds of hours. We spent about two there, and then we made our way out. I got a call from Kim and we planned to meet up in order to grocery shop for our belated Thanksgiving dinner. At Tesco, my friend from Ireland, we got all the supplies we could find and substitutions for the ingredients we couldn't. I also bought two giant tins of cookies that those gathering in Chanute Kansas for Christmas should begin to eagerly anticipate.

Cooking was fun, if not without mishaps. We had mashed potatoes, salad, bread, chicken kievs, and apple pie. Three of the five contained garlic, and all were delicious. Over the course of the weekend we drank quite a bit of red wine, but my favorite was from Friday night. I need to remember to ask Kim what it was.

To bed around 2 a.m., and I overslept the next morning. Apparently no one was offended, another hour of sleep was welcome. We had breakfast and Anna and I watched a movie on Kim and Rich's magnificent television, and then we set off for what was to become an interesting morning/early afternoon. First on the agenda: visit platform 9 3/4, because who isn't a Harry Potter fan? After the photo shoot there, we began looking for train tickets, but the machines weren't registering anyone's credit card, so we decided to try to buy them in person at the station. There were lines and confusion, though, and by the time we managed to buy the ticket, say farewell and bolt for the train, we missed it by about 33 seconds. Kim left Rich and her purse with the security people and they allowed her to come down to see if we'd made the train. We hadn't.

The next train would make us late to check in for our flight (Ryanair requires you check in 40 minutes before departure), so we decided to try to take the direct train after all. We got in a taxi, but with Saturday traffic, it took awhile for the driver to get us to the station. He dropped us off strategically and we ran again, this time making the train! Kim and Rich decided to come with us, just so they would know for sure if we made it or not. Some mental calculating informed us that we were going to be about five minutes late to check in even if the train was on time.

Apparently, Ryanair is VERY strict. We were there ten minutes late and they told us we could not check in. Rich generously offered to pay for our flight change, and we were already drafting plans for another night of fun - Thai food! - when we saw that the flight we were meant to take was delayed by over an hour! Kim thought that under these circumstances they might let us board late, so we went back to the check-in desk just to be sure. At first they said no, but then the nice clerk made a call, and they decided to let us on. I was relieved to find out later that Rich was able to get a refund on the flight-change fee, and the train tickets we didn't use!

Even though Anna and I were both a little relieved - Sunday was essential for both of us to rest up and start work on our respective school work - we were also disappointed not to have the additional day in the city with my wonderful cousins. The flight was short, we caught the city link bus back to Cork, and we were home.

Now, I face not a leisurely farewell week in Ireland but a hectic balancing act between class, writing my FIVE final papers, and visits to Spain and Scotland! If I had to pick something to be stressed out about, though, I guess this would be it.

Here are some photo highlights:
We took a bus tour, which was fun - there was a live guide who was pretty entertaining, and we were able to take in more over a shorter period of time. Plus, I like riding on the top of the double-decker buses!

The Tower of London - this picture is from the boat portion of our bus tour, but I went back the next day while Anna was at the National archives to walk through.
This is the Tower Bridge, which we were told tourists usually confuse with London Bridge. London Bridge is much less attractive, but it is the next one over.
Trafalgar Square was just a few minutes' walk from Kim and Rich's flat!