We arrived in London yesterday morning. Because it was foggy, I couldn't see anything really remarkable from the plane. We got off the plane and went to get our luggage. I always like to compare airports, especially ones in foreign countries, to U.S. airports. This is because, since I have a disability, airport employees often give me "special treatment," some of which is advantageous, but a lot of which is not. Heathrow is very big, but at the time we were there it wasn't particularly crowded. We got a buggy, which is British English for those carts that take people around the airport, to take us closer to customs and baggage claim. It took us about two minutes to get through customs because they let us go in a short line, something that would have never happened in the U.S. regardless of the length of the line. I have yet to find out what security will be like, but from my experience it will probably be less painful than in the U.S, where I am discriminated against because I walk with crutches, which may have explosives in them or something. I have only been to Europe once before, but in Poland when I was there, while they still wanded me, they didn't take nearly as long or were nearly as invasive as they are at home.
The next step in our adventure was to find our way to the hotel. We went to the Heathrow Express, which was underneath the airport. The first thing I noticed was there weren't as many airport employees around as there are in the U.S. We basically had to figure it out ourselves because of that. It was pretty easy to navigate the airport, and we found our way down to the train where we bought tickets. I was pleased to see that the train was very handicap accessible, so there were no difficulties associated with that. However, with no employees around, Stefinie and I had some issues with the luggage. They don't let you bring the luggage carts on to the platform, so we had to negotiate that with Stef moving one bag while I watched the other and so on. We got on the train, and it was a 15 minute ride from Heathrow to Paddington Station. This was where we got our first glimpse of London. Here, again, I didn't see much that differentiated London from other big cities I have been too. But I knew there were many exciting things to come. We got a taxi and finally arrived at the hotel. As this was my first trip out of the country alone, it was quite an accomplishment for me as well as Stefinie. We were exhausted from our trip and spent most of the rest of the day recuperating from the flight and exploring our hotel.
One thing I noticed about London, and the U.K. in general, was, of course, the accents and the differences in the English language. For example, here they call elevators lifts, the subway the tube, and lines queues. The differences haven't been hard to figure out, but it's interesting to hear these different terms. Even in the same language there are elements to the different dialects that almost create new languages, which one has to learn in order to function well in the society they have entered. Our tour guide even mentioned some obscene gestures that differ from in the U.S.
We started off with a continental breakfast in the hotel. This was not like a typical continental breakfast in a U.S. hotel, with eggs, bacon, pancakes, and so on. There was a selection of breads and pastries, meats and cheeses, fruit, yogurt, and other items. It was extremely similar to the style of breakfast they served in Krakow, Poland when I went there. In fact, the entire day I was noticing many similarities between the two countries that show a common European culture. The architecture was very similar in both countries; I even saw a church that looked near identical to one in Poland. The main similarity was the blending of the modern with the historical. In London you can look one direction and see beautiful old style architecture on many historic sights and cobblestone streets, and you can look another direction and see completely modern architecture with paved roads. You can see much of this in Krakow as well, and I find it to be one of the most striking differences from the U.S. I have not been anywhere in the U.S. where this blend is as pronounced as the places I have visited in Europe.
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| Big Ben |
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| View from the bus |
Today we went on a on/off bus tour, which took us to several different stops where we could get on or off as we pleased. We saw most of the major sights of London, including Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace (or at least part of it because the buses aren't allowed to drive around the front), Westminster Abbey, and St. Paul's Cathedral--the steps of which are featured in Mary Poppins in the song "Feed The Birds, Tuppence A Bag." We also saw famous streets such as Picadilly and Fleet Street, home to Sweeney Todd. I got a lot of pictures from inside the bus, which was good because it was snowing, raining, and cold outside. London is still a beautiful city, even with bad weather. It was surprising to me, however, to learn that it doesn't snow much in the U.K. On the news they were reporting a large snow storm, when in reality it was maybe one to two inches in some places, and it didn't even accumulate in London. As a Wisconsinite, this was also a big difference from home, where one to two inches doesn't affect anything, but in places where no one knows how to handle snow, it can shut whole cities down.
One thing I noticed about the people on our flight was that they were from all different countries and going to all different destinations. Heathrow is a major hub, and it seems that London is a cultural hub as well. On the tour we passed by several different areas of the city, many of which contained ethnic restaurants. I especially noticed a lot of Indian restaurants, as well as a China Town on the map. London is a melting pot like the U.S., it seems.
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| Stefinie and I in Trafalgar Square |
On the bus tour we learned about many of the main sights, but I also noted how the guide was appealing to tourists. He mentioned a hotel where Justin Bieber stayed, as well as sights where parts of Harry Potter were filmed (which were very exciting to me of course), as well as where Daniel Radcliffe went to school, and where the nearest Abercrombie & Fitch was. He knew how to appeal to Americans visiting. We stopped in and walked around Trafalgar Square, which looks very similar to Time Square in New York. There were many American restaurants, including McDonald's, KFC, and Starbucks, and we even went into M&M World. The use of old buildings for modern stores was another example of the blending of old and new that I talked about earlier, and it just shows how globalization of American culture has affected other parts of the world.
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| Tower of London |
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| Tower of London |
We spent the rest of the day touring the Tower of London, which was basically the place where King Henry VIII lived, as well as where executions took place and the prison was. There were some very beautiful buildings, the insides of which had mostly been turned into museums of arms and armor, the kings of England, the executions, and the prison. We saw the place where Anne Boleyn was beheaded, the inside of the prison, artifacts owned by the royal family, the crown jewels, and much more. It was a very interesting history lesson and showed how much times have changed. It was also a very eerie place, maybe given the weather, but also with all of the executions and imprisonment. Going back to the accessibility issue, the Tower of London was actually decently accessible; given its historical significance that sometimes can prevent remodeling, it was pretty easy to get around overall. I could get into most of the areas, something that was more difficult when I was in Poland, where they don't put as much emphasis on accessibility.
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| Tower of London, building where the Crown Jewels were kept |
The crown jewels were very interesting to see and very beautiful, but I was struck by how over the top they were. To think that they lived/live in such extravagance is amazing to me, particularly with seeing homeless people on the streets in the same day. As the tour guide even mentioned, London is a great city but still has its struggles with poverty like everywhere else in the world. It was interesting to see that contrast.
Overall, while there were some key differences, London seems to be your typical urban environment, similar to U.S. cities, although more historically significant. I was struck by how much of my knowledge of London comes from pop culture, so I am excited to learn more about the city itself and what it has to offer. More to come as I continue my tour of London, and then on to Scotland in a few days!
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