England in a Weekend

Hi everyone! This is the second of the three blog posts I'm writing this week. (I'm a bit behind, but am getting caught up!) Anyways, the weekend of October 4th and 5th was a busy one. In just two days I visited Greenwich, Stratford-upon-Avon, Bath, the Cotswolds, and Stonehenge. The amount of ground covered this weekend is exhausting for me to remember. It was a great two days, though, and I'll start this post with Greenwich.

St. Mary's University organized a trip for all of the study abroad students to Greenwich which included a boat ride up the Thames to Greenwich and a short guided tour to the main attractions there. Here is a little bit of information on Greenwich which I adapted from the Greenwich Wikipedia page...

"Greenwich is a district of South East London notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian (0° longitude) and Greenwich Mean Time. The town became the site of a royal palace, the Palace of Placentia from the 15th century, and was the birthplace of many Tudors, including Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. The palace fell into disrepair during the English Civil War and was rebuilt as the Royal Naval Hospital for Sailors by Sir Christopher Wren and his assistant Nicholas Hawksmoor. These buildings became the Royal Naval College in 1873, and they remained an establishment for military education until 1998 when they passed into the hands of the Greenwich Foundation. The maritime connections of Greenwich were celebrated in the 20th century, with the siting of the Cutty Sark and Gipsy Moth IV next to the river front, and the National Maritime Museum in the former buildings of the Royal Hospital School in 1934."

All of the study abroad students started the day by meeting up at Waterloo Station. This station is becoming a key point in my travels around central London as the nearest rail station to campus, Strawberry Hill Station, runs directly to Waterloo every half hour. (There are a few other ways to get into central London, but this is the quickest option.) From Waterloo Station we boarded a boat that took us up (or down?) the river to Greenwich, which really isn't all that far. The weather on Saturday was absolutely miserable- cold and rainy- but I suppose it gave us all a taste of the authentic London experience. Unfortunately I didn't have any rain gear at the time (I don't need it in Texas and hadn't needed anything in England yet) so I had to walk around in a huge navy poncho. It really wasn't that bad and it did keep me dry, but I felt ridiculous wearing it. (I learned that day that having some kind of rain gear is essential in England, and went to Primark later that week to buy a rain parka. The one I ended up getting is navy with Union Flag hearts on it...it probably looks very touristy but is very cute!)

Me and my poncho by Tower Bridge

Although the weather was terrible, it was really cool to see the various sights of London from the river, and we got to sail under Tower Bridge! Once we got to Greenwich we went to the Painted Hall at Old Royal Naval College and the Greenwich Royal Observatory. The observatory marks the line between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres and the absolute time for measuring time in different zones. We didn't get to go into the observatory, but there is part of the line outside where you can go stand so you are in two hemispheres at once. While I stood there I thought of the part of "A Walk to Remember" where Landon takes Jamie to a state border so she can be in two places at once. Cheesy, I know, but it's such a sweet movie! By the time we walked to the observatory the rain had cleared and the sky was very blue which made the view of London from the observatory hill absolutely breathtaking. The gorgeous weather in the afternoon made the nasty weather in the morning totally worth it.

Old Royal Naval College

Dining Hall at the Old Royal Naval College

Chapel at the Old Royal Naval College

One foot in each hemisphere- in two places at once!

View from the Royal Observatory

After visiting the observatory we had a little free time, so I went to the National Maritime Museum because I really wanted to see the jacket Admiral Nelson was wearing when he died (bullet wound from the Battle of Trafalgar). Unfortunately I got there too close to closing, and just missed it! After leaving the Maritime Museum I walked over to the Greenwich market with my friend Sidney for a few minutes, then met up with Gabby to catch a vigil Mass in Greenwich. Although it can be a little stressful trying to figure out where churches are, Mass times, and how to get there, visiting so many different churches has been really cool. After Mass Gabby and I met back up with some of friends and headed back to Twickenham to prepare for our long day on Sunday.

A few weeks prior to Sunday Gabby and I found a tour on Groupon titled "England in a Day" which was half off the regular price. Since it was so cheap considering how much it packed into one day, we decided to go for it! We woke up super early Sunday morning and headed to Victoria Coach Station to begin our journey. Our first stop of the trip was Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare, which is quite a distance from London. Fortunately the coach was pretty comfortable and our guide was interesting and sometimes funny (there were some extremely corny jokes, but I think that comes with the job). After arriving in Stratford-upon-Avon we went to Shakespeare's birth house where we enjoyed champagne and scones in the cafe while an actor performed a scene from "Comedy of Errors" for us. We then got to tour the birth house and had about an hour to walk around Stratford. Ridgely, another study abroad student, and I walked along the river Avon to the church where Shakespeare is buried. The church was closed for services, but it was still cool to see the outside and know that the body of one of the greatest writers of all time is buried within.

One of my favorites!

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."- Romeo and Juliet

Shakespeare's birth house

The River Avon

The church in which Shakespeare is buried

After leaving Stratford we headed through the Cotswolds to Bath. We didn't actually stop in the Cotswolds, but there was plenty of beautiful scenery to see from the coach. Once in Bath we didn't have very much time to visit any of the major attractions, so Gabby, Ridgely, and I grabbed a bite to eat and walked around the town area surrounding Bath Abbey. While exploring we walked by the river and discovered the place where Javert's suicide was filmed in the most recent film version of Les Miserables! I wish we could have had more time to see Bath- I would have loved to see the inside of Bath Abbey, the Roman Baths, and the Royal Crescent. However, even in the short time I was struck with how alive the town was (maybe just with tourists, but alive nonetheless) and how pretty the yellow-y tinted stone buildings were. Bath is definitely on my list of places to revisit sometime during this trip.

River Avon (not the same one as in Stratford) and scene of Javert's suicide

Bath Abbey

Our third and final stop was Stonehenge. I'd actually already been to Stonehenge before during my family's trip to England when I was six years old. It's one of the few places I have a pretty distinct memory of visiting. Before leaving for the UK, I found my family's photo albums of the trip and scanned a few pictures, including one of me posing at Stonehenge. One of my goals on my second visit was to recreate this picture. We walked around the stone circle and eventually found the exact spot where the old picture was taken, and Gabby skillfully captured the shot. It was a really cool feeling to be back to the exact place where I had been 15 years ago- so much has changed!

After spending about and hour and a half visiting and learning about Stonehenge we hopped back on the coach and headed back to London. Fortunately we drove through Richmond on the way back to Victoria Coach station and were able to be dropped off there, which got us back to campus about two hours earlier than we would have. By the time we got back we were all exhausted. It was a busy weekend, but worth it. I got to see three major sites, lots of beautiful scenery, and learn more about English history and culture.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for my post on my trip to Edinburgh last weekend, coming soon!