Europe 2001: Museums and Murder

We woke up at 6 am (without an alarm clock since I left mine in Anchorage; I still need to get one) and wandered around the neighborhood in search of breakfast.  I enjoyed seeing London with rested eyes (and without rain).  After Amber found a place to get her espresso, I found a place for bacon, eggs, sausage, and toast.

The morning was still giving us sunny weather when we arrived at St. Paul’s Cathedral.  It is such a beautiful building!  The ceiling is very high and there are paintings or mosaics and the wrought iron gates are really exquisite.  We climbed the 540 steps up to the Whispering Gallery, which puts you level with the base of the main dome.  If you were to stand on one side of the gallery, and have a friend on the opposite (200 feet away), you can have a conversation without having to raise your voice.  Next, we continued up another really steep staircase to the roof.  It was very satisfying to be on top of a huge, beautiful building whilst looking over a huge city.  We went down to the crypts, which weren't all that great, but the cafe had some good pastries.  We left the cathedral just as masses of tourists were beginning to show up.

Adventure Amber

Southwest view from St. Paul's.  The London Eye is partially visible through the haze.

We walked about a mile down the road to the Museum of London.  There were some interesting displays covering the Roman, Saxon, and Renaissance eras, the great fire of 1666 (caused by the royal baker on Pudding Lane), and modern London.

Then, we went to the British Museum, which I absolutely loved.  The building itself was extremely impressive.  There were massive staircases and high ceilings to allow for the giant Egyptian ruins that were inside.  We also saw Roman artifacts, mummies, artifacts from Greece, and the Rosetta stone (one of the high points of my experience).

 

After a light lunch in the cafeteria we went to the National Portrait Gallery, where we saw some Rembrandts, Raphaels, Da Vincis, and Botticellis.  Afterwards we went through Trafalgar Square (where I saw a man kick a pigeon quite savagely) and ate our first good meal so far, at a pizza place.  After dinner we took the tube up to Tower Hill where we discovered to our dismay that the Tower of London had just closed.  The weather began to clear up and we took a walk around several corners to St. Nicholas’s (400 year old) church and sat among the ruined headstones for a while.  We went back to Tower Hill for the Jack the Ripper Tour.  I was expecting see more of the murder sites, and we only saw one.  Amber liked it a lot.  I found it interesting, however, I was tired from standing walking all day.  After a slightly lost and confused trip home, we met the girls from Kansas who were sharing our dorm room at St. Christopher’s.  They gave us some tips about where to eat in Rome shortly before we went to bed.   

 

Tower Bridge

 

Mitre Square, site of Catherine Eddowes' murder

Europe 2001: Waxy Entertainment

A little groggy: I have been up for over 48 hours haven’t eaten much.

We were able to figure out the metro tubes without any problems.  After we got aboard our subway train, we realized that in stead of dropping our luggage at the hostel before check-in we were going have to go to Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum since our ticket reservation time had come and gone.

When we arrived I was very glad that I had made reservations online.  There was a line wrapping all the way around the building and it was pouring rain.  Amber and I, with all of our luggage, marched to the front of the line, gave the staff our reservation number, and went straight inside.  We entered a dark, blue-lit room that was somewhat reminiscent of a lagoon, where we saw statues of the likes of Jerry Springer and Samuel L. Jackson.  Next, we went into a room that was dedicated to famous Olympic athletes.  I wish I could remember any of their names.  Then we went into a room that shows how the wax artists make the statues according to Madame Tussaud’s secret method.  The next room was dedicated to Hollywood: Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg, Whoopie Goldberg, Nicholas Cage, and Marilyn Monroe (but to name a few).  When we thought there were no more rooms to explore, we found the HOUSE OF HORRORS.  Very creepy and realistic, it featured the Black Plague, hangings, martyrs, torture,  the Body Snatchers, Jack the Ripper, Guillotines, and other historic macabre interests.  Very last, there as an amusement park ride called "The Spirit of London".  As we were leaving the museum, I noticed a lone statue of Mr. T sitting over in a corner.  I pity the fool who put him there all by himself (haw haw).

By the time we left Tussaud’s, it was only 3 pm, but we were so tired and grungy, we had to go to our hostel, St. Christopher's, and shower.  After, we skipped our plans to see the Tower of London and Tower Bridge for dinner and the nightly Jack the Ripper Tour in east London.  After walking in the rain for an hour, when we had no feeling or energy left, we wandered into what we thought was a grocery store.  A stout woman emerged from between the aisles and ushered us upstairs into her restaurant.  Like children, Amber and I followed without a word and we let ourselves be seated.  My meal was slightly appalling.  It was some sort of over-curried chicken and onions all dumped onto fries.  I still cringe just thinking about it.  Unfortunately, our dinners were only a precursor to the rest of our evening.  We got lost on the subway and missed our Ripper Tour.  Then, we got slightly lost walking around in east London during a sorry attempt to conduct our own tour, since I thought I would be able to use my map and find our way to all of the murder sites.

Our beds were a very welcome sight when we returned to the hostel.

  

A very worn transport pass and tube map

Europe 2001: Crossing the Pond

 Here is the account of my very first solo (-ish) vacation!  Me and one of my best friends, Amber, decided during our senior year of high school that we should finally make good on our promise to travel together, and so we scraped together our savings and bought tickets to Europe.  The plan: Visit seven cities across three countries in a little under three weeks!

 Our plane from Anchorage to Seattle was uneventful.  We arrived in Seattle at 6:00 am.  Our plane from Seattle to London wasn’t leaving until 6:00 pm.  What does one do during a 12-hour layover?  We left our luggage in a locker (2 dollars per 4 hours of security) and wandered around.  Later we collected our bags and went to the USO to take naps.

We stayed until noon, but I was not able to sleep very well because I was worried we might sleep beyond our flight time by accident.  When we left the USO we stopped at a bookstore where I bought a copy of “Into Thin Air”.  We went to the terminal where our flight was supposed to be and waited for boarding time to roll around.

We checked in at the gate and found out that we could not take our bags onto the flight because they were too heavy.  We moved some stuff into our backpacks and let the British Airways people take our luggage to the cargo bay.

The flight, had I not been up for over 36 hours already, was somewhat tolerable.  I was unable to sleep very much because of uncontrollable leg spasms brought on by the cramped seats.

My brother, me, Amber, and my mom.  Remember the days when you could go through airport security even if you weren't flying?  This picture was taken six weeks before 9/11