Dickinson College Humanities Program in Norwich

We began our journey with a short walk to the Goodge Street tube station where we proceeded to stand in the station looking around confusedly. Eventually, an employee directed us to take the lift or stairs, “it didn’t matter”. We decided to take the stairs but it turned out to be eight flights in a striped Alice in Wonderland winding staircase. Upon reaching the bottom, we took the Northern Line to Embankment and transfered to the Circle Line to Victoria station, named after Queen Victoria.

We noticed how clean the tube is, especially compared to the Subway in NYC. As we emerged onto the street, throngs of people hurried around us. Choosing first one direction, then the other, we began walking. Having no better ideas of what to do, when we saw a sign for Buckingham Palace, we headed that way.

We nearly passed the Palace, surprised by how small and under-whelming it is. Continuing to walk, we came to “Little Ben,” a smaller version of the famous London landmark, erected as a sign of Franco-British alliance. 

We tried to express to each other exactly what the character of our assigned neighborhood was but found ourselves floundering. Some of the architecture seemed Victorian or even older but an equal amount of the buildings were done in a modernist style. The buildings held everything from restaurants to theatres, and we saw billboards for Wicked and Billie Elliot. The people were likewise a reflection of this confused, or at least blended, character. Walking the streets were people in all styles of clothing, tourists, and people of all races, and ages. It was easy to see why people came to Victoria, it is in the center of the city and has a variety of things to see and do.

By the time we’d walked around for a while, we were hungry and overwhelmed by the number of options and the pace of the people around the Victoria station. We had coffee and then returned to the Arran House, mission accomplished.