Dickinson College Humanities Program in Norwich

After an early breakfast at the Arran House and a short walk through a light mist back to Trafalgar Square I had a chance to cross some more major sites off my list today. The first of these was Westminster Abbey.  The entire class was taken on a thorough tour of the Abbey by John, a knowledgeable, excitable man who made the tour a captivating experience throughout despite the fact that my feet were aching terribly by the end of the two hour experience.  Prior to the tour starting I spent a few minutes gazing at the magnificent building from the outside and found myself immediately in awe by both the innate architecture and simply the sheer size of the building. This feeling increased tenfold once we entered.  After walking past the courtyard we entered into the nave where I was once again impressed by the beautiful architecture. The tour consisted of a little bit of everything including the tombs of past monarchs, the Grave of the Unknown Warrior and a section dedicated entirely to writers of England. All of these sites caught my attention and stuck with me but my favorite part of the Abbey by far was The Lady Chapel. The many Saints delicately carved into the sides of the room was miraculous. Each one was designed so intricately that even the smallest features were easily discernible. The thing that fascinated me the most inside The Lady Chapel was the Order of the Bath. Each knight in the Order had their own individual flag and seal which they displayed prominently over their seat.  Each and every  flag was unique and told a different story about the individual that they represent.  I found it interesting that knights are sometimes forced to wait a number of years  to have their flags  displayed because they are required to wait until the person who holds the spot before them passes away before their spot is opened up. After walking through The Lady Chapel I had a sudden urge to design my own flag and copper stall-plate and maybe even start my own Order of the Bath. We will see…

After  a pub lunch at the Red Lion, located just a few minutes from the Abbey, Alli, Becca, Chelsea, Kim, Mara, Sarah and I headed to the Tower of London. Heading in with “great expectations” I have to say I was a bit disappointed overall.  It was interesting to walk through the ancient monument but I had no idea it would draw the massive number of tourists it did. All ages were represented but I was very surprised to see a large amount of  young children walking through the tower, a number of them unaccompanied by adults. The highlight of the Tower of London experience was the Crown Jewel exhibit. After being instructed to put our cameras away we were taken into a room with pressurized doors where we examined crowns that  monarchs wore. In addition to the crowns we saw diamond laden rings, sceptors and golden cutlery that made our jaws drop.  The most amazing object I observed was a giant punch bowl made entirely out of gold and must have weighed over 18 kilograms. Completely and utterly unbelievable! After the Crown Jewels exhibit my time at the tower went South. Due to the amount of loud, rambunctious children present and a subpar exhibit on torture in the Tower we walked through I was ready to leave after about two hours. Overall my experience was not a completely negative one. Being inside the grounds was breathtaking and the architecture amazed me.  However I do not see myself returning here during the rest of my time in London.

After our time in the Tower Alli, Kim, Mara, Sarah and I decided to get an early start on our walking tour project. Since our general theme is parks in London we decided it would be a good idea to visit a couple of the major green spaces in the area. We hopped on the tube and took the central line to St. James Park station. Upon arrival we spent some time moseying around Buckingham Palace and Victoria’s Memorial before getting down to business and taking a stroll through Green and St. James Park. Nothing too exciting was going on at Green Park. At one point we sat down in light green lawn chairs only to be told that we had to pay a fee in order to sit.  We quickly dismissed Green Park as a space that we would focus our project on. St. James however was a different story. We immediately spotted water and wandered over where we discovered a multitude of birds including ducks, geese and pigeons. These birds were not afraid to come close to humans at all and we saw many eating out of the hands of children who were offering them bread despite the numerous signs that clearly read “don’t feed the birds”.  We wandered through most of the park, passing beautiful lush flower gardens along the way. Overall St. James seemed more alive then Green Park and we definitely plan on heading back to take another look when the Park Office is open and we can receive more information about it’s history. 

Today was a very rewarding day overall. I am happy to say that I was able to visit some of the most historic places in the country in one day and ecstatic that my experience at Westminster Abbey went so positively. I’m amazed at just how much I have been able to see in one week here and I know that I continue to see more and more incredible places during my time here in London. Next up: Stonehenge!

After purchasing mobiles, we ventured to Goodge Street tube station at 14:55. After swiping our new oyster cards, we became intimidated by two massive elevators that seemed to lead nowhere. We were confused, so we asked an elderly British bloke which route we should take. Under the heavy accent we were able to discern the word “one”. After going down the elevator, and fiercely searching for our stop, we realized “one” actually meant “Warren”. We got off of the Northern line at Warren (which we later learned, was only a few blocks away from the Arran House). We wandered aimlessly through Warren Station, only to arrive at the southbound Victoria line just as train was pulling away. We studied our A-Z map, as we waited for the next train, to familiarize ourselves with the Victoria area.  After two stops on the Victoria Line, we followed the “way out” signs toward what looked like a central area. The entire trip on the tube took a mere twenty minutes. We soon realized our destination would include a stop at Buckingham Palace. We used our A-Z map to navigate ourselves towards the Palace, only to realize after about fifteen minutes that we had been walking in the opposite direction. By turning the map we suddenly oriented ourselves and made our way back up past the tube station and continued on to the Palace.

Naturally, we chose to use Buckingham Palace as our monument. The building was constructed in 1703 as a local home. After many additions and renovations, Queen Victoria became the first monarch to reside within its walls. We also came to the conclusion that this is why the Tube stop is named Victoria. We were excited at the possibility of viewing “the changing of the guards” however, we were angry to have found a sign that said the next change would occur the next morning at 11:30. after crying for about a minute we pulled it together and took a few pictures……

We sat on the steps of Victoria Memorial and gathered our thoughts and studied our map. We took a walk over to St. James Park and found a bus route back to Tottenham Court. Our trip back was approximately thirty minutes and we arrived back at the Arran House at 17:00.

Observations: The city of Westminster, where the Palace is located, seemed like a high end area. There were many business men and women walking swiftly through the streets. We also realized the differences in architecture between the old shop buildings, and the new modern high rise hotels. Upon arriving at Buckingham Palace we noticed a stark difference in the type of people surrounding the monument. The monument attracted tourists of all nationalities and classes. After observing St. James Park and Green Park, which was nearby, we came to the conclusion that there was a lot more green space than we were used to for major cities. It was also much cleaner than many of the most popular attractions in the U.S.

It was an easy and fun adventure and a great way to learn the ins and outs of London.