Being a Tourist

Top 5: Ways to be a tourist in London

1.) Pose as the Beetles for picture in a zebra (or crosswalk) that is not actually on Abby Road.

2.) Order fish and chips, and then ask the waiter where the bag of chips is.

(p.s. That green stuff on the right is a helping of mashed peas.  Quite good, actually.)

3.) Order a completely foreign dessert... it's always going to be good.

4.)  Bother the Londoners by taking pictures by the underground signs.  Near those areas locals are always in a hurry to get someplace unreasonably fast, and if they have to maneuver around a tourist taking pictures you get to learn new British lingo.

5.) Talk on the tube.  It seems to be against the social norm to talk to anyone while riding on the tube.  Even friends or family will sit side-by-side in complete silence.  It is also considered improper etiquette to look at anyone.  Americans are champion people-watchers, so a tourist makes herself obvious when she is rude enough to make eye contact with strangers.  I've learned the game of the underground: pretend not to see or hear anything.  

It is quite rare that Buckingham Palace is open to the public.  Lucky us, Queenie was on holiday!  After completing an assignment in the British Museum for my Literary class, a few friends and I decided to find the palace.  Tucked away from the busier parts of the city, the Buckingham grounds are surrounded by war monuments and less-traveled roundabouts.  Where we stand, at the front of the palace, the gates are beautifully ornamented with the lion and the unicorn (symbols of the royal family).  But the perimeter of the grounds is protected by a twenty foot brick wall.  On top of the wall are some WWII looking rusty spikes and on top of those are a few feet of what seems to be an electric fence.  Between that thing and the guards in the fuzzy black hats, you would think the palace is a pretty safe place to be.  But apparently a man named Michael Fagan was able to break into the palace and sit on the end of the Queen's bed.  It happened in 1982- he actually broke in twice, but the first time he wandered around the palace unable to find the Queen.  The second time he found her, and she woke when he rustled the curtains.  She talked to him for about ten minutes before the Queen was able to get anyone inside to arrest the man.  He was committed for psychiatric evaluation.  I'm questioning the practicality of those huge fuzzy hats.  Do they affect sight and hearing?

It is inside of the hideous monster-wall that Buckingham Palace amazed me.  I've never seen a grander staircase, nor so many drawing rooms.  There was a blue drawing room, a green drawing room, a white drawing room, etc. and they were all filled with treasures collected by the Royal family for many generations.  Here is the white drawing room.

See the mirror on the back wall on the left side?  That mirror, along with the low cabinet in front of it, actually swings open so that the Queen can come downstairs to greet visitors directly from her personal rooms.  I happened to notice that it was slightly ajar when we were passing.  If I were as crazy as Michael Fagan, perhaps I would have slipped through to explore a little.  Honestly- who isn't intrigued at the thought of a Queen's closet?  It's probably the size of my bedroom.  Maybe bigger.

Here we are outside in the Queen's garden.  Her backyard is used to host loads of parties every year.  This is a view of the back of the palace.  By this time our knees hurt from the buckling effect of the grandeur of the palace.  We were also parched- probably from allowing our mouths to hang open in awe- so we were eager to get home.  On the way to the tube station we passed this ever-so tempting memorial.  Clear, sparkling water runs down the stones, allowing the entire monument to glimmer in the sunlight.  It took all of our self control not to start lapping it up.  Kind of disrespectful, you know.  I quickly realized it was a monument to the Australian war, which I honestly don't know very much about. 

I decided to take a picture for Lynn, who is studying in Australia.  We enjoy discovering the seemingly infinite connections between our two host countries.

Later that week we were able to see JM Barrie's play, Peter Pan, in Kensington Gardens.  There is significance to having been able to see it in that particular place.  In the original play, Peter Pan ran away from home the day he was born to Kensington Gardens.  It was there that he met none other than Tinker Bell.  There is actually a statue placed in the exact spot that Peter Pan landed when he ran away from home, beside the Long Water.  How do I know this?  Well because Barrie put it there himself in 1912.

The bronze statue "magically" appeared one day in May, having been placed there overnight by Barrie.  That day there was an add in the paper from Barrie that said that there was a "surprise in store for the children who go to Kensington Gardens to feed the ducks in the Serpentine."  And that was the only thing that really announced that the statue was even there.  Sorry for the humanities note, but remember: it's homework.

The boy figure is surrounded by squirrels, ravens, mice, and fairies.  Each small character seems to melt into the next, giving it a very mythical feel.  Although Peter is supposed to be standing on a tree stump, he is so surrounded that it looks more like he is being bared up by a tornado of magic.  And to the children it's appearance was, no doubt, truly magical.

A large white tent housed the small theater with a circular stage, and was set up in a part of the park not far from the statue.  Although our seats were in the back row, the auditorium was small enough that I could see every expression on the actor's faces.  It was certainly close enough to tell that the young peter pan had some chest hair...

Even thought the actors and actresses that played the part of children had the disadvantage of being full-grown adults, they did a fantastic job of making us believe that they really were children.  No one in the audience could suppress a grin when Peter Pan flew up into the air.  Tinker Bell was portrayed as a British Punk, with a pink tutu and black army boots.  She was hilarious.  All of the props and sets were mind-blowing.  The sides and part of the ceiling in the tent had videos projecting on to it.  So when the children rose into the air, you rose with them.  The image surrounded you on all sides so that you were soaring through the gardens, passed the chimney tops, into the clouds, and finally into the stars- the whole time the actors were suspended in the center, and it could not have looked more real.  

The play is finished, we went on one of the last nights.  I'm not sure if or when it will ever come back to Kensington Gardens.  I feel so lucky that I was able to see it.

Pictures say it better

Gelato.  There is a peach flavor that I've become obsessed with.

The National Gallery.  There's always a party going on in Trafalgar Square.  

Portabello Road and shopping!  I found an antique Peter Pan book, which is really awesome.  There are antique shops galore here!  Mom has helped inspire me to begin my collection of antique books, and this is a great place to start.  There's also small touristy shops where you can get a mug with the underground map wound around it or an "I Love London" t-shirt.  You can barter here, and there's so much cool stuff.  I just with I could by a boat and bring it all back!