1. Always have a back up route. So you know the tube stop you need to go to to see the British Museum, but what if a certain rail line is out. Do you know what stations you should go to to change lines? How about bus numbers and stops? Unless you want to shell out a huge amount of dosh (that's money in London) then you'll probably want to keep at least one alternate route in your mind at all times.
2. London rail shuts down at 12:30 every night but there are night buses that run all night from Trafalgar Square so make sure you know which bus can take you back to your hotel/hostel/residence hall/best friend's sofa. A night of partying was never more ruined than when you found yourself without a way home unless, again, you want to shell out a huge amount of cash for a taxi.
Alright, now that that's out of the way I can tell you about my day. Started off with breakfast. I went to the market just down the street and picked up bacon, eggs, cereal, milk, some biscuits (cookies), and other not so fun stuff like dish washing detergent and paper towels. I'm lucky. I have a kitchen in my dorm and if you're staying in a hostel then you might too. Even if you're not, do a cold cuts lunch and go grab bread, cheese, and meat at a market, sit yourself down in one of the many parks around London, and have a great time. It really can save you some money. Also, and perhaps it's just being in a big city, London is huge into prepared foods, and we're not talking TV dinners. I walked into the grocery and saw at least two huge cold storage shelves of sandwiches, chicken curries, rice dishes, noodles, etc. All available to buy for just a few pounds and microwavable.
After breakfast we (meaning the entire IES program) went to Greenwich. I got the great opportunity of taking a boat ride of the River Thames and standing on the Prime Meridian.
*Big Ben from the River*
*I'm in the East and West hemispheres at the same time*Then, after that I hung out with some friends. We went to a great market in Greenwich where we bought lunch and went to a wonderful candy shop and bought peppermint humbugs (fans of the Harry Potter series will understand this), and fudge and all sorts of good things. Then we went home, taking the long way of course. Actually, in Greenwich there's an underground walking tunnel that goes under the River Thames and we walked it and then took the DLR (which is London's above ground train) to a station to change over to the underground.
Then, when we got back to the res hall, my friends and I split up, most of them taking power naps, but I went and walked around for a while. I also made dinner, which consisted of eggs and bacon because I was craving some protein, and then I had this great candy bar called a flake. It's wonderful. I've never seen them in the states but they're basically just really good, really flaky, rod-shaped candy bars.
After dinner my friends and I met back up and all of the group when to a play at the Globe Theater, which was the coolest thing in the world. We saw Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. We were in the standing ticket section but it was great because during a change of scenery several cast members grabbed a huge gossamer blue curtain and ran it back across the whole standing audience. It started to rain a bit but I really felt like I was back in London in the 1600s watching a play in the original Globe Theater.
So, if you ever get a chance to see a show at the Globe, do it. Standing tickets only cost five pounds and they're well worth it. I don't think I've ever seen a better performed straight play in my life and considering the fact that a movie in London costs about twice that, I didn't mind standing at all.Tomorrow brings more adventures. I'll be sure to tell you all about them.
Safe traveling,
~P.
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