So my posts have been getting sparser and sparser, so I thought I’d remedy that, especially since I promised my mother that I’d make her a photo album with informative descriptions about all my travels every time I go somewhere new.
So a little background on this London-Paris trip: I’m a part of a global business program at my university which involves traveling to a different continent/country every day for our first three years and getting to know not only a bit about the culture of the land, but also to get a taste for businesses in the country and a bit about how they operate within their economy. Our first year trip takes place for about two weeks in the summer, after school ends, this year from May 23th-June 7th. We spent 10 days in London and got a obligation-free two-daycation in Paris.
We begin our journey about 5pm at JFK, where some of the group gathers outside before heading in to join the larger group - all told, we're 17 plus 1.
It took us 9 hours of flying time to arrive at Heathrow, around 11am local time. This meant we had an entire day to power through before we could get some real sleep. After waiting much too long for our chartered bus, we piled on and headed for our assigned student housing.
We lived in posh South Kensington for the 10 days of our stay, a stone’s throw from femme fatal Anna Chapman’s residence behind the South Kensington tube station. Russian spies? Check. Bentleys parked on the street and Lamborghini dealers? Check. Echoing streets and sensitive neighbors with a street-wide quiet hour of 11pm? Oh, it all comes with the territory.
An inside view of our flat, which consisted of a common room, and several small apartment rooms spread throughout 3-4 floors, including a few half floors. We shared 4 bathrooms and a kitchen. Despite the creaky stairs, it was pretty amazing for student housing.
South Kensington streets had strange trees and a lot of white wash (not here, obviously).
The first thing we did was head out in search of food. We were instructed by our upperclassmen to run (don’t walk) to Nando’s Chicken. Since we saw one from the bus on the way, that was exactly what we did, arriving at the chain restaurant shortly after its 11:30 opening time.
Nando's Chicken - I had spicy rice and wings. I have to say, the British know how to blend fast food and sit-down ding. At this establishment, you are first seated and given menu's, and at your own leisure, you can head up to the counter, queue up (what else?), and order your food, which is later brought to you at your table.
Next we attended a few orientation sessions at the London branch of our university. We received a few safety tips, mostly regarding pickpockets and false ATM machine openings which allow your card entrance but deny all exits. Speaking of ATMs, for those of you with Bank of America checking accounts, did you know that with the ATM Alliance you can withdraw cash from any Barclay’s ATM free of charge? They don’t even charge you conversion! I could pull out 20 pounds and have exactly $29USD withdrawn from my account (the conversion rate being 1:1.49 at the time).
Hungry again after orientation, we were treated at Pizza Express–another well-known London franchise that is much fancier than its name suggests.
Yum, lemonade.
For those who decided we wanted to see London before we crashed and succumb to jet lag, the post 24th hours of our day consisted of a lot of walking and ground-breaking coverage of the must-see tourist sites. We began with Piccadilly Circus.
Picadilly Circus had the biggest Ripley's I'd ever seen. But of course, different city, similar sights. Like Times Square, the Circus hosts a variety of brightly lit signs and musicals.
From there we walked all the way to Trafalgar Square, the heart of London–for tourists, at least.
F
Nelson's Column at the Square.
Boys on the Column's base.
Lions! We had so many group photos - it was ridiculous. Good thing our chaperone was a good sport about it; he was handling 3 to 5 cameras at any given photo opportunity!
Next top: Parliament and every edging closer to Big Ben.
These are just a sampling of the 250 or so art elephants on display around London. Each elephant is painted or designed by a different artist or celebrity, including some fashion designers and lords. These elephants were auctioned off at Southeby's on June 30th, 2010 and raised about 1.5million pounds to save elephants from being extinct.
Where parliament resides...
...demonstrators follow, right across the street in their specially allotted square.
Big Ben. Need I say more?
The London Eye, which we skipped because no one felt it was worth shelling out 20 pounds for.
We took the tube back, because by then, we were too exhausted to move. Sleep was fast and the flat was very silent that first night.
/rating_off.png "1 Star")
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