"Travelers Must Be Content"- Entry into the Green World

Traveling to England was of course an adventure unto itself.  Since I am staying over in Europe after the program, I was booked on a different flight.  Luckily, so was another student, my friend Katie.  We were supposed to arrive in London five minutes before the group and hopefully meet up with them.  Unfortunately, our flight was delayed an hour in typical United fashion.  The computer system was also on the fritz, which again is classic United.  As Dr. Ryken would say we “handled it with our characteristic maturity”.   The experience was still better than the United fiasco of 2011 when their computer system shut down across the nation and my family and I were traveling home from Greece and had been awake for 24 hours.  Rough moments for the family. 

Before the flight we had received specific instructions from Dr. Ryken not to watch any “cheap and tawdry” movies.  He told us to have a chant going in our head at all times: “cheap and tawdry, cheap and tawdry, cheap and tawdry” that was supposed to lull us into a deep sleep.  I ended up being lulled to sleep by Beauty and the Beast, which I figured was both literary and cultural, instead of cheap and tawdry.  

After a long and semi-restful flight, Katie and I landed in Heathrow!  We split a taxi to the hotel and barely made it in time for Dr. Ryken’s walking tour of Regent’s Park. Walking into the Park was at first like walking into a movie: one of the scenes from The King’s Speech was filmed there.  Then being in the Park felt like being inside a dream: one area of the park was nothing but roses.  Roses of every size, shape, and color.  I simply wandered in awe at how many types there were and how much work went into it.  Several weddings were going on, and understandably so: what better place to get married than an English Rose Garden?

After the park, we picked up some food in a grocery store and picnicked in a garden near our hotel.  There we were stalked by bold and overfed squirrels who wanted our food.  I have never had a squirrel come so close to me before.  My dogs would have had a field day.

Then, after some downtime in the hotel, a group of us used our new Tube passes to explore London.  We went to Trafalgar Square, home to the National Gallery and St. Martin’s in the Field.  We also saw a great deal of pre- Olympic setup. We acquainted ourselves with the city by wandering for a bit, and then we made our way to The Punchbowl, a pub owned by Guy Ritchie.  After resting there and enjoying conversation along with lemonade and coffee, we meandered back to the hotel to get a good night’s sleep.  Tomorrow morning we are going to church at St. Paul’s Cathedral!