Medical student by day...: Welcome to London, please mind the gap and my 150+ pounds of luggage

A sure sign that I love a trip is hearing me plan a return while still on the trip. My mom and I began planning our return trip within 24 hours of being in England, so I would say the trip was a success. I think my mom would agree with me, only one thing could have made the trip better: our whole family being there. (Imagine my father smiling, my older sister crying and my younger sister rolling her eyes while they read the previous sentence.)

Now let’s begin “The Official Kaitlin Flannery Tour of England” with my favorite part: the theatre. On my previous trip to London, I had time to see The Lion King. The show had a precious young Simba with a British accent and was of course fantastic, but I have to say it didn’t stand up to the two we got to see this trip, Billy Elliot and Les Mis. Since seeing them, my mom and I have debated which show was better. Besides the fact that we saw them the same week, they have nothing in common and are therefore basically impossible to compare. However, we’ve crowned Les Mis the winner. The music in Les Mis is second to none and with Alfie Boe playing Jean Valjean, I got goose bumps every few minutes. Plus the set for the show is so amazing. It’s a revolving stage that keeps the action moving more like a film than a stage show. We got the tickets for Les Mis in June and looked forward to the show; on the other hand, we got the tickets to Billy Elliot a few hours before. Not planning on seeing Billy Elliot, and therefore being surprised by the story and music added to how great it was. It was the perfect show to see in London since the story takes place in Northern England during the mining strikes of the 1980s. Billy was played by, Adam Vesperman, a 13 year old living almost 5000 miles from his home in Seattle, to truly live the story of Billy. The story, with Elton John’s music fueling it, preaches the importance of taking chances, acceptance and family. If you ever have the opportunity to buy tickets and see the show hours later, take it, you won’t regret it.

This summer, I became a master at seeing a city in three days. One of the greatest things about this trip was the little bit of extra time. With it, we were able to walk our way through the city. In my opinion, walking is the best way to see and understand a place. We clocked over six miles every day which definitely helped with our London diet while stumbling upon the big tourist sites and exploring some sites not found on the London Top Ten list. My favorite spots were Portobello Road and Market in Notting Hill, St. James’s Park and Kensington Gardens.

Buckingham Palace

Not sure why they wouldn't let me in...

St. James's Park

Found some things while we were walking around!

Notting Hill

Kensington Gardens

My mom indulged my nerdy side, one day of the trip, and biked with me to Greenwich to visit the Royal Observatory, the Prime Meridian and the home of Greenwich Mean Time. Greenwich Mean Time has been used as the basis of time everywhere for several hundred years. Every day, a ball drops at the Observatory to mark 1 PM and help people set their clocks. We happened to be there for the ball drop. Though the sight of the ball dropping was about as exciting as the New Year’s ball drop, knowing that this calculated time has dictated for my whole life if I was early or late is, to me, actually exciting. Plus, standing in the East and West hemispheres at the same time is just plain cool. It’s about an hour bike to Greenwich from the center of London and the map reading is a little challenging, but it’s definitely worth it.

The view of central London from Greenwich

Checking my watch with Greenwich Mean Time

If you haven’t been able to tell from my previous travel posts, I’m not very enthused about guided tours. I usually hate the big charter buses, the attempt at witty banter from the guide and the long group waits. However, to see Windsor, Bath and Stonehenge in one day there really isn’t another option. So, we boarded the Evan Evans tour bus bright and early and headed for Windsor. I was pleasantly surprised that our tour guide was actually witty and shared interesting information. First, we learned a riddle to remember what happened to Henry VIII’s wives. It goes: DIVORCED, BEHEADED, DIED, DIVORCED, BEHEADED, SURVIVED. We also learned the difference between the United Kingdom and Great Britain. Most of the bus seemed to be in the dark with the terminology so I will share. Great Britain is England, Wales and Scotland while the United Kingdom is Great Britain and Northern Ireland. (Okay, maybe not that interesting.) Windsor Castle is the official residence of the Queen and her family. She calls Buckingham Palace the office and Windsor Castle home. This was my second time there and I have to say it looked the same, but my mom wanted to go so I’m very pleased that we did. Next we were on our way to the city of Bath to see the only ancient Roman bath in England. I went to a Turkish bath in Hungary, and in the battle of baths, I have to say Turkey wins. However, Bath was very gorgeous. Finally, we were on to my favorite site of the day, Stonehenge. Located north of the Salisbury Plains (an area the UK uses to stage war games) and constructed about 5000 years ago, Stonehenge is one of the greatest mysteries in the world. It’s truly mind-blowing to stand and look at the bluestones (the vertical stones) and imagine how they were transported 150 miles from the source in Wales before the wheel made its way to England. More mind-blowing is why.

Mom at the Roman Baths

The thermal spring

Throwing pence into the bath

War games in the Salisbury Plains

When we got back to London from Stonehenge that night, the streets were completely deserted and all the shops were closed. We had heard about the riots on the news, but it all seemed isolated to the outer neighborhoods of London. We hadn’t realized the night before there had been looting in Oxford Circus and Camden Town near where we were staying in Regent’s Park. We got back to our hotel quickly, passing rows of police cars on the way and stayed put for the night. It ended up being a calm night in London due to the presence of 16,000+ police. Unfortunately, the violence spread to Manchester and Birmingham where three young men ended up dying trying to protect their neighborhood. I honestly couldn’t believe the scenes we watched play out on the news. I know the Midwest doesn’t compare to England in many (if any) ways, but youth culture is similar in the western world. While I was gone this summer, my hometown flooded and I watched news footage of the whole community pulling together to save each other’s property. Being that it was summer and school was out, a majority of the help came from youth volunteering. I don’t really know what I’m trying to get across here, but I think it’s just that I truly hope nothing this violent and ultimately pointless would happen here. After watching the flood response, I can’t imagine it would. What in the world was accomplished from destroying businesses and homes? How can the youth that participated in the riots feel so disconnected from their community that they would bring harm to it?

Other than this one night, the riots didn’t affect our vacation and we never felt unsafe. We however gave my dad a fright because we didn’t get online and respond to his email about the riots quickly. In the future, I promise if there is any unrest in an area I’m in, the first thing I will do is send word that I’m safe.

Finally, I have to wrap this up with the second half of Liverpool. The previous post talks about our first day in Liverpool. The second day in Liverpool blew the first day out of the water and is both my mom and my favorite day from the whole trip. First, we went on the National Trust Tour to see the inside of John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s childhood homes. A couple, Colin and Silva, have the best job in the world. They’re the caretakers and tour guides to the houses. They research John and Paul’s history to make the houses and items in the houses as realistic as possible, clean, tend the gardens, and actually live in Mendips (John’s home). Though she gets mixed or generally negative reviews, a big thank-you has to be given to Yoko Ono for this day in my life. When Mendips came on the market awhile back, she bought it, donated it to the National Trust, and endowed it, so generations to come can visit. After this tour, we went on the Magical Mystery Tour and saw many other young Beatles sites including Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, the Liverpool Institute, the church where John and Paul met, George and Ringo’s houses, Brian Epstein’s house and more. Finally, we ended up at the Cavern Club again for a great night. We made some friends who live in Liverpool, I sang on stage where the Beatles used to perform and we had a fabulous dinner of cupcakes and beer so we wouldn’t miss a single second of the Cavern.