Original date of post: September 15, 2023
Whew! Today was quite the adventure in London! There were plenty of famous landmarks all fairly close to each other, so I got quite a bit of sightseeing in.
I’ve been on top of my homework so far, so I decided to go to another destination on my Criminal Justice Pilgrimage: Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service!
…Yeah, it’s a building. As cool and significant a building as it is, it wasn’t exactly enough to justify a trip all the way to London. Fortunately, there were plenty of nearby destinations, some of which I had noted earlier on a map. One destination I hadn’t marked was Buckingham Palace, which, to my surprise and pleasure, was fairly near by. Following a series of signs helpfully left for tourists, I finally found the fabled British royal residence. The surrounding area was REALLY packed.
Unfortunately, while I may be excellent at following instructions to a destination, I am less than stellar at retracing my footsteps. To translate that into simpler terms, I got lost and wandered aimlessly around London until I found the Tube station back to the Scotland Yard area. Once again where I started, I went the other way towards the River Thames. Why did I go there? Well…
Yep, that’s Big Ben, the famous bell/clock tower alongside the British Houses of Parliament. Speaking of which…
That’s right! Even though I’m scheduled to visit Parliament again later in the semester as part of my classes, I couldn’t help but check out the exterior, as it’s such a beautiful building. Also, as the originator of statutory laws, Parliament is a legitimate stop on the Criminal Justice Pilgrimage.
I also saw Westminster Abbey, which was nearby.
In the general area of Westminster Abbey and Parliament are statues of various British political figures (and some non-British ones, like Abraham Lincoln and Nelson Mandela) and small parks. Right across the River Thames was the always-watching London Eye:
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| Oliver Cromwell |
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| Robert Peel (founder of the Metropolitan Police Services) |
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| Abraham Lincoln |
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| Boudicca (Celtic warlord who led an uprising against the Roman Empire) |
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| Emmeline Pankhurst (British suffragette leader) |
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| Winston Churchill |
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| Nelson Mandela |
I could hear it calling me with its siren song of an exhilarating ride, but since I didn’t want to be too late getting home, I decided to head out. Maybe another time…
This has been a fun weekend, and I’ve really been settling in here in England. I now feel that I’ve got my necessary routines down (although I have no doubt that they will be thrown into the fires of anarchy when the homework becomes more intense/I become more sociable) and I feel almost at home.
That being said, I’ve had two unusual experiences this weekend that remind me that I’ve stepped into something of a new world.
First: last night, as I was returning home from the pub, I passed by a large crowd of young women (with maybe one or two men), many of whom seemed to have had a drink or two beforehand. As I passed them, they started saying “Good Night!” to me.
Wait, it gets weirder: Just as I passed the last few women, one of them said to me, “Good Night, Harry Potter!”
…I’m sure that the English nightlife will continue to bring interesting experiences.
Second: while exploring London today, I found this neat little bin:
Apparently, knife violence is a serious problem in London and these bins offer a convenient way for honest civilians to rid themselves of potential weaponry. It’s something that I’ve certainly never seen in the United States.
So yeah, my first week in England has included exploration, light culture shock, socializing, settling in, homework, and (naturally) blogging.
Here’s hoping my second week goes well!
Modern reflections:
This was quite the fruitful outing! Scotland Yard and Buckingham Palace were impressive enough, but the whole area around Parliament turned out to be a treasure trove for the historically minded. Like the Tower of London, Parliament was a convenient and comforting landmark due to its proximity to a big and bustling Tube station. As I predicted here, it also ended up being a field trip destination.
It took quite a while to get all the exterior shots. Parliament was much bigger than anticipated.
The photo of Buckingham Palace hits a little differently in late 2023 (RIP Queen Elizabeth II), as does the statue of Nelson Mandela. He was alive when this was first posted, but he passed away later in the semester. I visited his statue after his passing and saw that many others paid their respects. The updated photo I took didn't make it in a later blog post (I couldn't find a way to tastefully incorporate it into twentysomething angst or macabre fanboying over executions), so here it is:
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| RIP, President Mandela |
All in all, my first week in England was an adventure that set the tone for the rest of the semester. Around this time, I started hitting up pubs with my fellow travelers, where I became acquainted with (and fond of) imbibing a proper British gin and tonic. I originally posted about this in a short blog post before this one, but I've decided to skip reposting that one for now; I think I've summarized it pretty well in this paragraph. Nightly excursions became the norm as the semester went on. I didn't write that extensively about pubbing, but I might include my recollections as we continue these flashbacks.
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