When I was a little kid, The Parent Trap was one of my favorite movies. After seeing a sophisticated Natasha Richardson walk into an elegant penthouse in London, I’ve always wanted to visit the city. Since then, I’ve associated it with Prince William, cars with steering wheels on the wrong side, and Big Ben. This is the first time I’ve been to London and since I’ve matured quite a bit since the time I was 6, I’m now realizing that this city has a lot more to offer than Prince William’s handsome face.
Yesterday was our first day in London and it consisted of lots and lots of sightseeing. We started the day off with a typical double-decker bus tour around the city. In New York City, I try to avoid these types of things whenever I can (much too touristy for me), but I enjoyed myself on this ride. We got on the bus a little after 10am, and got off at the Buckingham Palace stop shortly after noon. In these two hours, we saw many of the typical sites one would see in London, including the London Bridge, the Houses of Lords and Commons, and Big Ben, along with many of the smaller and more random streets and buildings that make up the city. The Bridge was probably my favorite – it is painted in two majestic colors of blue and is much more grand than I previously realized. Big Ben was also pretty cool, except it’s a lot smaller than it looks in pictures. Then we were at the palace. It really is a beautiful place, but the amount of people milling around outside kind of ruined the effect of it all. Buckingham Palace was amazing, nonetheless. After lunch in the park and a stop at Trafalgar Square, the rest of the day went by pretty quickly. After a waterside dinner, we got ready for a trip on the famed London Eye. Some of us were nervous about how high the ferris wheel would go, but the breathtaking views of London proved to be more powerful than a fear of heights. We took lots of crazy pictures and at the halfway point, Erin broke out her iPod and everyone started dancing. After our trip on the Eye, there was nothing else planned; so to top off such a fun day, everyone got tickets to see Bridesmaids, which was probably the funniest movie I’ve seen in a while. It ended pretty late and by the time we got back to the hotel, everyone was exhausted.
The next day (Wednesday), started off quite early. Around 9:30am, we boarded a coach bus for an hour and a half ride to Oxford. From what we were able to see of Oxford the town is exactly how I’ve always pictured an English town to look – cute and quaint with lots of cute boys and streets lined with little clothing shops. What we were able to see of Oxford University was absolutely incredible. Set up a lot like NYU, the college is spread throughout the town, and everywhere you look there are gorgeous buildings that have been around since the 1200s. The best part of it all was that we got to see parts of where Harry Potter was filmed! We spent most of the day at the school, taking short breaks only to eat lunch and go punting, which is basically like taking a gondola ride in Venice. After the day’s activities were done, we ate dinner in one of Oxford’s main dining halls, the exact one, in fact, in which Harry Potter modeled its own dining hall after. It was a little bit eerie to be eating in a place that looks so familiar to some of my most beloved films. After a meal of turkey, potatoes, and carrots, we got back on the bus and came home to London.
Overall, I’m enjoying London as much, if not more, than I thought I would. Being here reminds me of being in the confusing streets of the West Village in New York, which I actually really like. I’m so so so happy to finally be visiting a part of the world that I’ve always wanted to see and I absolutely cannot wait for the next two days!
-Julia J. Jones
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