Spring Break- London Day One

London Tower Bridge

Spring Break- London Day One- Sunday March 28^th 2010

And so spring break begins… finally! After planning spring break since last semester, spring break is finally here! Because Tommy is sick with mono, the doctors told him he will not be able to travel for a month, and therefore would not be able to go with us to London and Barcelona for spring break. I will be spending the majority of spring break with Justen Cassidy and Melanie, which we’ll see how that goes… Danny Lumpp will be staying with us at our hostel, the Waterloo Walrus, and staying in London for an extra day while we leave to go to Spain on Wednesday morning.

I stayed the night at Melanies last night because we had to leave real early in the morning to catch a train to Pisa Airport for London Stansted. I only got about an hour of sleep before I was woken up by Justen at 5:00 to head over to the train station. For the whole length of the trip- about 8 days or so, I had one bookbag. One bookbag full of clothes- a couple shirts, two dress shirts, flip flops, an extra pair of shoes, a shower bag, an ipod, a book, an extra pair of jeans, socks, underwear, and not much else.. This will be interesting…

We boarded a train from Florence to Pisa around 6 A.M.- a trip lasting nearly two hours, in which I slept most of the time. We got to the airport with about an hour and a half to spare. I bought a Panini and read my new book “Deception Point” by Dan Brown- who is becoming one of my favorite authors. His books usually start off pretty slow, so I had trouble keeping it open, but after about 100 pages the plot starts to build and it becomes much more interesting. We checked-in and boarded a plane for London around 10A.M. The thing about Ryan Air Airlines is that during the whole length of the journey, or at least half, they are playing advertisements on the intercom or trying to sell you stuff. Hey, I guess that’s what you get when you only pay 50 euros for a plane ticket. Some of the stuff they try to sell you is unbelievable- its not just your usual sandwhich in a bag and wine in a bottle… they try to sell you perfume and cologne, lottery tickets, magazines and books. I found it easier to just sleep through the whole flight and no one bothers you. Even though its very uncomfortable and very hard to sleep, I somehow found myself sleeping for most of the flight. Perhaps it is because I had a whole bottle of wine before we left Melanies apartment!

When we got to London Stansted we had to go through multiple security and check-out points. We had to fill out a travelers card, and they were asking us questions like “Why are you traveling in London? Where are you staying? And for how many days?” We then bought a bus ticket and boarded a bus from Stansted to London City Centre for nearly two hours. The bus ride to London was quite hot and uncomfortable… but again, I slept and read most of the way. Before I go into talking about London I want to first talk about the London Stansted airport, which, without a doubt, was probably one of my favorite airports ive ever been to, and ive been to a lot of airports. The airport features a “floating roof,” supported by a space frame of inverted-pyramid roof trusses, creating the impression of a stylized swan in flight. This is probably my favorite aspect and engineering feat of the structure, but I especially like it for its ability to maximize natural light into the space, and by using as little artificial light as possible.

The bus ride through London for the first time was awesome by far. But one of the first analogies I made of the city was that it was a lot like America. Or maybe it was the fact that everything was in English, finally! My god I cant even begin to explain how long ive been waiting to be able to communicate with people in my own language! It was as if my ears began working again. It was so weird to hear people on the bus communicating with each other in English, in a tone I could recognize. And the british accent was everywhere of course and I loved it! It Italy ive learned to zone people out as I walked down the street but here… it was as if the people were actually alive and able to be confronted and acknowledged. It’s a weird thought to think about but its true. When you are able to finally understand someone and communicate with them, its as if a new world is open to you… and this is what I enjoyed about London the most.

What I learned and experienced in London the most, as a student in architecture, is of course… the architecture. And modern architecture is everywhere! It is, by far, a growing city. Unlike Florence, which is an old city based on tradition. One of the first things ive noticed, if not the very first thing, was the architecture. As soon as we arrived in London and got off the bus we took a walk through the city. Even though we were exhausted from travelling and we didn’t sleep much, not to mention we had huge backpacks on and we needed to find our hostel, we walked through the city and took pictures of the architecture. One of the first places we encountered was the London Bridge.

The London Bridge

The current London Bridge was opened in 1973, replacing the old bridge- which was over 600 years old, and needed much repair. The bridge spans 928 meters and is composed of three spans of prestressed concrete box girders. The bridge was built to be functional and long-lived and less decorated than Thames other bridges. It cost over 4 million pounds to construct.

One of my most favorite sights in London, which we saw when walking down the London Bridge, is a series of large glass buildings along the River Thames. These buildings were very modern, and includes the City Hall, where the mayor of the city is. Perhaps 5-6 buildings are situated along the coast of the river, and features some of the best examples of contemporary architecture I have ever seen.

There is so much to talk about when talking about my walk through London for the first time. Because there were so many thoughts running through my head at the same time. I remember thinking “Man, I could definitely live here for the rest of my life.” And I still think that, now two weeks after I went. The city was developed very well in my opinion. Besides some minor things that we found challenging- like the transportation, which I’ll get to later, I thought the city was perfect! If only the weather was a little better!

The London Eye

One of the first things people think about when they think of London is the London Eye. The London Eye is an extremely large passenger-carrying Ferris Wheel situated on the banks of the River Thames in Central London. Standing at a height of 135 meters (442 ft.) by far the largest Ferris Wheel in Europe. Visited by over three million people per year, and at the time is was erected in 1999, it was the largest Ferris Wheel in the world. It is described as “the worlds tallest cantilevered observation wheel” because it is supported by an A-frame structure on one side only. The London Eye was built as a temporary structure, only to last two years, but it is still standing and operating today, 10 years later.

We got to our hostel, the Waterloo Walrus, after walking through the city for about an hour or two. Our hostel was in a great location, about 10 minutes walking distance from Westminister Abbey and the London Bridge. The ground floor of our hostel was a bar, while the remaining 3-4 floors were composed of rooms, bathrooms, a lounge area, and a kitchen. When we arrived to the hostel we were greated by Danny and the bartender. Danny had to be perhaps the best person anyone could encounter for their first stay in London. He travelled all over Europe and even lived in America for some time. He worked in Florence for some time as well. He was a pretty big guy, with a weak British accent and a scruffy face. You could tell he was there to have a good time because he was drinking beer when we got there and invited us out to the hookah bar later with some other people from the hostel. He was great! He showed us our room- which was kinda cramped, with about 10 beds and 2 windows, and a couple lockers to lock our valuables. The bathrooms were disgusting im not gonna lie, even for a pretty low maintenance (when I travel okay) person like me. Justen and I shared a bunk bed, while Melanie took the top bunk of another bed- a Spanish girl was on the bottom. All in all, the hostel was pretty chill, and very cheap. We each payed less than 40 pounds for 3 nights. And in case you don’t know, a pound is similar in currency exchange to a euro, roughly 1.5 to each American dollar. After we got settled into our apartment, we decided to venture out into the city some more before we crashed for the night. One of the first places we walked by was Westminister Abbey, which is one of the best examples of gothic architecture in the world. And that’s an understatement. Westminister is 100 percent gothic.

Westminister Abbey

The Collegiate Church of St. Peter at Westminister, located in the Palace of Westminister, is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for the English, later British and later still monarchs of the commonwealth Realms. It briefly held the status of a cathedral from 1546-1556 and is a Royal Peculiar.

Okay, so ive been to more than enough Cathedrals and Churchs in Europe thus far, so Westminister Abbey doesn’t seem much different than them, but it is. I can notice the difference, but some people can’t. Westminister Abbey is huge. Over 3300 people are buried in the Church and Cloisters. Some coffins even had to stand upright because there wasn’t enough room for them. Charles Darwin- you know, the guy responsible for Darwinism and the evolution of man, survival of the fittest, all that jazz- is buried here. So is Sir Isaac Newton- the man who created Calculus at the age of 17, a genius of his time, was buried here. Not to mention Princess Diana in 1997 and William Shakespear, the most famous poet of the world. Most kings and queens of England were buried here. When you think of London, think of Westminister Abbey. I can’t even begin to explain the countless chapels and rooms of the Church, and the architectural detail is extraordinary. It has now become a tourist attraction, and it was quite difficult to take in the realism of the place without encountering a group of tourists, but it was quite an experience, especially for a person who has spent 3 years studying the gothic architecture that dominated the world for 2 centuries.

Big Ben

Big Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminister and is the largest four-facing chiming clock and third-tallest free standing clock tower in the world. It celebrated its 150^th anniversary in May 2009. We walked past Big Ben at night- when it was lit up.

Wow… just thinking about everything that I experienced in London is just so overwhelming. Not just the architecture and the history, but the people as well. Everyone we encountered was nice to us… they were by far much different than the Italians, even the French. People from England, regardless of what anyone has told you, are very nice and welcoming into their country… I felt so at home when I was there.

Tonight we boarded a red bus- a symbol of London transportation is the big 2-leveled red buses which pack the streets of Central London, to a place we never been to, which is of course, everywhere, without any planning or map. We got off at some stop and found a small restaurant where we ordered fish and chips- which is what London is famous for. Deep fried fish in bread crumbs or batter and deep-fried chipped potatoes, or “fish and chips” have been customary in London since the 1800s. The meal was delicious, even from a person who is not a fan of fish and seafood. It felt so good to order in English, eat English food, and hear people speaking in English!!! Ahh, I love London!!

When we got back to our hostel later, and grabbed some cheap wine from a small supermarket nearby, we chilled out in the lounge of the hostel for the remaining hours of the day. I met people from all over Europe… a guy from Spain, Sandra who was 23 from I forget, a girl from Germany, who had been to the States for two days before she was denied entrance because of her visa, a 39 year old woman who was a skydiver and an architect! All these people spoke English… which is an international language I know, but it was probably one of the best nights in Europe so far. I learned so much just by talking to people about their culture and where they’re from. I met a hippy guy who taught us how to open a wine bottle without a cork screw. You have to take the butt of a pizza roller and jam the cork into the bottle. He did it well… but when I tried it on the second bottle of wine it exploded everywhere and got on my clean white shirt. Looks like I have another workout shirt for next week…

We talked about their outlook on Americans and America, their culture and traditions, how they all know how to speak their language fluently AND English fluently and Americans rarely know how to speak a second language. Sometimes I got the impression that they were talking about us amongst themselves in their language, which we couldn’t understand. Their outlook on America was that it was a powerful, economic country, that they all wanted to go to… so badly! It was hard to get their… you could be there for up to 60 days before you had to leave because you didn’t have proper documentation is what they said. They knew about our economy, our president, our government, and of course, our music and celebrities, but if you were to ask my about their government, their authority and economy, their traditions, I wouldn’t have the slightest idea… and that’s the difference between us and them… or so I concluded the first night.