Loving Language and Committing Criminology: Trips: London

This weekend was Roosevelt Academy's London trip and I met up with some of my friends who still study there (and with Danou, who studies in London). As I've promised my most loyal readers (that is, my parents) that I'd do a post on that, here goes.
Please do keep in mind that I haven't been to London since I was 16, not counting the 2.5 hour stop in the middle of the night at the Victoria Coach Station last April, that this is a long post and that this post contains maaaaannnnyyy photos.

Mode of transport: train. Practical tips: the Railcard 16 - 25 gets you 1/3 off on every trip you make, costs 28 quid and is valid for a year, so if you're planning to travel for more than 84 pound's worth (which means twice to London) it's a good deal. You'll have to travel to St. Pancras (little choice though when you travel from Leicester) and if you take the one that calls at no stations, it's about 1 hour 10 minutes, the one that calls at a few (Kettering, Luton etc.) is 1:20. Doesn't really matter, really.

First thing I did upon arriving on Saturday was get day tickets for the tube. I then walked out of St. Pancras and over to King's Cross.

All that's missing here is a flying Ford Anglia. Yes, this is St. Pancras, not King's Cross, but seeing as they're about 50 yards apart, I have no doubt it's perfectly natural for the Weasleys to park their enchanted car by St. Pancras as they drop off their kids.

This is at King's Cross, but of course not the place in between platforms 9 and 10 (which is impossible) and not the place where they filmed it (which is apparently platforms 4 and 5). Either way, I wouldn't be let through so now I'm seriously doubting my magical capabilities (the fact that the Hogwarts letter never arrived when I was 11 somewhat points in that direction as well but I'm willing to forgive Hogwarts for overlooking me like that).

One can't be a Beatles fan (even if slightly casual) and go to London and not go to Abbey Road (especially not when you've got about 2 hours before your first scheduled meeting). Yes, yes, yes, the cross walk in the bottom left corner is THE crosswalk. The white building behind the still-leafy trees is Abbey Road Studios, where absolute gods of music played (I agree with John Lennon). I was struck by the absence of pilgrims, but then I guess 8:45 on a Saturday morning will do that to even this road.

This looks very much like the popular London poster, but I can assure you that I took it myself.

Standing in line for the Sherlock Holmes museum, we were right in front of the Beatles store. I didn't go in for various reasons, but seeing they had a Yellow Submarine lava lamp in the other shop window (regrettably without Blue Meanies, but I'm willing to overlook that) I do need to do so next time.

Danou and I with the museum guard. See? 221B Baker Street.

An old-fashioned Victorian chemistry set and a whole lot of Sherlock-related knick-knacks. The museum was filled to the brim with this kind of stuff, it's worth the visit even if you do have to queue outside for about 20 minutes in a very very chilly London (none too bad if you're queuing in front of the Beatles store though). They charge you 6 pounds and it takes about 30/45 minutes.

Danou'd found herself a new ally in the museum: the brilliant mathematics professor James Moriarty. I'm afraid even Sherlock Holmes wouldn't be able to save the world from this pair of destruction, even if he allied himself with James Bond and the Doctor.

Being a film fan, and My Fair Lady being one of my favourite films, it's none too surprising that I found myself wanting to see Saint Paul's Church and hum/recite "Why Can't the English" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhninL_G3Fg)

At night, Danou and I went to the Opera. I'd never been to the opera before so I was slightly nervous, but I like Mozart and the story of Don Giovanni appealed to well enough so the plan was solid enough.

And it was sooo worth it. It was a very modern production, modern sets and clothes and everything in English, but I did like understanding what happened and it was so beautiful. The fun stuff is that some things really seem in line with the way Mozart's been portrayed in Amadeus. We both sat up in eager anticipation when we first heard the notes for the Commendatore bit at the end (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK1_vm0FMAU), and for the rest of the night after the performance (at the ENO, go see it while it's still on... only a few more stagings, I think) we kept going "DOOOOOONN GIOOOOVAAAANNNII, I'VE COME TO SUUUUPPPPPPPEERRR!" and all that. I'm definitely on for the opera next time, perhaps Carmen (we've been doing that one melody from the Toreador bit from Carmen all Sunday, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5qmSEvDEGs).

Being the daughter of a ferry man, I did have to take a picture of myself sitting in the Ferryman's Seat. The guide of the Dickens tour (recommended! That man knows a lot about literary London... not just Dickens and Shakespeare but also Harry Potter. Like where to find the new and the old Leaky Cauldron. More on that later) told us of theatre attendants not crossing London bridge but instead taking ferries, while oarsmen called out 'oars, oars!' which was misunderstood by some, as the southern bank also held the brothels owned by the bishop of Winchester. After this tour, everyone was chilled to the bone (rain and cold wind and rain and cold wind tends to do that), me and Danou visited the church of the patron saint of Coffee, Saint Starbucks, and afterwards made our way back to Borough High Street to see The George, the last remaining gallery inn (from where the stagecoaches left to the south of England and on which the early theatres, like The Globe, were based). On the way there we were stopped by a policeman because they were shooting a film, though I can't remember the title.

This is The George, the gallery inn. Had a cider there and then crossed London Bridge to go to Leadenhall Market, which is where they shot the outside of the old Leaky Cauldron (first two films) and Diagon Alley and everything like that. I wish I could show you loads of pictures of it. I really wish I could. But I can't.

We were, again, stopped by a lady who requested we ventured no further than that (we were in that bit of the Market where Harry reads out the letter detailing his needed things to Hagrid and says "Can we find all this in London?" and Hagrid replies "If you know where to go", see here: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/an-L9aZbmtmmhbbb4/harry_potter_and_the_sorcerers_stone_2001_the_leaky_cauldron/ ) as they were, again, shooting a film. I did remember the title of that one, because the lady said that all the shops were closed especially because of this shooting and I replied that it must be expensive to close all shops for the day, and she told me that, well, it was a Hollywood production with Bruce Willis, which of course had Danou and me all excited. Turns out it was for a high-speed car chase for the upcoming Red 2. We never saw mr. Willis (obviously) but we did see a very fancy looking electric blue car on a trailer (I think it was a Lotus, but I don't properly remember that, I'm better with remembering Aston Martins, I'm afraid).

We went on, eventually almost getting lost before stumbling upon the tube station we'd been looking for and went to the British Museum where I got my re-fill of Egyptian stuff. I wanted to see the Rosetta Stone to complete my memory collection of all the really important Egyptological stuff currently in European and Egyptian museums and we had loads of fun identifying stuff before reading the descriptions (I guess we were right about 80% of the time). History geeks and all that. Here's to validating the idea that secretly I'm really one for the Humanities.