Mind the Gap

Ello Mates, it’s been a while. Well I have several stories to tell so I think I’m going to try to do a separate blog post for each of the first three days of my London trip. Day four wasn’t eventful enough to deserve a blog post. For all three of these blog posts you can find pictures of each of the days on my Facebook Page. The photo albums should match the blog post titles, but in the meantime we will shortly be arriving in Kings Cross Station. Please Mind the Gap between the train and the platform.

Thursday 25 April 2013

11:53AM

The Outskirts of London

I was running through a mental check list to make sure if I had all my stuff. I have to be honest I was rather excited to be arriving in London through Kings Cross station. Being the Harry Potter nerd that I think you all know I am, it was really cool to actually be in the same place as Platform 9 ¾. Like a handful of other people, I wanted to catch the 1:00 new London Tour, so we were in a bit of a rush. The whole group took quite a while to organize, and then we made our way down to the tube station.

It was about half twelve when we finally got down there. I’d never rode in a subway before, so I was rather excited as we hopped on the Piccadilly line towards Russell Square. When we arrived on the platform, we had to wait for a group of students who had missed the first train, and then when we were all together we had to wait again by the lift. Adjacent to the lift there were a set of stairs with a sign that expressly advised against using them. We all got a kick out of this. “Welcome to London, Don’t exercise.” By the time we made it to the surface, it was clear that there was no way we were going to make our tour if we had to check into our hostel first. So Nikki told the five of us who wanted to go to leave our bags with rest of the group so we could head over there now. We hopped back on the tube towards Hyde Park corner.

As we were pulling into the station the electronic voice with a vague British accent said, “We are now approaching Hyde Park Corner. Do not attempt to stop the train with your hands. The train will always win. Please mind the gap between the train and the platform.” We all got a kick out of that as well.

After several long subterranean tunnels and a series of short flights of stairs and escalators, we made it to the surface and stepped into the bright mid afternoon sun. The new London tour starts by the Wellington Arch, which is at the north west corner of Green Park and the south east corner of Hyde Park. If you get a map of London it’ll make sense. As with all new Europe tours, their start point is designated by people with red T-Shirts and usually a sign on a large stick. If you’ve never heard of New Europe Tours before, I’m going to take a moment to advertise. So tours are expensive, and usually not all they’re cracked up to be. This is a problem with traditional tours. New Europe tours are free. The tour guides are paid in tips. Period. So they have to be good. They’re offered in several large cities throughout Europe. I know London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Paris, and Munich are all on the list, but there are a few more. Although it didn’t receive a blog post, when I spent my day in Dublin, I had a tour through them and I was equally satisfied. This being said, I strongly recommend taking some form of walking tour if you are ever travelling alone and are in a new city. It’s a great way to familiarize yourself with the place, as well as meet new people.

Rachel, our tour guide, was amazing. She not only knew the facts well, but told some pretty great stories along with it. We saw several of the main landmarks such as Buckingham Palace, and Big Ben. I spent the majority of my time talking with an Austrian woman named Sarah who was here doing social work in Reading. She was on her way to Amsterdam for the weekend, but had some time to kill in London. She was nice to chat with, but since she was leaving soon after the tour we didn’t exchange contact information.

I have to say I feel bad that I’m the only one from my group of five who tipped Rachel at the end. I get that we’re all poor, but honestly it’s a little bit embarrassing. I didn’t let this dampen the mood though, because we were in London, and I was enjoying every minute of it.

Now I’ve been to my share of cities by this point, and if I have to pick one city that London reminded me of it would probably be Washington D.C. However, and I apologize to patriots in the room, London is more the city Washington D.C. wishes it was. Ask anyone, I’m not really much of a city person, but I loved London.

After our walking tour was done, the five of us found something to eat and then hopped back on the tube to Russell’s Square. By a stroke of luck, we got off the tube at the same time as a number of other students from our group, and so we simply walked with them to our hostel.

I was rather pleased when I got to my room. Somehow, I’d gotten a bottom bunk. Being the last one of the four of us, I thought for sure I’d be stuck on the top bunk. It was about at this point when I promptly plopped down on the uncomfortable bed and the rock for a pillow and took a quick cat nap. I’d been up since six that morning, and it had proven to be a very long day.

When I woke up, it was time to find dinner. The group was supposed to meet at seven at a Theatre to see the Lion King. This let me with about an hour and a half to find food and then to make my way to the theatre. Being low on money, I went to the nearest Tesco Express. These are great little stores that are found throughout the UK and Ireland. A regular Tesco resembles a Super Walmart with a slightly higher emphasis on groceries. Tesco Express, which is commonly seen throughout large cities, kind of resembles a petrol station without the petrol. Anyway, it’s a good place to go to buy a quick meal. For £3, I was able to get a sandwich, bag of crisps, and a bottle of pop. It was sunny enough, so I sat in Russell Square Park and enjoyed my meal before heading off towards the theatre.

As per usual, I managed to get lost, only to find that my desired destination was right under my nose. However, because I got lost, I ended up walking past the building which inspired Gringots in Harry Potter. So I’m going to count that as a perk, because I was still the first one from our group to make it to the theatre. When the group arrived, there was still quite a while before a giant sun began to rise on the stage and the music began.

I’ve always liked The Lion King. Musicals aren’t really my thing in general, but it was a nice experience all the same. It’s good to do something different every once in a while. If this wasn’t part of the trip, I’m confident that I wouldn’t have gone. However, I’m glad I did. The production was good, the actors did a good job. I enjoyed it, and now I can say I’ve seen a show in London.

When the show was finished, a large group of us decided to walk to Piccadilly Circus. Now one of the things I never worked out about London, was there are a few areas in the city labelled “circus” yet they’re just particularly lively areas of the city. There are no exotic animals, tricks, or tents. I wasn’t disappointed by this of course, because that kind of circus doesn’t really appeal to me. Piccadilly was kinda cool to see though because it’s supposed to be “London’s Times Square.” I can see the resemblance, but I feel like the real Times Square in New York would be somewhat more impressive.

It was about this time when our little band of explorers got lost. It took about an hour, two different maps, and the combined navigational skills of Jana and myself to find our way back to the hostel. We were all exhausted. It had been a long day and a long walk, and most of us were in for an early morning, but you’ll hear about that next time.