Hey,
A little late on this one... On Saturday Royal Holloway led a guided trip to downtown London for all the international students. Along the way were were to hit Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery, and a Jack the Ripper walking tour (not to mention dinner), all for free (if you count already paying for it in the cost of attending school here as free)!
We were supposed to get a late start, around 1:15 (or 13:15 as they annoyingly like to write it here). Turns out the bus (coach, as they say) was a little late, so we didn't get out even that early. As we were waiting for the bus to arrive we got to see the Royal Holloway version of American football. I was surprised when I had learned they had an American football club, but intrigued. I expected it to be touch, or flag, or even tackle without pads, rugby style, but indeed they had the full get up. Kinda dull to watch though; they weren't very good. They clearly hadn't been playing for their whole lives!
When the coach did get there we piled on and expected to be downtown in no more than half an hour. Two hours later, after sitting in ridiculously slow traffic, and listening to our desperate tour guide's painful attempts to say interesting things (she was reduced to explaining London parking restrictions... I wished she would just let us make faces at the cars next to us!), we were finally there! We piled off the bus and took a short stroll to find ourselves in front of Buckingham Palaces. According to the Union Jack flag on top the queen was not home :-(
After a few picture opportunities and some short explanations from the tour guide, that I again found less than fascinating, we were off again! We were late and had a lot of ground to cover. We blew through the mansions surrounding Buckingham, hearing briefly about what royalty was supposed to live where, and how none of them were ever home. Eventually we came to a big building that is apparently the home of the Horse Guards. As best I could understand from the rushed explanations, the horse guards are supposed to guard the entire area in which Buckingham sits, and every day at four o'clock they go home (I guess people only attack the queen before dark). But before they leave they get inspected for appearances (see pics).
This is my conclusion after seeing the beefeaters of the Tower of London, the Horse Guards, and the guys in funny bear hats... there is a reason Great Britain is not the single greatest world power, as they once were. All these guys in elaborate costumes I'm sure served very important functions in the past. I also understand they are a great part of British national pride and image. But honestly, aren't they just an awful waste? They serve no legitimate function beyond being tourist attractions, yet I'm sure they cost an awful lot of money! And think about the man hours wasted for just one guard in a funny bear hat! He probably trained for years to do that job. And then he spends years standing completely still in all sorts of weather. And what does he accomplish beyond getting his picture taken a lot? It is the mentality and resources behind this sort of tradition that are the reasons Britain is no longer leading world politics (but they are a big reason Britain probably has more pictures of members of its "military" on refrigerators worldwide than any other country).
After the horse guards we bolted towards Trafalgar Square, which was a riot. Almost literally. The Palestinians were out in force, protesting to the long-dead Admiral Lord Nelson about the actions of the Israelis. Nelson was standing tall and firm, unresponsive to the commotion at his feet. The police were much more responsive. There were hundreds of them around, and sirens were going off left and right as police vehicles suddenly mobilized all at once and started circling Trafalgar Square. No idea why, things seemed peaceful enough, but apparently driving in circles with sirens blaring was necessary.
Needless to say we were glad to get into the National Gallery. Pleasantly enough, even though I wouldn't have had to pay anyway, the National Gallery is free! And it is massive. Our tour guide was desperately trying to lead a group of 30 or so people through the gallery to see the bits she felt were important, bypassing impressive paintings by the hundred.... I'll have to go back.
After the National Gallery whirlwind tour we stopped for dinner, which was good, but not particularly eventful. Cake. Mmmmm.
Finally, we were on to the last activity of the day/night. Jack the Ripper walking tour with a real bonafide "Ripperologist." The guy was an excellent story teller. As he walked us around the East End to the locations of Jack's 5 murders he described them and the efforts made to catch Jack. I never realized how gruesome he was. I knew he was a serial killer; I didn't know he was so gross! It was very interesting, even though all of the buildings were so different from the time period being described (I don't think Jack the Ripper jumped any of the prostitutes in the parking garage... but maybe).
When that tour was over we said our thanks and took off back to Royal Holloway on our 'coach.' As we drove back the driver pointed out some of the notable sights from famous movies, like Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter films (which I had actually already seen on our tour of "The City" with Arcadia), a street Bridget Jones apparently ran down in her underwear (or something, dunno, never saw it), and the rooftop on which the Mary Poppins rooftop scenes were filmed.
Whew!
Last little bit now. Sunday I spent trying to do my school work. In fact I didn't do any. Instead I filled out an application to an internship I am applying for this summer (for those that may have heard about the CDC thing... it won't work; for those that haven't heard of the CDC thing... never mind), and an application to volunteer at the local "old persons" home. A lot harder to volunteer than in the US. Frustrating. Then Sunday night I was planning on getting updates about the Steelers AFC Championship via internet phone with Katie. Turns out one of the guys from Bucknell also studying here is a Steelers fan and found the game streaming online. So I got to see the Steelers win the AFC championship! WOOOOOO. Granted the game ended at 3:30 AM London time, but it was worth it ;-) Now I just have to find someplace I can really watch the Super Bowl. I have to see that in full resolution and in its entirety of course!
That was long. Good job getting through it. As usual, email or comment if you like. I'll do my best to get back to you.
