Last Day

After putting Mom and Dad on a plane back to the States, I had to come to terms with the startling realization that it was my last day in London, so I'd better make the most of it. In between packing up the items I hadn't sent home in the extra suitcases my parents had brought, I managed to have quite a nice day.

I started out going to the Movieum with Vanessa and Emily. This "movie museum" is a step above a tourist trap, but was still fun. Actor profiles are interspersed with rooms with costumes, scripts, props, and wax figures. For me, the highlight of the trip was the room featuring the set from the Sherlock Holmes series in the early nineties featuring Jeremy Brett as the master detective. It's a show I grew up watching with my dad, and I know own the complete series on DVD (favorite case- "The Six Napoleons"). It was quite a kick to see Holmes's flat right in front of me.


After spending the afternoon at the Movieum, it was back to my room to pack everything I didn't need that night, before one last hurrah with my friends. We went to Brick Lane, then the 24-hour Bagel Bakery, then The Hayfield pub, before I had to go to bed and get up bright and early to do my last packing for the airport. My friend Emily graciously helped drag my suitcases through the Underground at 7:30 in the morning, getting me to the Picadilly line so I could ride it to Heathrow Airport. One 11 hour flight and three movies later, I was safely on the ground in LA, where my friend Stephanie picked me up and took me home.

My last album of this blog is here:

Last Day

A friend of mine in London wanted to know my thoughts on the best and worst of London, so I thought I'd wrap up this blog with those musings.

First, the worst:

-The crosswalks. It may seem like a small thing, but when you have to maneuver through five seperate pedestrian lights to navigate from one corner to the corner diagonally across from you, it becomes real tiresome real quick. I much prefer the two lights it takes in the States.

-The weather/lack of sun. Much as I enjoyed my snow days, I missed the sun. Perhaps I'm a spoiled SoCal girl, but I like my eighty degree weather (of course, as I write this, it is overcast outside of my window, but we'll ignore that for now). Plus, since England is higher up in the hemisphere than Southern California, they get less sun during the rare times when it is shining, which is highly disorientating.

-The exchange rate. I enjoyed some of the lowest exchange rates that have existed between the US and the UK in quite some time, but that still meant that everything was quite expensive compared to the US, which did wonders for my bank account.

-Milkshakes. Milkshakes in the UK are often not the same as milkshakes in the U.S. UK milkshakes are much more akin to very thick chocolate milk, rather than the US version which favors the ice cream.


Most of those are minor, though, in compared to the things I love about London:

-Public transportation. Never in my life has it been so relatively easy to get from point A to point B. Whether I needed to get to the grocery store, the theatre, or the airport, I just had to hop on the nearest bus or Tube, and away I went. It made seeing the city amazingly easy, and traveling was a relative snap.

-Trains. I wanted to single out the trains because it had been years since I had ridden on one, and I am now a firm devotee. London trains are easy to use, clean, and reliable, and make it sooo easy to get about on the island. I also enjoyed the train in Europe, which my friends and I used during reading week in February to go from Italy to Switzerland to France.

-Brick Lane. I now love Indian food. It's delicious. And Brick Lane is cheap Indian food, which is a lovely combination.

-Used book stores. With the above-mentioned problem of the exchange rate, I was sadly having to skip buying books to read while in London. Then I discovered the used book market along the Thames. And then I discovered the row of used book stores near Leicester Square. And suddenly my book collection doubled in a few weeks.

-Leceister Square. Going to the theatre in London is soo much easier than it is in California. Because there are such a range of shows in such a small area, you can show up on any given night and get tickets to a good show at fairly good prices. I will sorely miss being able to see stage shows at the drop of a hat. Now I have to plan things out a couple of months in advance (and with Fiddler on the Roof coming to the Pantageas Theatre in August, I better start looking at my calendar....)

-Cornish Pasties. A stew in a convenient bread holder, it is a food that I will sorely miss in the States. Great for both a quick snack and a full on meal, I grew very fond of them.

-Ease of travel to Europe. With Paris an hour away by plane, and Italy a few hours further, it was relatively simple to travel to other countries. I enjoyed seeing Europe immensely, and the cheap flights and easy access made life even better.

I could go on and on about my likes (and to a lesser extent, my dislikes), but my hand would cramp up and I'm sure you would all grow quite bored. Suffice it to say that my semester in London was fabulous, and I cannot wait to go back again. Even though I was there for six months, there are still many things I was unable to see, and I want to go back as soon as possible to amend such faults.

Thank you all for reading my ramblings over the semester! It has been wonderful to share my stories with friends and family and to keep you apprised of my goings-on. Here's to many more adventures in the future!

Cheers!
Caitlin