Please mind the gap between the train and the platform.
Well, here I am back in France. I got back last night, and boy was my room was frigid when I opened the door. I couldn’t figure out why - even when the lycée turns off our heating, it’s never been that cold - then lo and behold, earlier today I noticed that my window was open. I must not have closed it correctly the last time I opened it. So I slammed it shut and now my room is nice and warm again.
So I think my general impression of London has to be… jolly good! It was so much nicer than Paris. There were lots of cheap places to eat - I saw Burger King, KFC, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, and Subway (fast food forever!), all of which I doubt I could find in Paris. And the people there, for the most part, were incredibly nice. Often all I had to do was consult my map, and someone near me would ask, "Are you lost?" and be ready to offer directions. And the nicest people of all were my cousin Laura, her husband Matt, and kids Molly, Jack, and Lucy (ages 16, 14, and 9, I think), who let me stay at their house from December 21-24. Laura’s parents, my Uncle Johnny and Aunt Betty, were also visiting them from New York, and it was really nice to see them again. Here’s a brief breakdown of my trip…
Rebecca’s Awesome JM Barrie Tour of London (complete with lots of parenthesis!)
December 21. I arrived in London very late, eat dinner at Laura’s house (all I had was a grilled cheese sandwich - traveling kills my appetite), and have a very animated discussion with Lucy over which Harry Potter book was the best. We also played a word game where you had to form the longest words you could out of the letters you were given.
December 22. I saw the Prince Albert Memorial, Lancaster Gate (where JM Barrie was living when he met the Llewelyn Davies family), Kensington Park Gardens (where the Llewelyn Davies family was living when they met JM Barrie), and Portobello Road. We ate dinner with the Heelys, family friends of Laura’s, who had two daughters, one of whom was named Rebecca and near my age. We played Scrabble (Molly, Jack, and Lucy played as one team and won by a wide margin), watched Mean Girls (Jack’s idea), and ripped open real-live Christmas crackers just like they do in Harry Potter (I was the only one who had never done that before).
December 23. I saw Sloane Square (the tube station where Peter Llewelyn Davies killed himself) and Hampstead Churchyard (where the Llewelyn Davies and Du Maurier families are buried). The churchyard was very old, full of crooked, illegible headstones, and was made spookier by heavy fog. Molly, Jack, and I ate dinner together and watched part of Final Destination 3 (a really gorey movie - what a body count!). Later we all went to the theater and saw The Golden Compass. I enjoyed the beautiful visiuals and the haunting song Lyra (the name of the heroine) that played over the final credits, but I found the film itself mediocre and predictable, probably because I never read the books. Fortunately Lucy was happy to give me a very detailed summary of the books on the way back from the theater. But the highlight of the conversation on the way back goes to me, Betty, and ye olde generation gap…
Betty: I wonder how they managed to train all those polar bears.
Me: I think the polar bears were CGI.
Betty: They were what?
Me: CGI - you know, animated by computers.
Betty: (surprised) Oh, you think so?
Christmas Eve, December 24. I saw Holland Park, Norland Place School (the school the Llewelyn Davies brothers attended as children, still an active school), and Campden Hill Square (the Llewelyn Davies family’s last London rescidence). Laura dropped me off at my hostel, and I got settled in there. I got very lost that evening and had to take a dark deserted side street back to my hostel (the scariest moment of the trip).
Christmas Day, December 25. Since the Underground was closed for Christmas, I spent the entire day walking. Of course this would be the one day that it rained (and I didn’t have an umbrella). Most of me managed to stay dry, by my hat and gloves got soaked right away, so I spent the entire day with damp head and hands (how I didn’t catch a killer cold is beyond me). I saw Hyde Park, the Wellington Arch, Buckingham Palace, and all the Peter Pan sites in Kensington Gardens: Bird Island, the Serptine River, the Peter Pan statue, and the Peter Pan tombstones (the tombstones were the best part of the trip!).
Boxing Day, December 26. I saw Great Ormond Street Hospital (to whom JM Barrie bequeated the rights to Peter Pan), the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge, All Hallows Church (the oldest church in London, or so they claim), and St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Peter Pan’s Birthday, December 27. I saw Adelphi Terrace (JM Barrie’s last London rescidence), the Duke of York Theatre (where Peter Pan made its world debut on December 27, 1904), Trafalgar Square, Downing Street, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. I bought souvenirs for everyone, which I will try to send home on Monday.
December 28. I saw Platform 9 ¾ at King’s Cross train station and went back to France. Somewhere near Lille, Eurostar experienced a "technical problem" and we had to stop and change trains, so we were an hour late getting to Paris and I almost missed my train to Villers-Cotterêts. But fortunately I just managed to catch it, and it felt so good to be back at the lycée again!
They cut a luggage trolley in half and affixed it to the wall so it looks like it's disappering into it, just like in the books. Isn't that awesome?
So I think my general impression of London has to be… jolly good! It was so much nicer than Paris. There were lots of cheap places to eat - I saw Burger King, KFC, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, and Subway (fast food forever!), all of which I doubt I could find in Paris. And the people there, for the most part, were incredibly nice. Often all I had to do was consult my map, and someone near me would ask, "Are you lost?" and be ready to offer directions. And the nicest people of all were my cousin Laura, her husband Matt, and kids Molly, Jack, and Lucy (ages 16, 14, and 9, I think), who let me stay at their house from December 21-24. Laura’s parents, my Uncle Johnny and Aunt Betty, were also visiting them from New York, and it was really nice to see them again. Here’s a brief breakdown of my trip…
Rebecca’s Awesome JM Barrie Tour of London (complete with lots of parenthesis!)
December 21. I arrived in London very late, eat dinner at Laura’s house (all I had was a grilled cheese sandwich - traveling kills my appetite), and have a very animated discussion with Lucy over which Harry Potter book was the best. We also played a word game where you had to form the longest words you could out of the letters you were given.
December 22. I saw the Prince Albert Memorial, Lancaster Gate (where JM Barrie was living when he met the Llewelyn Davies family), Kensington Park Gardens (where the Llewelyn Davies family was living when they met JM Barrie), and Portobello Road. We ate dinner with the Heelys, family friends of Laura’s, who had two daughters, one of whom was named Rebecca and near my age. We played Scrabble (Molly, Jack, and Lucy played as one team and won by a wide margin), watched Mean Girls (Jack’s idea), and ripped open real-live Christmas crackers just like they do in Harry Potter (I was the only one who had never done that before).
December 23. I saw Sloane Square (the tube station where Peter Llewelyn Davies killed himself) and Hampstead Churchyard (where the Llewelyn Davies and Du Maurier families are buried). The churchyard was very old, full of crooked, illegible headstones, and was made spookier by heavy fog. Molly, Jack, and I ate dinner together and watched part of Final Destination 3 (a really gorey movie - what a body count!). Later we all went to the theater and saw The Golden Compass. I enjoyed the beautiful visiuals and the haunting song Lyra (the name of the heroine) that played over the final credits, but I found the film itself mediocre and predictable, probably because I never read the books. Fortunately Lucy was happy to give me a very detailed summary of the books on the way back from the theater. But the highlight of the conversation on the way back goes to me, Betty, and ye olde generation gap…
Betty: I wonder how they managed to train all those polar bears.
Me: I think the polar bears were CGI.
Betty: They were what?
Me: CGI - you know, animated by computers.
Betty: (surprised) Oh, you think so?
Christmas Eve, December 24. I saw Holland Park, Norland Place School (the school the Llewelyn Davies brothers attended as children, still an active school), and Campden Hill Square (the Llewelyn Davies family’s last London rescidence). Laura dropped me off at my hostel, and I got settled in there. I got very lost that evening and had to take a dark deserted side street back to my hostel (the scariest moment of the trip).
Christmas Day, December 25. Since the Underground was closed for Christmas, I spent the entire day walking. Of course this would be the one day that it rained (and I didn’t have an umbrella). Most of me managed to stay dry, by my hat and gloves got soaked right away, so I spent the entire day with damp head and hands (how I didn’t catch a killer cold is beyond me). I saw Hyde Park, the Wellington Arch, Buckingham Palace, and all the Peter Pan sites in Kensington Gardens: Bird Island, the Serptine River, the Peter Pan statue, and the Peter Pan tombstones (the tombstones were the best part of the trip!).
Boxing Day, December 26. I saw Great Ormond Street Hospital (to whom JM Barrie bequeated the rights to Peter Pan), the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge, All Hallows Church (the oldest church in London, or so they claim), and St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Peter Pan’s Birthday, December 27. I saw Adelphi Terrace (JM Barrie’s last London rescidence), the Duke of York Theatre (where Peter Pan made its world debut on December 27, 1904), Trafalgar Square, Downing Street, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. I bought souvenirs for everyone, which I will try to send home on Monday.
December 28. I saw Platform 9 ¾ at King’s Cross train station and went back to France. Somewhere near Lille, Eurostar experienced a "technical problem" and we had to stop and change trains, so we were an hour late getting to Paris and I almost missed my train to Villers-Cotterêts. But fortunately I just managed to catch it, and it felt so good to be back at the lycée again!
They cut a luggage trolley in half and affixed it to the wall so it looks like it's disappering into it, just like in the books. Isn't that awesome?