London: February Will Travel

As I go more and more places I realize I am taking photos of a lot of buildings and castles that after a while start to look the same. I try to take some artsy photos everywhere I go but I’m still not over the “I’m not confident enough to look like a tourist.”

In the last week I have seen a lot and I just have to share a bit with you.

First, last Friday my “group” minus my roommate Mary Kate hopped on a train (well, some of us, I got left behind for the first one) and went to Dover to see the cliffs and the Dover Castle.

Unfortunately our spontaneous attitude was not back up by much research so when went on a freezing afternoon we found the Castle was only open on Saturdays and Sundays in the winter.

And after that I said, “hey let’s go to the Dover museum to warm up.” The rest of the group (three boys) decided it would be better to take a path on to the top of the Dover Cliffs. Ugh. If you know me, you know that hiking and cold are not remotely my favorite things. Well we got to see the beautiful view of the giant transport dock of Dover. Oh boy. And when they said, “let’s go further.”

I said, “See you later, I’m going to the museum.” I think that’s what I want on my tombstone.

As my Aunt Janet put it, Dover is a miserable little town. It is the Gateway to France and Entrance to England. It is a good point because really there isn’t much to do there and it isn’t just a random place, it is a big port. There is a very cute little museum in the center of Dover that took about 25 minutes to see. (We stayed 45 since we wanted to stay warm.) But there was a few great tea shops and a nice downtown. The problem with a lot of English towns I’ve seen is that the train station is so far away from the most interesting part of town and there is little direction to it.

Saturday was a little more successful. Our program took us on a trip to Stonehenge and Winchester for the day. As a history major I do appreciate things like Stonehenge but honestly when it is bitterly cold out, 20 minutes provides more than enough time to see it. There is an audio walking tour attached to your visit but with all the people it is hard to hear and there are only so many times you can take pictures of the rocks.

I tried my best. So did Jake.
 

Even in the middle of winter this place is ridiculously crowded and it isn’t exactly close to anywhere either. And sadly the formation is surrounded by major roadways now so it is not very peaceful as I imagine it would be. I’m glad I got to see it, I just wish it was a warmer, less crowded day.

Luckily after that we spent a few hours in the lovely town of Winchester. I actually thoroughly enjoyed this. Winchester is lovely with beautiful streets filled with shops of all kinds, the oldest church is Europe, and King Arthur’s round table.

Yes, this was kind of crowded too, but I didn’t mind it as much here. I did get a kick out of how many people were disappointed that the round table was hung on a wall and not “an actual table.”

After a short lived attempt to explain this from a historian’s point of view, I gave up. They weren’t going to listen. We had stopped for a nice hot meal at a pub (chicken gojons basket; think chicken nuggets in beer batter) and on our way back to the coaches (buses) we stopped at an adorable teashop called Ginger Too and I got an Earl Gray tea and piece of Victorian Sponge cake takeaway.

 I wish we could have stayed since teatime has truly become my favorite part of the day here.

  

 It’s funny how we are still getting used to how the Brits “do outings.” This is a very expensive country and there is little to do for free that’s inside so most people go to coffee shops, teashops, or restaurants and proceed to relax and chat for hours after their meals. Us Americans usually leave right after our meals to proceed to the next thing, so getting the check can be near impossible. My only regret is that I am having a hard time finding people who want to spend a couple hours in a teashop with me. Thank goodness fear I saw my Aunt Janet this weekend. (More on that later.)

Another issue I’ve found here that there are so many great teashops here that one is it hard to choose which ones to go to and second attempting not to spend all money and just eat lots of sweets and cakes. Good thing I’m walking more!

A quick update on this Friday.

My London history professor takes us on tours of the city every other week which included the financial district and the oldest synagogue in England.

 First I went to the top of the London Monument to the Great Fire and got an amazing view of the city.

And up here there is no tourist judging. Yay!

And then after our two classes, (and that giant paper I had) I found myself chasing Beth, Liz, and Mary Kate through campus. When I caught up to them they explained that Daniel Radcliffe was going to be at the Apple Store at 5pm. It was 4:30. So we ran and found that he was promoting his new movie that premieres today, The Woman in Black.We got a great spot behind the actual seating for the filming of an Apple Film series podcast. Got good pictures.

And bad ones.

We tried seeing Emma Watson who is promoting Lancôme at Selfridge's but it didn't work. And then I put my foot down and got tea there with Beth. Soooooo good! I hadn't gotten any all week. More on that later too!

See you soon.

Love,

The College Cuisiner