Trip to London

So, like I said in a few previous posts, I recently went on a two week trip to England, Scotland, and Ireland. Spain had a general strike that allowed me to leave on a Wednesday night and not miss school the following day, followed by us not having classes because of Holy Week (or semana santa) the next week. So, I missed two days at the end, and ended up being gone for 13 days - from Wednesday to Tuesday, the 28th of March to the 10th of April.

I was originally going to blog about my entire trip in one post. Instead, I'm going to go city by city, for the sake of both my sanity and the reader's.

The first city that I visited was London. I headed out with my new friend, Darcie, who had studied abroad there last summer. Since she was going to Morocco on Saturday (us study abroad-ers live rough lives), she was only in London for a couple of days with me. It was a great help having her around to make the huge city of London less intimidating and more personal.

Fat Tire Bike Tour

After a crazy course of events that went down in the customs line of the airport (ask me sometime if you want the whole story, it's a pretty good one), we finally arrived to our hostel late Wednesday night. Our first full day in London was a great one, and started off with the Fat Tire Bike Tour. The Fat Tire Bike Company is an American company started by a man from Texas A&M that offers tours in Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, and 2 tours in London. We chose to do what was called the "River Thames Tour", and went to popular sights like The Tower of London, Big Ben, The London Eye, Trafalgar Square, The Tower Bridge, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and Covent Gardens.

Tower Bridge.

Our touring partners.

Trafalgar Square.

Big Ben and the House of Parliament - my favorite thing in London.

Our tour was smaller, consisting of 4 of us plus two tour guides. We later figured out that one of our two tour guides was a British rapper (of course he was, right?!). He gave Darcie and I his information, and this is what we found - the greatest thing to hit YouTube since this guy. See the embedded video below. Even though there's a few choice words, it's a pretty harmless (and hilarious) video. I mean come on, his rapper name is "Murmur" and his rap group is called "Fur-real", how can that not be awesome?!

Overall, the tour was one of my favorite things of the trip. Not only did we get to see a bunch of awesome parts of the city while biking, our tour guides told us all about the history of London. It all was really interesting, and I left feeling like I knew London on a more personal level.

Ben's Cookies

For my dad's sake, I'll say this quick tidbit about Ben's Cookies - in all fairness to my loving mother, these might be the best cookies in the entire world. Darcie introduced me to them, and my life was forever changed. It's definitely be one of my dad's 15 cookies on his "Top 10 favorite cookie" list.

My dad (on the right) knows a thing or two about cookies.

West End Musical

Similar to Broadway in New York, London is known for their West End plays and musicals. Darcie and I decided to go see "Rock of Ages" one night, a musical set in the 80's about a rock and roll revolution. Our experience was unlike any that another West End musical would have given us. Unlike "Wicked" or "The Lion King", "Rock of Ages" was more of an adult musical with a funny and twisted edge to it. A few times they would talk to the audience personally and deliberately state that parts of the musical were cheesy or cliché, giving a refreshing and original vibe to the night. Combine that with a free seat upgrade, fake lighter props passed out to the audience for slow songs, a live 80's band, a main character from Kansas, and West End caliber singing and acting, and you have yourself an amazing and unforgettable night.

"Rock of Ages" stage.

Chipotle

London is by far the most "American" city that I've been to in the last 3 months for a variety of reasons - they speak English, people are always in a hurry, they have free wifi around every corner, and they enjoy the same types of cuisine that Americans do! I took advantage of that last similarity (twice) by rejoicing in the newly-opened Chipotle in London, and loved every minute of it. I knew I was at home when I asked the Chipotle worker if I could have a double portion of rice and he said, "Sir, you can have double rice, or even triple rice." You're darn right I got that triple rice!!

With Chipotle, anything is possible.

Hummous Bros. and Russell Square

For Darcie's last day in London, we took it easy - went to breakfast with a friend from TCU, hit up a bookstore, and ate the famous Hummous Bros for lunch in Russell Square Gardens, aka Darcie's old stomping grounds. She was at home and I was in heaven - the hummous was delicious!

London House Party

After saying goodbye to Darcie and toasting the short trip together with a Cadbury Egg, I was on my own for the next 10 days. Darcie leaving was both rough and exciting, because although in my heart I knew I was a little nervous about traveling alone, my head knew that it was going to be a time to display boldness and find adventure on my own. That's exactly what happened the first night.

After settling in at my new hostel in London, I planned out my night. I read in a tourist guide that a great place to go and take pictures of the city at night was the Waterloo Bridge, so I hopped on the tube and headed out in that direction. While on the tube, I sat next to a girl who seemed to be about my age. We got to talking, and I learned that she was actually a few years older, and was currently working for CNN in London. There was a couple next to her that I quickly learned was her Irish cousin and boyfriend who were visiting her for the weekend, and before I knew it, I was accepting an invitation to go to a house party in East London with a random girl and her Irish relatives!

Victoria, the girl who trusted me not to be a creeper.

The day before on our bike tour, I asked my tour guide if there were any parts of London that were dangerous and that I should avoid. He said that everywhere is pretty safe, just don't go to East London at night...Woops. Long story short, I'm bad at following directions, had a great time meeting new people and learning about their differences of cultures over a few drinks, and was completely safe while doing it.

American Friends in London

After taking part in experiencing both the posh Portebello Market in Notting Hill and the more run-down Camden Market, I went to the Tate Modern Museum of Art, explored St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, The House of Parliament (aka Big Ben), and Buckingham Palace. All were incredible in their own individual ways.

Portobello Market.

Camden Town Market.

Seats to sit and eat in the locks of Camden Market, made from old mopeds.

Westminster Abbey.

Buckingham Palace.

Tim Foote, one of my good friends that worked with me at Kanakuk the last two summers, studied abroad in London last semester and gave me a slew (K-Kountry people know what I'm talking about) of suggestions for when I visited. The place he stressed that I had to visit more than any other restaurant was Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, one of the oldest pubs in London and the same place where famous writers like Charles Dickens used to go (I'm expecting he had pretty high expectations). Anyway, if you've ever gone into a bar by yourself, you know how completely weird, awkward, and flat-out uncomfortable of an experience it can be. Everyone is already established in their groups of friends and comrades, and you're just the odd-man out looking to find any reason to talk to them. To make a long story short, I found a reason to talk to someone (she sounded American) and met a group of 6 study abroad students who, like me, were visiting London but studying abroad in Austria. We ended up eating some fish and chips and having a few drinks, and hanging out together the rest of the night taking pictures of the city and just exploring. Definitely a great memory.

"Famous Through Four Centuries. Ye Old Cheshire Cheese - Rebuilt in 1667. Known Haunt of Samuel Johnson, Charles Dickens, and countless others."

The Ye Old Cheshire Cheese Gang.

Sunday Church

I decided to double-up on church when I was in London, and ended up having two very different experiences. First, I went to Hillsong United's church in London. If you don't know, Hillsong is a popular Christian church, band, and movement that is spreading throughout the world. The church in London took place at the Dominion Theatre, the same place that the Queen tribute musical "We Will Rock You" is every other day of the week. Although it was a huge church with incredible music, it surprisingly didn't feel like a concert or production. I got to know the people around me (one lady from South Africa, another man from Manchester, and a couple from Sudan). It definitely reminded me that the Church is bigger than a church.

The second service I went to was the 3pm "Evensong" service at the historic Westminster Abbey. Although the cathedral itself was one of the most beautiful that I've ever seen (I still think Sevilla's is the best), the service itself made my eyes heavy quickly. However, I can now say that I went to church with Shakespeare, Churchill, Newton, Darwin, etc...

In between services I went and checked out another market - Brick Lane Market, which was absolute hipster paradise. My pants couldn't have been tight enough, my glasses thick enough, my iPod music obscure enough, or my clothes organic enough. I liked it!

A Savory KU Victory

Miraculously this March, KU made it to the Final Four! Complete with a team of so-so players and a few studs, Bill Self led the Hawks back to where each fan hopes their college basketball team goes every year, and I was determined to watch it.

I had heard from my parents that there was a Kansas City style BBQ restaurant in London based off of my favorite restaurant, Oklahoma Joe's, and that they also replayed American sports games there the next day. After looking online to check the times and locations, I headed out to Bodean's BBQ joint in SoHo to watch the game. I got there, proudly sporting my KU shirt, expecting a night of solitude with my hawks. Then, through a sequence of kind of crazy events, I met a man from Hungary named Peter who had studied at KU back in the early 90's! I don't know who was more excited to meet who, but he quickly offered to buy me a drink, and before I knew it I was at a table enjoying both Final Four games with Peter and his two friends, one from Egypt and one from Saudi Arabia. We ate and drank like kings, and somehow I got away with not paying a dime for a meal that altogether cost nearly $300! We left full and satisfied after KU pulled out a victory, and I have new European and African friends.

The before.

The after.

The "dessert". Seriously.

The bros, celebrating a KU victory on a full stomach. From right, Sam from Egypt, Talhed from Saudi Arabia, and Peter from Hungary.

Waterloo Bridge

After Bodean's I finally made it to the Waterloo Bridge to take a few pictures of the beautiful London city at night.

Tower of London

Monday was my last full day in the city. After seeing the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, I hopped on the tube towards Tower Bridge.

Changing of the guards ceremony, Buckingham Palace.

Arguably my favorite experience of the whole trip was one of my last - going to the Tower of London. We had heard a lot about the Tower of London through our bike tour, and a lot of things got me interested in taking a tour of the place. A Yeomen Warder, more commonly known as a "Beefeater", guided my tour through the Tower and did an absolutely incredible job. Our guide's name was Bob, and he was just as theatrical as he was informative. I learned all about how the Tower used to be a prison, royal palace, armory, treasury, and more in an amazingly entertaining way, and got to see "Lizzie's Bling", aka the Crown Jewels of Queen Elizabeth.

Bob.

Altogether, London was an incredible city that gave me some very lasting memories. I should also give a shout out to Rachael, the friend of a friend of a friend that let me stay with her and her flatmates for 3 nights and was so hospitable.

I had such a great time in London. There's a famous quote from Londoner Samuel Johnson that seemed appropriate for my seemingly short stay:

"A man who grows tired of London grows tired of life, for there is in London all that life can afford."

Updates from Edinburgh and Dublin coming...sometime.

Brad.