London from a Bus

Greetings from our lovely (but TINY) flat in Kensington!

           

After a two-hour orientation this morning at the hotel, we went on a wonderful private tour of Central London. Our tour guide (Eric) was quite funny and full of knowledge of the city.

Some interesting facts we learned today:

-       Affluent people live in the West of London and socioeconomics grow less well-off as you move East. The reason? Because in the West, you get fresh, country air, whereas if you build East you get the more pungent City smells. Part of the reason London won the 2012 Olympics was because most of the events will be held in the East so that they can revitalize the neighborhoods and boroughs there.

-       Dad, there’s very little mowing in London because there’s no room to have yards. The only serious mowing occurs in the parks.

-       Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens are known as the Lungs of London because there are so many plants and so much open space.

-       The Knightsbridge area got its name because two knights fought to the death over who got to tax a bridge. (Seriously.)

-       As the tour guide said “We win, we nearly win, or we just don’t talk about it.” The American Revolution is just a page in front of Napoleon.

-       The dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral (which is actually 3 domes) served as a rallying point for Londoners during the Blitz, because as long as it was still standing, Britain was still fighting.

-       Barristers are the dudes who wear the wigs and robes and they work in the civil courts.

-       London never stops. Even after the Great Fire of 1666, it develops, gets better, and gets bigger.

I will admit to completely nerding out as we drove through Mayfair, getting to see all of the places that I’ve read about in my romance novels (Grosvenor Square, Berkley Square, Hatchard’s Bookstore- which I plan to visit soon).

We’re in a really great neighborhood in Kensington. It’s about a ten-minute walk to the CAPA center where we’ll have classes and maybe a 30-minute walk from Kensington Gardens. We went to a pub this evening for dinner (which was really more like snacks) and drinks with some of our professors.

Now we’re just back, hanging out in the apartment, getting ourselves sorted out.

I’ll try to upload some pictures by Wednesday. Tomorrow is going to be spent shopping, getting cell-phones and stuff like that.

Cheers!