London Revisited

By: Erica Johnson
Posted In: Travelogue

“Break” for me was anything but what that word implies. My time was spent mostly in traveling. I went home to rural Bemidji, Minnesota, to be with family for the holidays and catch up with my friends who’ve known me “since way back when.” Then I came back to ring in the New Year in Newport. The highlight of this break was the week I spent on an amazing trip to London. After that it was preparations for my final semester here at Salve…it has ALL been a journey of personal growth and inspiration.

December 18 – The Journey Home

When you have a two-hour wait ahead of you, where you sit is very important. I’m sitting in one of those good locations in T. F. Green Airport, a seat near the window to see the runway and secluded enough that no one can will sit on top of you and spill their bags all over yours. I pull out White Teeth (by Zadie Smith) to continue reading when my cell phone rings. It’s Kate Howard, the Mosaic Features Editor, asking me some questions for another possible article – the editorial positions are important to our staff, which I greatly appreciate. Don’t you just love Kate’s features? She cleverly came up with the travel journal idea and title. (But I keep hearing the Carmen San Diego music in my head).

December 19

On the road leaving the Twin Cities and heading home. Oh, you thought I’d be there by now seeing as I left yesterday? When you go to school far from home, you don’t get the luxury of a two or three hour car ride home. It always feels weird to be journeying home from college – excited, nervous, and nostalgic. I hope everyone feels this way about returning home whether you do it every weekend or twice a year. It makes you very appreciative of where you came from.

New Year’s Eve – Newport Nights

I love going over the Newport Bridge back to the Island, especially at night. The anticipation of climbing up and then the houses are twinkling there down below you, it’s an exhilarating journey that always makes me feel renewed. Newport on New Year’s is quite an event – experience it sometime if you can. Unfortunately I can never keep New Year’s Resolutions so I regret that I will not be getting Bridget Jones-y at the moment.

January 5 – London Calling

Off to London on a Salve English Trip (with fellow Co-Editor Dave Ellis). Although it seems like we’ll never get there, poor Katie L. and Dr. Trainor were left in Boston to figure out her lost luggage. I think none of us ever want to see an airport again after waiting three hours in Logan to board, about a six-hour flight (with movies!), and another two-hour wait in Heathrow for our lost companions. Once we were reunited, we met Eileen (crazy tour guide) and Jim (humorous coach driver) and departed for a morning tour of Littlemore and Oxford.

January 6

Littlemore was the home of Cardinal Newman who wrote “The Idea of a University” that Salve’s program and mission were modeled on. I found Oxford to be kind of a cold town, not that I didn’t like it. I guess with that much prestige set on your university it would be hard to be carefree. We saw a number of churches and colleges that make up Oxford, including Christ Church College. This college was founded by Cardinal Wolsey and King Henry VIII and educated a number of important figures as well as being the source of many writings (Brideshead Revisited, Alice in Wonderland, etc). More contemporarily it was used to film scenes for the Harry Potter movies (i.e., their long dining hall at Hogwarts, the staircases and hallways).

January 7

“Life is a Bath. All paddle in its great pool…some sink, some swim.” Seneca 1st Century AD

We spent this day in Bath, a favorite holiday spot of Jane Austen’s. We visited the hot springs, the Assembly Rooms, and enjoyed High Tea at the Pump Room. Bath is a very welcoming and beautiful town and we all wish we had gotten to spend more time there. This was our last night in Oxford so we explored the city and met…let’s say interesting, people. We all had some good laughs that night.

January 8

This morning’s tour was at Stratford upon Avon where we saw Shakespeare’s birthplace and Anne Hathaway’s house. Both were interesting, but I liked the Hathaway house better because it seemed less touristy and more real. Then we rolled into London and had some time to rest since we had been going none stop until now.

January 9

Today we had a whirlwind city tour in our coach. We hit all the hot spots – Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey (seeing the names of all those famous people buried and memorialized was astounding), St. Paul’s Cathedral, Tower Bridge, London Bridge, Parliament and Big Ben. That night we saw Trafalgar Square all lit up and then attended a performance of Oscar Wilde’s “A Woman of No Importance.” The landmark tour was not long enough to truly explore the sites, but we got a taste of history and importance. I think everyone on the trip would like to go back when they can have a hearty meal of London.

January 10

We stepped out on a walking tour of Bloomsbury and Baker Street. I’d have to say this was one of my favorite tours because it meant a stop at 221B Baker Street, better known as Sherlock Holmes’ residence. This whole area was Holmes themed, including a man dressed up in costume walking the street to promote the museum. And yes we took our picture with him because we were those kind of tourists, ha.

Other stops included the British Library where we saw the Magna Carta and other old texts both intellectual (i.e. Canterbury Tales) and cultural (i.e. original Beatles song sheets). The British Museum where we saw the Elgin Marbles taken from the Parthenon in Athens and the Rosetta Stone that helped to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics. There was also a very informative tour of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

At dusk I took a walk along the River Thames that was simply amazing. The path was filled with street music and stringed lights. At the end were Waterloo Bridge and the London Eye, a huge type of Ferris wheel, glowing from all the lights.

January 11

In the morning a small group of us set out for Abbey Road where we recreated the Beatles’ photo. The funny thing is that road was quite busy and we got lots of car horns (and laughs) because we must have crossed the street four or five times to get a shot on each camera. (You know we couldn’t just make copies of one).

To experience the novel White Teeth that we were assigned, we went to see the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Bombay Dreams. It was simply dazzling with really amazing effects (working fountains, firework effects, a helicopter exit, and choreography to put pop princess to shame). Look for it to premiere on Broadway sometime this year or the next. Followed by a dinner at a Pakistani restaurant – spicy!

January 12

Time to pack up and return to the States. I must say this was one of my favorite departures because we had the airline’s radio “Huge Hits” to jam to as we left with the lights of London behind us. For my first trip abroad I don’t think I could have asked for much more. I learned a lot of history and have a better appreciation of the literature we read for the class. Its something I’ll never forget and I hope the trip will be offered again so more students can have this experience.

I just want to thank the Trainors for their wonderful chaperoning, and to wish smiles to the other participants on the trip – we had some great times.