il faut parler le francais

Back in France after an absolutely wonderful 10 days in the U.K. It was a little hard to come back here after being around familiar faces, especially since I knew that Evan wouldn’t be here when I got back. In any case, the trip back actually went really smoothly, and I have clean clothes once again, so I guess I can’t complain.

I never did get a chance to write about London and Scotland while I was still there, so I’ll do it in chunks so it’s not so long, because we all know I tend to write and write and write!
Before leaving for break, I had decided that I was going to see London while I was in England, even if I had to go alone. Luckily, Beth didn’t have classes Wednesday or Thursday, so we were able to go together. Wednesday morning Beth finished up a paper, and then we were off. We got to London in the late afternoon, and since we both really wanted to see a show while we were there, we decided to go get tickets first thing after checking into our hostel. We ended up getting tickets to The Producers, which I had wanted to see for quite some time. All in all, I liked it, though I do wish that I had seen it with Nathan Lane, because I’m sure he really fit the part. The material kind of was on the fence in terms of political correctness, but I think it was more of a "let’s not be uptight about all this" kind of way rather than just being ignorant. That might not make sense. Too bad.

Since we didn’t have much time between buying our tickets and the time the show started, we stuck around the West End. We ate a delicious dinner in China Town, and then started to wander towards the theatre. On the way there, I glanced up once and we were right outside Murder One!! Murder One is a crime/murder mystery store that my friend Lindsey worked at last fall. So of course I had to go in and have a look around. It was what you would expect-crime/murder mystery books. Funny how that works out, huh? We also spent some time wandering around Covent Garden before, but once the show was over we went back to the hostel and crashed.

Thursday we were up early and off to see as much of London as we could in a day. We started off at Shakespeare’s Globe, which was pretty much the highlight of the day for me. We spent hours looking around the exhibitions, which I thought were well done. Of course, we also went on a tour of the theater-very fun. Our tour guide was pretty informative, and she took us up to every level so we could see the stage from all the angles. Unfortunately, there aren’t any plays there this time of year, but it would be fun to go back and see one there sometime!

After that, we went to Tate Modern (an art museum), but the only exhibit that piqued my interest was closed, so we continued on toward the London Eye. The Eye is essentially a huge Ferris wheel overlooking London-the ride around takes about a ½ hour, and the views are supposed to be amazing. We would have liked to go on, because we had amazing weather and the visibility would have been great, but the lines were way long. Instead, we treated ourselves to some fish and chips and rested a bit before heading over to the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. We decided to take a tour of the Abbey, and I have to say, it’s really not my thing. First of all, there’s always been something a little strange to me about touring places that are supposed to be for worship. Yes, I have been to tons of cathedrals, so that statement is a bit hypocritical, but still. Westminster especially got me because it’s essentially a burial ground for the rich and famous. I don’t like having to walk over people’s graves to move about a church, nor did I really like the crazy ornate tombs everywhere. I appreciate the history of it all, but I couldn’t escape the feeling that they were all there to be in the public eye, even after their death. It all felt like one big parade of English who’s who. I won’t lie, though-I do harbor a special appreciation for the poet’s corner-not many countries honor their authors, so it was pretty neat.

After that we strolled through St. James Park on our way to Buckingham Palace, which is, as I have heard before, nowhere near as fancy as you might expect for the Royal Family. Again, wrong time of year to actually tour it, but I’m sure that the inside is spectacular. To end the day, we walked down The Mall to Trafalgar Square, then headed back to Leicester Square for some evening entertainment. We stumbled across a restaurant with a set menu for dinner-first time I’d seen that in England, though they’re everywhere in France. Quite tasty, for what we paid. To finish the evening, we saw Pride and Prejudice. Though I liked the older version much better, it was still good, and Keira Knightley surpassed my expectations as Elizabeth. I guess I just like that the older one is truer to the novel.

Friday morning we were up early once again. Beth caught a train back to Cambridge, and I headed to the airport to get on a plane for Scotland. More news to follow!