Day 01 - Buckingham Palace/ Convent Garden/ British Museum
Saturday, 24 November 2012, 00:36
Day 00
I am sure that I speak for most of us when I say that while we were all extremely eager to get on with the trip and finally set off to London, most of us did not enjoy saying goodbye to our loved ones at the airport. We already miss them but surely 11 days of learning and new experiences in London will be worth the temporary separation.
The journey was split into two flights. The first was a 7 hour flight to Dubai before we transited to another 8 hour flight to London, Heathrow. The long flights were difficult to manage as it was difficult to sleep. We also had our first workbook assignment to keep us busy during the flight, which required us to pen down our ideas and expectations of London, as well as annotate a poem entitled London by William Blake. We were maybe a little too excited to be able to concentrate properly.
Day 01
As if the flights did not already eat up so much time, the group walked up to a long snaking queue at customs. Some of us tried to fight off restlessness by talking about jet lag, and our fellow schoolmates in Singapore who would have already been on their way to school at the time. I personally felt like I was about to burst if I did not get out of the airport any sooner. However, the tiring journey to London was all worth it when we finally stepped outdoors decked in our winter wear. First timers like me were excited by every sight, including the water vapour that came from our mouths as we spoke!
The coach we had been waiting for finally arrived. The ride to the city gave the group a really good glimpse of the brick buildings, brick houses and red buses that London is well known for. It was a beautiful ride and it got even better when Sean, our Blue Badge Tour Guide for the day, came on board. While he made it very clear that we seemed more to him like a group of zombies trapped in a bus (the long flights drained the life out of us), he was impressively informative and humorous at the same time. Sean was thoroughly enjoyable to listen to, constantly pointing out iconic sights as we drove through the city. We had the privilege of seeing places like Hyde Park, Harrods on Knightsbridge, St James Palace and the first ever Hard Rock Café, just to name a few.
The sight-seeing got even more exciting when we hopped off the bus and roamed around the London streets. Probably the best bit of the city tour was when we walked to Buckingham Palace. We had passed by Prince Charles’ house on the way and witnessed a guard change ceremony. There were policemen on beautiful horses and a fantastic marching band clad in their uniform for the winter season. Before we walked to the Buckingham Palace, Sean told us that Queen Elizabeth had celebrated her 60th anniversary that year and was the first monarch who managed to do so in centuries. The British are hoping that the Queen breaks the record for the longest reign in United Kingdom, which is currently at 64 years. Buckingham Palace looked almost magical; the experience seemed surreal for many of us because we had only seen the palace on television before this trip. We were not the only ones who were enchanted by the palace, hundreds of people came to visit, many of whom I believe were Londoners themselves.
We then broke for lunch at Convent Garden. There were many nice shops selling things like books, souvenirs, clothes, sweet treats and most importantly, food. A large number of us were attracted to the yellow seafood rice being cooked in a gigantic wok- paella - and decided to try it. Others ate jacket potatoes and pies, food that I feel are commonly eaten by Londoners for lunch as there were a few cafes selling similar food. Many of us ordered our food to go, which is not only cheaper, but a common practice done by locals as lunch in London is known to be a ‘grab and go’ meal. It was the group’s first taste of dining in London, and I am sure we are looking forward to more.
Our final stop was The British Museum, founded in 1753 and the first national public museum worldwide. Not only was it a really large museum, it was filled with a jaw-dropping amount of artifacts from all around the world. Imagine 9 football pitches being filled with 8 million objects! The books, manuscripts and natural specimens of Sir Hans Sloane had greatly contributed to the museum’s collection. He was also the man who discovered milk chocolate! The museum had numerous sections and we only managed to take a look at a few as it was physically impossible to complete the whole museum in a few hours. We visited exhibitions like the Enlightenment Room, Living and Dying, Egypt and Greece. It was truly amazing how the museum had an impressive collection of artifacts from other countries.
The group also attended a special exhibition called ‘Staging the World’. It was a unique insight into the emerging role of London as a world city, seen through the perspectives of Shakespeare’s plays. What intrigued me most was the fact that Shakespeare never left England and only imagined places for his plays, yet managed to depict quite aptly how the people were like in places like Venice, France or Morocco when he wrote his plays. His plays were powerful in many ways. For example, Shakespeare’s medieval history plays helped forge a new identity for England as a Protestant nation in old times. His Roman tragedies questioned the nature of power, the play ‘Merchant of Venice’ questioned ethnic divide, and he even introduced the term ‘assassination’ in the play ‘Macbeth’.
Most of us were already struggling to fight our exhaustion, but we definitely learned a lot at The British Museum. We finally ended our day with a nice, warm dinner at the hotel’s cafe before getting a good night’s rest. It was 8pm, probably the earliest time ever for many of us to feel tired and head to bed. Our first day in London was most certainly eventful and the first of many to come!
