Today was my only completely free, totally unscheduled, and absolute alone day during the whole of my GSE trip. And let me say: the freedom felt nice.
Unfortunately, spending a day alone is synonomous with spending a day lost beyond belief. I was armed with maps and two weeks of London experience, but still managed to turn myself in circles.
Trying to find the National Gallery, I ended up in SoHo. Looking for the British Museum, I wound up in Trafalgar Square.
I fought through insane crowds before realizing I was stuck in the hell of Oxford Street, wandered around Borough Market twice because I wasn’t sure where the food stalls ended, and walked back and forth across the Thames a zillion times, not sure where I was going or even where I wanted to be going.
I’ve decided I need a GPS (excuse me, SatNav) chip installed in my brain.
But on the plus side, I finally got the camera / computer working! Here are a few photos from the past week.
City view from London EyeKing & Tinker PubFern window overlooking Capel Manor. Burrough MarketCambridge (UK not MA)
PS: I’m hiding in the corner of a McDonalds, stealing their free WiFi. How American of me.
Besides sipping wine along the Thames and perusing local museums, we’re also managing to squeeze in a little work.
So here’s a brief taste of some of our vocational visits. (And BTW, I’m just kidding about the “little work.” I’ve never been so busy in my entire life.)
All Stars Boxing Gym
We visited the All Stars Boxing Gym to hone our boxing skills while in London. In between practicing our right hooks and smooth jabs (are those even boxing terms?), we spoke with owner Isola Akay and some of his great (and talented!) boxing students.
Akay explained that he started the club for local kids, working hard to provide them with as an alternative to the rough streets of London’s Paddington district. As Akay says “sports is a kind of activity which has no barrier . . . it doesn’t matter which colour, it doesn’t matter which background, people are met on equal standards.” What a great guy, and such an inspiration.
I spent my afternoon shadowing some wonderful BBC broadcast journalists, primarily the 6:00 news team. I took part in their staff meetings, watched them brainstorm headlines, observed the production, and sat in awe as news changed during the broadcast. That is seriously stressful. A few observations (as a Master of Journalism, according to Emerson College):
BBC News uses the same equipment as my alma mater, Emerson College. Good? Bad? Who knows, I spaced out during all my broadcast lessons at Emerson.
While CNN was covering Facebook, the BBC was covering Gordon Brown’s major Labour party speech. ‘Nuff said.
BBC staff is very young and hip. They made me look frumpy. (Although, I suppose that’s not hard.)
It’s very weird watching the BBC news, seeing the anchor chatting at the desk in the newsroom, and realizing that you’re sitting in the background of that same newsroom.
No commercials. What a magical concept.
Even the BBC stoops to American standards: I heard quite a bit of discussion about Sarah Brown’s dress. Watch out Michelle Obama, you may have competition!
*PS: The photo above wasn’t from today, it was from our previous public tour. Steve became a BBC anchor!
American Embassy
We visited the Embassy and learned about the US and UK business partnerships., which was great fun. Or quite lovely, as my British counterparts would say.
Looking to visit the Embassy on your next trip to London? Be prepared to queue.
My camera is apparently on strike and won’t upload any recent / interesting / important photos. So please enjoy the photos below. They are utterly random and absolutely don’t capture all the interesting sights we’ve viewed.
Guess who lives at Paddington Station? Paddington Bear!Yeah. If only the States looked like this. London has a strange combination of new vs old.
