They call me Captain Trips

Though probably for different reasons than they did Mr. Garcia.

In a huge change from the previous week, these last...I can't believe it's only been...four days of my life were about as intense as possible, in the best way possible. I suppose I'll start at the beginning...

Whitstable. Located about eight miles north of Canterbury, directly on the North Sea, it was an easy 20 minute bus ride away so Steph, MC (short for Mary-Catherine) and I decided to check it out. It's pretty much the perfectly quaint fishing village you've always imagined English coastline being full of, with narrow streets lined with shops and fish and chip mongers on every corner. So yes, I did finally eat real fish and chips (wrapped in paper, smothered in vinegar) and it was spectacular. Oh, also we swam in the North Sea. In September. It was cold and salty as you can see. After a day spent romping around town we went home for a good night's sleep - the next stop on our tour of Southern England was a doozy.

"London is markedly larger than Canterbury," Sandy said, eyeing row after row after row of kebab shop on the outskirts of London. We had already been on the bus for an hour and a half, the last 30 of which had been, according to the signs, in London. So yes Sandy, you're right - London is a tad larger than Canterbury.

Despite not being able to book a youth hostel, despite the expenses and difficulties of planning a trip with seven people (two of whom don't speak English as a first language), we simply had to visit London sometime before school started. So MC, Steph, Sandy, Ciro (from Italy), Bea (from Spain), Fernanda (from Ecuador/America) and I booked a single hotel room, hopped on a bus, secreted everyone up past the reservation desk to the hotel room, dropped our bags off and found ourselves in the heart of Europe's Global City.


I could blather on about how much I loved London for paragraphs - about how, unlike New York, it still feels manageable, despite its size. How, unlike Boston, the confusing layout adds to the charm instead of frustrating it. How, unlike pretty much every major city in the U.S. I've been to, there are no ugly, "straight to business" looking streets - almost all of the architecture fits and around every corner could be the sunny, tree lined alley or the park you'll spend the rest of the day exploring. This is the city for me.

The first night, Sandy and I felt that the only fitting way to spend a Friday night in London is in Soho - first in the pubs, then in the theater, then back to the pubs. Eventually we ended up at the Palace Theater, which was showing? What else but Monty Python's Spamalot The Musical! To call it hilariously spectacular doesn't quite cut it and it was worth every pence. After the show, we met up with the rest of the crew who had spent the evening sightseeing and together wandered around a few Soho pubs before calling it a night.

The Hotel Cavendish, our cramped base of operations, was a 10 minute walk to the British Museum. Not knowing much about the museum itself aside from its cost (free!), we decided to check it out, allowing ourselves three hours to see it all. I spent every single minute allotted.

I've been trying not to be overly dramatic in describing the museum to people. You all know museums; rows of old stuff with placards telling you just how old it is. Walking into the Grand Hall of the British Museum, I first knew that this would not be anything like one of those. My next thought was that this was one of those moments I'll think back on at 70 and still mark it fondly as important to my life. Yeah, it was that impressive.

These pictures don't quite capture the scope of what you first see upon entering the museum, but the place is simply massive. I wandered over to one of the wings and what artifact should greet me but THE Rosetta Stone.
Nothing could really top seeing the real, live Rosetta Stone up close and personal, but everything else came close. I wouldn't know where to begin in describing what else I saw in a blog-size blurb, but if you're into history, drop me an e-mail and I can go into detail. I DID see Cleopatra's final resting place and held a stone tool from 350,000 years ago, which was fairly mind blowing. All in all, deciding to stop by The British Museum was one of the better choices I've made recently.

The rest of the day was spent in pretty much the best way possible: relaxing in St. James Park and checking out the touristy spots. We walked by Westminster Abbey and Parliament and all around that part of town, feeling pretty much on top of the world and killing time until our 19:30 (that's 7:30pm to you) train back to Canterbury.

So that leaves me at Sunday, on which the University of Kent had planned a short bus ride North to Leeds Castle for the day. Don't get excited, it has nothing to do with the classic Who live album and is named after an entirely different town of Leeds. Now, I won't say I was disappointed by Leeds Castle - that'd be way too harsh. It was a pretty excellent castle, with suits of armor and a dazzling library and sprawling grounds...the whole deal. Just, after the sensory overload which was London, I don't think anything could be impressive. Still, the place was pretty historic and quintessentially English.

So that was how I spent my weekend. Exhausting, awesome - and I still don't even start classes until Thursday!