London Bridges falling down....

"London Bridges falling down... falling down... falling down... London bridges falling down. ..my fair lady!"

Our one week of travel for the Kumran Bayram Holiday was much needed. I went to visit Mikita in London. I arrived late on Thursday, November 11. I got a little lost but hey…it didn’t matter because I could ask people for directions IN ENGLISH! It was a good feeling. 

Anyway, I made it to her apartment and her roommate Amy let me in. Mikita didn’t arrive until Friday evening. So I fell asleep after an exhausting day. In the morning, I ventured out into the city and went to the National Portrait Gallery. It is such a good museum—I saw all these masterpieces that I learned about in Art History. I stood there, in front of them, marveling at how amazing they are. I remembered learning about the artist, the symbolism, the controversies….ah!

 

I walked down a street mindlessly, and ran into Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. The “Poppy Appeal” was going on, so infront of Westminster Abbey, displays of poppy crosses were everywhere. It was really neat! 

 

When I walked back to the Tube stop near the National Portrait Gallery, I saw a man standing in the fountains fishing out something, because someone had dumped thousands of paper poppy flowers. I took a handful for keepsake! It was pretty early in the day so I decided I would walk a little instead of hopping back on the Tube. I walked to Piccadilly Circus and saw the Eros statue. Then I walked through the theatre district and Soho. I kept on walking, according to the Tube map…later I found out that that was a mistake. Anyway, after hours of walking, I arrived back to Mikita’s apparent. I did a little homework (because unfortunately I had midterms on the days following the holiday). When Mikita arrived, we caught up on life and travels—then we cooked dinner. We had the agreement that she would cook and I would set up/clean up the kitchen! We went out for CIDER that evening. I love it. Such a good drink!

The next day we ventured to different parts of London. We ran into two problems. The tube shuts down for construction purposes on the weekend, so we walked a lot. Also, since it was around their equivalent to Veterans Day, there were a lot of Parades…we rather enjoyed stopping and watching. Plus, streets were shut down so we could walk in the middle of the road! We found Platform 9 and ¾ from the Harry Potter series! It was great! Ha. We walked back to Big Ben and Parliament. The most

common photograph of London, the Parliament building with Big Ben in the background? Yes, we took many pictures! Mikita took me to the area where she works; I also saw the huge Court House of London. Later in the evening, we met up with Kevin, a friend from Berea who is now living in London. It was a fun, relaxing evening. Like all evenings, we were exhausted when we returned.

On Sunday, we did more walking and exploring. In the morning, we went to Camden Market which basically was a London version of the Grand Bazaar, except a lot of it wasn’t covered. Anyway it was fun! We bought a few things, had great Polish food and acted like tourists! Among other things, we walked across the pedestrian Millennium Bridge, found St. Paul’s Cathedral, and went to the British Museum. At the British Museum, we focused on going to a few key exhibits….we saw the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon. A lot of the sculpture and reliefs from the temple are now in the museum. This too, I remember learning so much about. It’s a great feeling being able to see in person such magnificent, ancient, art! We also saw the Rosetta Stone and a lot of Egyptian sculptures and tombs.

On Monday, I did a tour bus to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bathe. It was so cold and so foggy in the morning that Windsor Castle was not visible until half way through the time allotted at the castle. Anyway, we left early because Prince William was there so we were not able to tour the main part of the castle. It was a bummer! Anyway, I saw the creepy doll collection of one of the Queens and went into St. Georges Chapel. It was so beautiful inside. There was a lot of stain glass and so much intricate wood and stone work. I was amazed. I really wish I could have taken pictures. The outside, however, is just as amazing (see picture below).

St. George's Cathedral

Stonehenge was also quite a feat! Mikita had warned me that it wasn’t as fascinating as she thought it would be. So I had forewarning but I loved it! I recommend anyone who wants to travel around London/England to go in November. My tourguide said we were lucky because it is the end of tourist season so not many people are going to the sites. I was able to take pictures of Stonehenge without anyone else being in them! Maybe a totally of 100 people were there, but usually its thousands! It turned into a beautiful, with a blue sky. Indeed it was still freezing but bearable. 

We traveled to the Roman city of Bathe afterwards. Apparently, when the Romans lived here, they built a vast complex that was centered around the hot water springs. When the English kicked them out, no one thought to learn how to maintain the structure. It was left to ruins. Years later, people rediscovered the hot spring and the monarch/king wanted to have a new complex built. Thus, the tour of the building including parts of the ancient and newer complex. The town of Bathe is a very quaint town with lots of cute shops and restaurants. We had a lot of time here (because we left Windsor early). 

I enjoyed the trip immensely. Unfortunately, I slept on the bus and missed the informative chatter from our tourguide. I got back around 9. We had dinner and then slept!

For my last day, I went to school with Mikita. While she was in class, I walked to the Victoria and Albert Musuem. It was alright…not my favorite but still worth seeing. We hung out between classes, did homework, went to Harrod’s. What a ridiculous department store! However, it felt like Christmas [actually, all of London was already decorated] and it was nice to experience that, because Turkey will not be celebrating [Go figure!]. We walked around some of the floors, especially the Christmas department and the food areas! We briefly walked through a clothing part to check the price of belts….any guesses? Okay…I’ll just tell you how much a stupid belt cost: 725 POUNDS…so that’s more than $1,000. The pastry shop was the only place I could afford something, so we bought lunch here!

We went to a pub before Mikita’s last class. After her class, we went to another pub so I could have Fish & Chips. I met her boyfriend, Ali. We all hung out for a while but then it was time to go back to the apartment, pack up and sleep. I had to leave at 6 in the morning. My flight went well. I got back to Istanbul around 5pm. I was sadder than I thought. In fact, I sort of freaked out. I had such a wonderful time hearing ENGLISH and the moment I stepped outside of the airport, I was surrounded by the confusing, frustrating Turkish language. I had trouble catching a bus back to Sariyer, and the driver definitely ripped me off. I know it sounds pathetic, but I just cried. I was having one of those moments that I desperately wanted to come home. [Thankfully, my family came the next day and gave me a new burst of energy and encouragement!]