London Calling

I sit, with the new, acorn-sized, plastic ring that I bought in covent garden in the heart of London attempting to jot down my thoughts on this fantastic place where remnants of past dominance have given way to a temperament of commerce and comfort where chivalry seems to be a thing of the past and modern ideals and yellow journalism have taken hold. this is not intended to seem a harsh scope, rather a statement of the bedrock of my weekend in London. 

after a hasty departure from dulles airport, my friend misty and I arrived at heathrow just past 5:30am and were soon on our way to the russell square stop on the piccadilly line on the tube to meet up with Amy. due to my hasty departure (because the taxi driving me to the airport was half an hour early), I was without proper footwear. this would plague me the entire weekend; now a week later my feet are still recovering. oh and we walked. we walked like pioneer children. we walked like that dude in the gods must be crazy. like those soccer moms with the three-wheeled racing stroller and the blank look of determination that carve their way through traffic in any supermarket or amusement park... I think you get the picture. 

London is very much a walking town. they've got it all marked out for the layperson - each crosswalk has a "look left" or "look right" on the ground for those of us that drive on the correct side of the road. luckily, these instructions also come with arrows for those of us that drive on the correct side of the road that haven't mastered our left and right. London sort of reminds me of DC... it doesn't have the tall skyscrapers that congest the skyline of New York, rather it allows light and sky to be seen from the street. there are some streets that are small and narrow, due to the fact that they are so old, kind of like Georgetown in DC, or Old Town Alexandria, but older. maybe "old" isn't the right word. mature. perfected. seasoned. cultivated. the architecture fits all of these words. I love the architecture! it is a city of class, although, it is not without it's classless areas. 

the tower of London with it's dark history was fascinating! our tour guide/beefeater was a riot! although, he did pick on me quite a bit - asking me if I knew the president when he found out I live in DC and later admonishing me not to use the camera on my cell phone, sensing that I might have one as I "looked like the sort that would." to his credit, he was right. after hearing all about beheadings and political scandals, we gawked at the crown jewels. wow. bright, shiny objects get me every time! if I owned crowns of jewels such as the queen's collection, i would wear them everyday. we're talking reading a book, grabbing lunch with a friend, even playing sports. oh yeah - can't you just see me on the tennis court serving up an ace trying to keep the beveled object secure on my nauggin?

after Misty, Amy and Amy's parents pried me away from all the pretty things, we headed to the other side of the thames for a nighttime jaunt on that carnival ride of a tourist trap they call the London eye. yeah, I know, it's so cliche, but everyone's gotta ride this thing once and i'd suggest you do it at night. the city looks magical. I thought of my mom as we whisked, I mean crawled, by big ben. I could just see wendy, peter pan and tinkerbell flying by on their way to never-neverland. speaking of fantasy tales... after church on sunday, Amy dragged us to leicester square (pronounced lester) to join the throngs of fans for the world premiere of harry potter and the goblet of fire. no, we didn't see the movie, we were outside watching the privileged head into the theater. the whole cast was there, along with madonna and her daughter, who surprisingly received the loudest ovation, even beating out the shrill screaming for harry himself, daniel radcliffe. everyone agreed, even Amy's mom, that if we were 12, we'd have crushes on young harry... although now that i'm back in the states, i've seen him in interviews wearing more makeup than me. i'm not sure i'd like the competition.

leicester square is in the famed west end of London where all the fabulous theaters are - no we didn't catch a show unfortunately, however we did find a nice little italian joint after the movie premiere for our last meal in Londontown. over bowls of pasta, we reminisced on the last few days - harrod's, the victoria & albert museum, buckingham palace, westminster abbey, the globe theatre, tavistock square, jen's blistered feet, the cute cafe in russell square where we ate breakfast every morning and the never-ending search for chocolate. 

after everything that I experienced in London, I could very easily find myself a flat there and feel right at home. yes the culture is not completely what i'm used to in the states, but I didn't expect it to be the exactly same. the differences, I believe, stem from many sources, not the least of which is a change in the role of religion in the social fabric. a study was published while we were in London that said only 11% of the population attended church, down from 17% in 2000. this number is expected to drop to 6% in the next few years. quite different from the god-fearing areas that blanket the states. 

Also noticed was a lackadaisical nature that was refreshing in regards to their legal system in particular. they aren't suit-happy people. I pondered the reasons for this and think that their old traditions and indeed the social class structure that has been in place for so long has allowed people to accept their roles and also their lack of need to control and reform. our Founding Fathers laid out very detailed "rights" that are both very necessary in society and unfortunately sometimes exploited or misused. this has fostered a society that feels entitled to it's share and in every way each person fights tooth and nail to hold onto what is theirs. of course, our situation in America allows for much lateral movement within our social classes that is not as obvious or easy in many European cultures. when our Founding Fathers left Europe they were leaving behind these restrictive class codes and what they laid out for America was truly magnificent, but I worry that we are letting the pureness of that beginning slip away. 

the last thing that struck me in the contrast of culture is the sensationalistic media. these brits just love their tabloids! while on the train from the airport, I was taken aback when I saw an older gentlemen in business attire reading a tabloid newspaper. I then looked around to see almost everyone else reading the same sort of newspaper. no war headlines, no headlines about the unrest in paris or of the economy, all I saw was madonna at the mtv Europe awards and the latest on jude law and sienna miller. this from a country that brought us winston churchill, bob geldoff and oxfam. quite a contrast. the patrons usually leave their papers on the train for next person. thus, if anyone needs an update on princes william or harry, let me know. as you can see London is a dichotomy of tradition and forward-thinking movement. I can't wait to return!