"Toh-mah-to"
Post originally from April 30th:
April 30th was our last day (Until we return from Scotland) In London. The plan for the day was packing everything up and have breakfast by 9 AM so we could all check out of the youth hostel. Our luggage was stored in the back room and with our backpacks we split up into groups for some free hours until we all met up in the station for our class portion of the day.
Maya, Amber, Savannah, Hailey and I went to Kensington park. This was a location that I had personally been begging to go to so I was very lucky that they wanted to as well. The flat and huge park was unlike any I have ever seen. I am used to paths cutting through a forest but by the look of it all of the trees seemed to be planted and maybe some were naturally there but it had an unique look of all the different trees sprouting up from the existing field. It was beautiful. In Kensington we quickly saw that it was a dog paradise. All sorts of dogs were everywhere -- terriers dashed in circles around their owners, Huskies playfully tackled each other, two hounds perfectly flanked their jogging owner. The dogs were every where you looked and they were all off their leashes and stayed in their owner’s sight without any commands. Many of them running happily and wiggling. Corgis, labs, collies, poodles, cockapoos, whippets, cocker spaniels and more.
Half way through our walk we came across the park’s Italian garden. A large rectangular area was all made of tan-stone walkways with pools of water checkered in between. Romanesque-statues rose up above the area with columns and sparkling water fountains but eager to reach our destination within the park we skipped this area until afterwards.
Finally, we came to what we were looking for. Beside a pond, or more correctly, “the biggest lagoon!” (Lyric from Finding Neverland) full of juvenile swans, the statue of Peter Pan stood confidently gesturing broadly as he surveyed his park-full of adventure and possibilities from atop his towering rock full of watching fairies and woodland critters. The boy who never grows up, a character straight out of J.M. Barrie’s stories and life. I sat contentedly at the foot of the statue where Barrie first met the boys and their St. Bernard who inspired his stories.
Sitting in the grass, I took my time to write out some postcards before we left. Later for lunch we went to a Kitchen where everyone says “Toh-mah-to” and then we met up again with our class for the museum of London. The museum was cool -- all of London’s chronologically ordered history of the people was displayed there in a variety of displays. Soon after we walked around the side of the old section of Lodon that we have not seen yet. This included the towering St. Paul’s Cathedral; Sam joked that this building also added to his inferiority complex but we all agreed standing outside of the huge building was humbling. Next we crossed the “death eater” bridge seen in Harry Potter but in all reality it is called the Millenium Bridge, complete with tons of Carmel nut vendors. Finally, we reached our goal, the Globe, a replica of Shakespeare’s own stage. When we return to London after Scotland we will be seeing Romeo and Juliet here.
Then we all rushed to the Euston station and hopped on our train. We rode a sleeper-train up to Edinburgh, Scotland, it was overnight and we all paired up to share tiny compartments/ rooms. I’ve always wanted to try a tiny, tiny room so it was exciting, interesting for some- soon we will be in Scotland!
April 30th was our last day (Until we return from Scotland) In London. The plan for the day was packing everything up and have breakfast by 9 AM so we could all check out of the youth hostel. Our luggage was stored in the back room and with our backpacks we split up into groups for some free hours until we all met up in the station for our class portion of the day.
Maya, Amber, Savannah, Hailey and I went to Kensington park. This was a location that I had personally been begging to go to so I was very lucky that they wanted to as well. The flat and huge park was unlike any I have ever seen. I am used to paths cutting through a forest but by the look of it all of the trees seemed to be planted and maybe some were naturally there but it had an unique look of all the different trees sprouting up from the existing field. It was beautiful. In Kensington we quickly saw that it was a dog paradise. All sorts of dogs were everywhere -- terriers dashed in circles around their owners, Huskies playfully tackled each other, two hounds perfectly flanked their jogging owner. The dogs were every where you looked and they were all off their leashes and stayed in their owner’s sight without any commands. Many of them running happily and wiggling. Corgis, labs, collies, poodles, cockapoos, whippets, cocker spaniels and more.
Half way through our walk we came across the park’s Italian garden. A large rectangular area was all made of tan-stone walkways with pools of water checkered in between. Romanesque-statues rose up above the area with columns and sparkling water fountains but eager to reach our destination within the park we skipped this area until afterwards.
Finally, we came to what we were looking for. Beside a pond, or more correctly, “the biggest lagoon!” (Lyric from Finding Neverland) full of juvenile swans, the statue of Peter Pan stood confidently gesturing broadly as he surveyed his park-full of adventure and possibilities from atop his towering rock full of watching fairies and woodland critters. The boy who never grows up, a character straight out of J.M. Barrie’s stories and life. I sat contentedly at the foot of the statue where Barrie first met the boys and their St. Bernard who inspired his stories.
Sitting in the grass, I took my time to write out some postcards before we left. Later for lunch we went to a Kitchen where everyone says “Toh-mah-to” and then we met up again with our class for the museum of London. The museum was cool -- all of London’s chronologically ordered history of the people was displayed there in a variety of displays. Soon after we walked around the side of the old section of Lodon that we have not seen yet. This included the towering St. Paul’s Cathedral; Sam joked that this building also added to his inferiority complex but we all agreed standing outside of the huge building was humbling. Next we crossed the “death eater” bridge seen in Harry Potter but in all reality it is called the Millenium Bridge, complete with tons of Carmel nut vendors. Finally, we reached our goal, the Globe, a replica of Shakespeare’s own stage. When we return to London after Scotland we will be seeing Romeo and Juliet here.
Then we all rushed to the Euston station and hopped on our train. We rode a sleeper-train up to Edinburgh, Scotland, it was overnight and we all paired up to share tiny compartments/ rooms. I’ve always wanted to try a tiny, tiny room so it was exciting, interesting for some- soon we will be in Scotland!
-Danni
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