Mind the Gap

Hello all! Have you missed reading my daily blog posts? Does your life feel void an empty in my absence? If not that much, I hope you have missed me a little, because I have missed writing As of 11pm Saturday night, Caiti and I stumbled into the porter's lodge weary from travel, yet very thoroughly happy. Two full days and one night in London done so here is a run down of my adventures.

Early Friday morning the group left for London, arriving by 10am with a full day ahead. The night before, Sarah, Caiti and I mapped out everything we wanted to do, planned the times and the travel to get there. Ambitious? Effective. Friday was packed with sights to see, but we traveled timely and well and I can now say I am very well acquainted with the Tube. The London Underground, once you have a footing in locations and line changes, its quite nice to ride. The best part of riding the Tube is perhaps the continuous mantra of 'mind the gap' you hear each time, many times, you hop on and off a train. The gap refers to the space between the train and the ground and only once have a\I seen a gap that could actually cause an incident, but you never know.

I'll give you some details or highlights on each of the thing we say Friday because if I were to describe everything in detail it would take for more time than I have to give. First was St.Paul's Cathedral. We only did the outside because admission was steep and our 2 for 1 deal didn't apply. Very pretty though. Next was off to Trafalgar Square for some pictures and the Portrait Gallery where we say a special exhibit, 'Glory of the Gods', a picture tribute to Hollywood stars from the 1920s-1960s. After that is was on to the National Gallery to see some beautiful 1700s-1800s era art which was magnificent and offered more that we had the time for. On our way from the galleries, we stopped to say hi to Big Ben and took some pictures. We then minded the gap again and walked around the Tower of London then over the London Bridge. We had a few hours to kill before the play so we did a bit of meandering amongst the London shops.

At 7pm Friday night I watched my second live Shakespeare performance: All's Well that Ends Well at the Globe Theater. For those of you who may remember my last review blog, don't fear. This play was wonderful. The Globe was great, our group was seated in the upper gallery so we had a great view of the stage. It was set in traditional set and costume and the actors were great. Before the play they came out and greeted the groundlings (people who paid less to stand for the show)and opened the show with a song. The live play came to me much more appealing than the written one. The Countess was my favorite portrayal and even Bertram, who I despised in reading the play, came across as more of a human being which was refreshing. At the end of the play, when Helena and Bertram are happy and with child, in true Shakespeare form, the pay ended with a full-cast jig. Awesome. I went away feeling much better about Shakespeare.

Since it was still early enough at the end of the play, the Sarah, Caiti and I, plus Jeremy, Jess, Julia and her fiance Matt (who we all got to meet while he was in London, which was very nice)went to grab a drink before the girlies walked tiredly back to the hotel room Sarah had graciously let us crash in. It was all soft pillows and fast dreams after a long day on the pavement.

Saturday dawned bright and early and we were out by 11am to see Buckingham Palace in all of its crowded glory. After a few pictures amidst crowds of tourists and a walk through Hyde Park, Caiti and I left Jeremy and Sarah in favor of Hampton Court, one of Henry VIII's palaces. It was initially Cardinal Thomas Wolsey's home- 1,000 rooms and more acres than I can count. Once Wolsey began to fall out of favor with Henry, he gave his stunning residence to the king (originally set away from London because it was the healthiest place around London). Since then, Hampton Court had been preserved in all of it's Tudor glory, and I had stepped into a dream. Walking down the corridors Henry and his advisers, wives and servants walked was almost out of body. Caiti and I visited Henry's apartments along with William III and Mary II's rooms (they resided in the palace later on in history). Each room had a story and in Henry's case, each wife (minus poor Anne of Cleves) had a piece of design inspired by them. Two of the women were even married to Henry there. I was like a kid in a candy shop taking in each room, kitchen, garden and chamber. Please see facebook for the whole album I have devoted to Hampton Court. Caiti and I had busy day getting there, but it was totally worth it. 'My obsession' as Caiti calls it, is largely fulfilled.

A few train rides, lots of walking and a transfer, I was back to jolly Cambridgeshire and excited to see my bed again. It was a crazy, busy, loud trip but London was a blast and I'm so glad I was able to spend it with a great group of friends.