My Weekend Off

In light of having come down with only-God-knows-what I decided to take it quite easy this weekend. And when I say quite easy, I mean I did little more than walk to and from the cafeteria on Thursday and Friday. I don't want you to get the impression that I was lazy, because I did manage to watch three seasons of QI, a British quiz/comedy show and read half of a book. As you can imagine, those activities were very trying.

Saturday, September 29th

Woke up feeling surprisingly well, rather early as well. Grabbed a hearty "English" breakfast from the cafeteria, walked to the Tube station and took the District towards Westminster. I think that it is worth noting that I was in a rather good mood, and you'll soon find out the reason. After about fifteen minutes of sitting on the Tube (by the way, riding it is no longer a novelty, it's more of a chore) I got off at Westminster, which is where you alight if you want to see the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey - the three things that everybody things of when they think of London. It just so happened that my excursion was on a Saturday and the tourists were as thick as ever. It's funny how you see the stereotypes ring true at tourist attractions. The loud and overweight American (with an American flag t-shirt), the Japanese tourists who look like they're on an elementary school field trip, and the French people, just being so, French. I'm slowly finding that tourists are far more entertaining than whatever they're gawking at.

Even though I've been in London for over a month now, I still don't know the city as well as I would like (in my defense, it is enormous), but I do know the Westminster/Whitehall area like the back...like the back of an overused simile. I took the shortcut towards St. James Park, it's this beautiful and majestic Whitehall street that is always deserted because people are scared of the security guards. Oh, now I should probably tell you where I was heading and I was rather looking forward to it. I decided after a week of being under the weather and spending less than 15 quid, I deserved a little treat, and that treat was the Churchill Museum and War Rooms.

The price of admission was 10 quid, but honestly I would have paid 20 quid for the museum, it was that well-done. I was wide-eyed and excited the entire four hours I was exploring the place. It was less of a museum visit and more of a religious pilgrimage. The war rooms (located underneath nearly two feet of steel and cement underneath various govt. buildings) were amazing. You have to realize, the entire complex, which was top-secret, was sealed off and forgotten about from 1946 until the 1980s, so everything is wonderfully preserved and authentic. I got to see the actual room, and the radio equipment, from which Churchill gave his wartime radio addresses that rallied the British people against Nazism. The bookworms have their Jane Austen and Wordsworth tours, the art buffs have their National Gallery, and the theatre nuts have the West End. But I get the Churchill Museum.

The enormous section devoted to the "Churchill Museum" was spectacular. I've been to the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, The Imperial War Museum, The London Museum, The Docklands Museum, The V&A Museum, The Natural History Museum, Kensington Palace, Blenheim Palace, The Tower Bridge Museum, and The British Museum (sorry, that was intended to be more of a manifesto than showing off), and I have to say that hands down, The Churchill Museum is the best designed museum in London. The manner in which it is laid out, the artifacts, and the use of media couldn't have been done better. Surprisingly, it wasn't based on hero-worship, instead it was based on historical objectivity, which I think does a fantastic job of honoring the memory of the greatest human being of the 20th century. I'll summarize it for you. He was a war-hero when he was 25, he invented the tank (which brought an end to trench warfare), he was the only one that identified Hitler as a threat, he personally rallied the British people against the Nazis (supposedly 80 percent wanted to make peace with Hitler after Dunkirk), he won the war, he identified the Soviet Union as a threat to freedom in 1946, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature, he was noted as a brilliant painter, he was happily married for 54 years, he was knighted, and the U.S. Congress, NATO, and the U.N. all closed down on the day that he died. An amazing man, which is a bit of an understatement.

Sunday, September 30th

Okay, I'll admit that I took it easy today. I woke up rather late, grabbed some mediocre food from the cafeteria, and then headed for Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park. I basically just moved from bench to bench, alternating between reading a book and people watching. The people were far more entertaining than the book, and the book is good too. The families are just so picturesque, all the time. All wearing designer clothes that appear to have never been wrinkled in their entire lifespan, all with one or two designer children, but the thing that is a bit striking is that all of them seem to be smiling and happy. Perhaps it is because it is Sunday and the sun was actually out today, but I tend to think that the Brits just seem to be a happier people. I know they're miserable when they're working 55 hours at their desk job in Canary Wharf during the week, but with their families, these people are genuinely happy.

Matthew vs. Fever, Man vs. Wild

Monday, September 24th

Mainly just went to class today. My History of London class continues to disappoint but my British Politics class is still going strong. In fact, today was our first evening session with John Hayes MP (Member of Parliament) which was more exciting than anything. How lucky am I to be taking a British Politics class that is taught once a week by an actual Member of Parliament. The comparison would be a class taught by a congressman or senator back home. This session was on campus, but soon they will be held in Parliament itself, and obviously I'm really looking forward to that. Today was also the day that I came down with my mystery ailment, high fever, delirium, pounding headache, wobbly vision, and horrible fatigue. So I went to bed at 8, and woke up 14 hours later.

Tuesday, September 25th

Woke up at 10 feeling well, wrote my Museums and Galleries paper all day. Went to Museums and Galleries. Once more the mystery ailment returned, so I skipped dinner (probably not the best idea) and spent the rest of the day in bed. Very exciting I know.

Wednesday, September 26th

I think today was one of my favorites thus far. Number one, it was very cold, which was nice. Went to the National Portrait Gallery with Museums and Galleries class, which I actually really enjoyed. The portraits on the top floor read like a historical narrative, letting you see the faces of the movers and shakers of the last 500 years of Western/World History. It was wonderful being able to recognize half of their names. Then we were forced to explore the ground floor, which I didn't like at all. It was a section devoted to the rock stars, celebrities, and fashion "icons" of the last ten years. I couldn't help thinking, "do these people realize that in one hundred, wait, twenty years, one or two of these people will be viewed as worthy of having their portrait in this museum?" I'm sorry, I'm with the Queen and Prince Charles on this one, I'll take the historical and traditional over modernity any day. Maybe I've spent too much time in history books.

After the National Portrait Gallery I had to head to Canary Wharf for my History of London class. It took about an hour and a half to get there, and has a much different feel from Kensington. I'm still struck by the amount of difference and uniqueness between London neighborhoods. Canary Wharf is an area that was once the maritime hub for London, but in the age of supertankers, the docks were no longer useful. During the Thatcher administration, banks and financial institutions put in motion plans to demolish all of the residences that still remained and replace them with skyscrapers. Well the plan went through, and now you've got an area with 400 years of history paved over by 15 year old streets and shiny buildings. I know, I know, I'm old-fashioned. One of the few structures that survived the building project houses the Docklands Museum. It essentially traces the 2,000 year history of the Thames and London (Londinium/Lundenwic/Lundenburgh) as a port city. Most of the exhibits were either geared towards children or old men who build model ships, and because I don't fit into either of those categories I think I wasn't as interested as I should have been. You can only ooh and ah over so many rusty nails. And it certainly didn't help that my mystery ailment returned half-way through the compass exhibition. Because of that I had to cut my visit short and head back to my dorm for some needed rest. And when I say "head back", I mean walk a mile to the Tube station, walk up 150 stairs to transfer to the District line, walk the mile to my dorm, and then climb another 100 stairs. That actually doesn't sound too bad, unless you've got a delirious fever, the chills, and a pounding headache. I'm making it sound worse than it was, but I'm glad I made it back.

On returning to my room I rested for about an hour, and even though I didn't feel like it at all, I made myself get up and go to a church with my roommate Brandon, his girlfriend, and Brandon's friend Tim. Why church on a Wednesday night (well I guess that doesn't sound so far-fetched)? Because Bear Grylls was speaking. Yes, the guy from Man vs. Wild, it was one of the best times I've had out here. There was free delicious food and free decent wine before his talk, and free dessert afterwards (mind you, this is in London, where nothing is inexpensive, let alone free). I soon found out that the church (Holy Trinity Brompton) was Bear's home church, and he wasn't going to just be talking about eating disgusting things in weird locations, he actually had some great things to say about his Christian faith as well. It was "inspirational", hearing this come from the guy with the number one show on cable, and who has climbed Everest and mountains deemed "unclimbable". And because of that, when he talked about life as a series of mountains to climb, it wasn't cliche, it was poignant.

Afterwards, I met up with the Boston University girls (and Steve) at the Imperial and had a great time. Turns out I might be playing the role of tour guide for them this weekend, because they haven't seen much of London, and I've been everywhere twice. As of the moment, those are my only plans for the weekend. I'm just hoping to take it easy and get rid of this fever thing, because while it would be interesting to see the differences between British and American health care, I don't want to learn about it first hand.

Oxbridge

Friday, September 21

Today was my "eventful" trip to Oxford. Tim and I got up early and headed to grab some breakfast in the cafeteria before our day trip, which turned out to be a mistake. When we got to the Underground station to head to Paddington, we got on the Tube only to find out that the train in front of us was disabled on the tracks. Mind you, this was rush hour, so it was no surprise that chaos ensued. Everybody ran towards the street, hailing every cab and filling up every bus, Paddington station was three miles away and our train was leaving in twenty-five minutes. We walked/jogged the whole way in about thirty minutes, so we were late and exhausted. The tickets I'd purchased were now useless so we had to shell out another 17 quid to get to Oxford. Let's just say it wasn't a good start to the day. The train ride was about an hour and a half, and we finally arrived in Oxford at noon (an hour later than we were supposed to).

Our first stop was Carfax Tower. Essentially, you pay two quid to climb up 99 steps of the most claustrophobic spiral staircase you've ever seen. I'm pretty sure it was built for people that were five feet tall and five stone, but the view from the top made it all worth it. The tower is one of the tallest buildings in Oxford and afforded us a wonderful view of the city. After Carfax Tower we headed to Christ Church and Magdalen colleges to see their quadrangles and cathedrals. The campuses were beautiful, I was trying to think of a more descriptive adjective, but that will have to do. We then headed to the Bodleian Library (the oldest library in the world) and the Radcliffe Camera, whose architecture was picture-worthy in the least and majestic at best. But soon we realized that we had really seen all that Oxford had to offer. Then we headed to the bus station and took the hour-long bus ride to Woodstock. After getting off the bus, we set our sights on Blenheim Palace.

As you've probably heard, I'm quite the fan of Winston Churchill. So before I came out here I compiled a list of Churchill-related places to visit: his estate in Kent, the World War Two war rooms, etc. I had placed Blenheim Palace on the list, partly because I had heard that it was impressive but mainly because it was the place that Churchill was born (his mother went into labor at a party she was a attending there). I thought the 13 quid admission was a bit steep, and then I walked through the gate. I am sure that the view of the palace and its grounds will be one of the most beautiful and amazing things I will ever see, it will probably even beat out seeing my first born child. The Grand Bridge, the countless hectares of rolling green hills, the Column of Victory, The Great Court, and the palace itself - it was an experience not easily transcribed. There were two excellent exhibitions on the Duke of Marlborough and his direct descendant, Winston Churchill. It was very informative, and seeing everything from the military uniform of Churchill to the side bedroom where he was born was akin to a religious experience.

After walking five miles on the grounds we finally had to leave and head back to Oxford. Again, we were quite exhausted. Our train left at midnight, so we had to burn about 6 hours in a relatively boring town. So we hid out in a quiet pub, well, it was quiet for about 3 hours. But Oxford is a college town, and it was Friday night, soon that quiet pub was converted into a rowdy pub, which was a shame. So we were forced to wander the streets for the next two hours in order to find a semblance of quietude because we were utterly exhausted. We both fell asleep the minute we sat down on the train and woke up in London. We arrived at 1am, so the Tube was closed, and after waiting for the bus for half an hour, we decided to walk home. We made it about three blocks and hailed a cab, we barely made it up the stairs to our room and I passed out at about 2am.

Saturday, September 24th

After four hours of sleep, we headed for the Victoria bus station. I slept on the bus the whole way to Cambridge, we got in at about 10:30. Okay, I know I've now only been to three cities outside London, but by far, Cambridge was my runaway favourite. We started our day at Trinity College, with a gorgeous quad and chapel. It turns out it is the wealthiest college in the world, with alumni such as Isaac Newton, Francis Bacon, Lord Tennyson and Prince Charles. We continued our two-day college tour by going to yet another Magdalen College (as with everything else, it was more enjoyable than its Oxford counterpart), and then onto King's College, which had the best quad and cathedral I've seen (better than Westminster Abbey). It was truly a treat. We then headed to the River Cam to see if we could catch a punting tour. You can rent your own punt (boats that are built on the same idea as gondolas), but we figured that would just be humiliating, so we managed to get a punting tour guide. The ride was relaxing (when we weren't colliding with those uncoordinated tourists who rented their own) and very enjoyable. After the ride, we sneaked onto the grounds of Trinity College in order to sit by the river and watch those same tourists push their boats around in circles. We did this until sundown and then headed off for the bus station on the other side of town. Arrived back into London (exhausted mind you) around 11, went to bed at midnight and slept until noon Sunday (I earned it).

Sunday, September 23rd

As I said before, I slept until noon. The power has been out in my room since Friday, so I've basically spent the whole day in the Common Room downstairs with my laptop plugged into the wall. Very uneventful day, only ventured out for lunch, dinner, and coffee. Will probably turn in early on account of still being relatively worn out from walking about 25 miles over the past two days (I've got the blisters on my feet to prove it). The next event in my schedule is Ireland in a week and half, it will be my first time out of England, and I am really looking forward to it. Cheers!