Last Call from London

Welcome to my fifteenth and final edition of "News from London." It's hard to believe that I have been here for a whole semester! It's even harder to believe that I have followed through on my promise to keep this blog going the whole time! Nevertheless, on Tuesday, I will be giving final exams in my classes and then on Friday, after a couple of days of farewell events and Christmas parties, I will be heading home.

I thought I'd use this last post to share a few random pictures and to mention some of the places that I've enjoyed, but which never made it into the blog. Also, I'll list the things that I will miss most about living in London, and the things that I am most looking forward to at home. Finally, there are a few people I need to thank.

I'll start with a few pictures of London icons that you might have been expecting to see before now.

Westminster Palace (Parliament) on a rare sunny day. I took this picture early in the semester from the south bank of the Thames.

Westminster Abbey. I didn't go inside on this trip because I spent a lot of time there on a previous visit to London.

I included a picture of Angela in front of Tower Bridge in an earlier post, but the bridge itself was shrouded in mist. Here's a clearer picture I took before the Olympic Games decorations were removed.

I was planning to include pictures of Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus, two more London icons that never made it into the blog, but looking back through my pictures I wasn't able to find any worth posting here. I'm always reluctant to take pictures that include lots of random strangers and those are two places where you are never alone.

Something that I have spent a lot of time doing, but haven't written much about is visiting museums. There are so many museums in London that it is impossible for the average tourist to get to them all in a one or two week trip. Fortunately, I've had a whole semester and I can honestly say that I have been to all the major ones. Here are my favorites.

My Favorite London Museums

1. The British Museum. The British Museum makes you think that no other place should even be allowed to call themselves a museum.

2. The Victoria and Albert Museum. The V&A is sometimes overlooked by tourists because of its close proximity to the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum, but in my opinion it is the best of the three.

3. The Tate Modern. Housed in a converted power station, this museum is worth a visit even if you are skeptical of modern art.

4. The Museum of London. Not as high profile as the top three, but if you are interested in the 2,000-year history of London, this is where you'll find it. In addition to the main location, there is an excellent Museum of London-Docklands at Canary Wharf.

5. The Churchill War Rooms. A great museum housed in the bunker used by Winston Churchill's cabinet during World War II. It's run by the Imperial War Museum, also worth a visit, but currently undergoing a major renovation.

If you're wondering why I didn't mention the National Gallery, a world-class art museum, it's probably only because I did not go there on this trip. I did spend an entire afternoon there on a previous trip, though, and I highly recommend it as well as the nearby National Portrait Gallery.

Okay, time for a few more pictures. Here are a few with a pop culture theme.

Here are some CAPA students crossing Abbey Road in a poor attempt to re-create the cover of the Beatles album with the same name.

Fans are allowed, even encouraged, to write on the wall in front of the Abbey Road studios. They paint over it every six months.

221B Baker Street, the residence of Sherlock Holmes.

I was only able to find one 1950s-style police call box similar to Doctor Who's TARDIS. It's on Earl's Court Road, just outside the tube station. 

If you're only in London for a week or two, there is plenty to do without ever leaving the central part of the city, but when you're here longer, you get the urge to venture out a little farther. Here are my top five places in greater London.

My Favorite Places Outside Central London

1. Hampton Court Palace, in Surrey, just to the southwest of London. I wrote about this in one of my earlier posts. There's 500 years of history here, with an emphasis on Henry VIII and William and Mary.

2. Windsor Castle, in Windsor, just to the west of London. It dates back to the 11th century, but it is still regularly used by the Royal Family.

3. Kew Botanical Gardens, in Kew, west London. The grounds are beautiful, but I most enjoyed the green houses, or orangeries.

4. The East End of London. Traditionally the working class part of London, there have been a lot of changes in recent years. Canary Wharf, Olympic Park, and older neighborhoods like Limehouse and Stratford are worth the trip from central London.

5. Hampstead Heath, in Hampstead, north London. Hampstead Heath is a beautiful park (more wild than you might expect from the English, who like to control nature) with great views overlooking the city.

One of the orangeries at Kew Botanical Gardens.

A view of London looking south from Parliament Hill in Hampstead Heath.

Here are a couple more random shots back in central London.

If you've been saving up for that special umbrella, here's where you want to go!

Do these phone boxes looks familiar? They looked familiar to me, too. It took me a minute to realize that they are the ones in the background picture on this page. I originally chose it from a bunch of stock photos when I was setting up my blog back home.

Things I'll Miss About Living in London

1. Running in Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens. With a week to go, I've logged about 130 miles of running in London. All of them have been in central London's largest park, which is about 1/2 mile from my building.

2. Public Transportation. Mostly the London Underground (the Tube), occasionally a bus, and trains whenever I leave the city; all combined with a lot of walking. With the exception of a taxi that Angela and I took in Northumberland, I have not been in an automobile in four months.

3. The Churchill Arms. I would love to have a great local pub like this in Carthage or Joplin.

4. World-class historic sites and museums. It's great to be able to chose from so many on a free afternoon.

5. Lamb. This probably isn't really number five, but Vincent House serves lamb a lot and it's not something I usually eat at home.

Things I'm Looking Forward to at Home

These are in addition to being with Angela and living in my own house, compared to which these things are trivial.

1. NFL Football. It has been tough for me to be away from home during football season, especially with the Colts doing so well. I found a pub that shows some games and I can listen to the Colts' radio broadcast, but I am anxious to sit on my own couch, at a normal time of day, and watch football in HD.

2. 3G. I've been using an old Motorola Razor with a UK SIM card since I've been here. I have my iPhone with me, but international data roaming costs a fortune and free public WiFi is unreliable. I don't talk on the phone much, but I'll be glad to be connected again.

3. Ice. If you've travelled abroad you know what I mean. You can't get a glass full of ice here. Even a few cubes can be difficult. It sounds like a small thing, but after a while you miss it.

4. Putting my camera away. I've taken over 1,000 pictures here and I'm glad to have done so, but I'm getting pretty tired of carrying that thing around all the time.

5. My bed. I have no real complaints about my time here, but since I need a number five, I will admit that my mattress is pretty uncomfortable.

I'll definitely miss having access to public transportation. The Notting Hill Gate tube station was the beginning and end of many memorable days here.

I'll miss Vincent House, too. Especially not having to cook or clean! 

Being away from home, having small classes, and doing a lot of field study has given me the opportunity to get to know my students better than I normally would. I hope this experience has been as valuable for them as my study abroad experience was for me. If I had not spent a semester in the Netherlands when I was a junior at Purdue, I doubt I would be in London today.

Some of my students with a piece of the Berlin Wall outside the Imperial War Museum. I hope this experience has changed their lives.

A few of my students in Oxford on our last outing of the semester.

Speaking of change, this has to be my favorite UK road sign. I imagine being pulled over and having a police officer wag his finger at me and say "Spend more time with your family!"

I want to close by thanking Missouri Southern for giving me the opportunity to spend the semester in London. It has been an experience that will definitely enhance my teaching in the future. I also want to thank Angela for being so supportive. I could not have done this without her. (And we're both thankful for Skype!) Finally, I want to thank my regular readers. It means a lot to me that so many of you followed me throughout the semester.

I hope that you have enjoyed "News from London." I have had a great time writing it. I'm going to keep the blog active because I may use it to share pictures from a few trips I have coming up. So stay tuned for "News from Rome" in March, "News from the Grand Canyon" in May, and potentially "News from India" next Christmas!

Until then,
Cheers!