When in London...

LONDON!!! After 3 hours in a car and another hour on “the tube,” Husker Soccer took over one of the most storied cities in the world! Peter, one of our coaches, grew up in London and took us on a tour of all the major landmarks in the city. We started at Westminster Abbey and went through the city, seeing Big Ben, the Parliament Building, the Prime Minister’s house, followed by Buckingham Palace (and yes, I took plenty of pictures of the balcony where Wills and Kate kissed), walked through St. James Park and along the River Thames, and ended up in Trafalgar Square, next to the National Gallery.

(Nerd Warning)

           Trafalgar Squarewas probably one of my favorite places; there’s a beautiful large fountain and a hundred foot tall monument dedicated to Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, who defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Trafalgar. At the top of the monument, Lord Nelson stands tall facing towards France, eyes glaring and stance defiant, serving as a warning to the French. That's right you Frenchies...Don't mess with Texas! I mean England....

           
          I must admit, as a self proclaimed nerd, I was really excited about seeing the historical aspects of the city. I really wanted to head down to the Tower of London and take the tour with the Yeomen to see the crown jewels, walk across the tower bridge, see the tombs of the most famous kings and queens who ever lived inside of Westminster, and walk through Piccadilly and the West End. However, I was the only one of my teammates who thought any of those things would be neat, so I lost out on the vote. While I was disappointed, the shopping and walking we did left me with some very good memories and some really cool souvenirs. Though some of my teammates chose to eat at McDonald’s (Don’t ask. I have no idea why you would travel to another country to eat a burger you could get for half as much back in the U.S.) but I stopped at a café and got my first taste of real English fish and chips! It was absolutely delicious!

            We walked along the River Thames and watched some street performers, some of them very entertaining, like the Charlie Chaplin mime and the “statues” of Hamlet and Ophelia, and some of them, well, not so entertaining. We spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out what one of the guys was even doing. He had a pretty big crowd for someone who did a whole lot of talking about nothing, bad dancing, and telling people that he’s a “free man who don’t care if you don’t tip him – the worst that happens is he doesn’t get paid and he’s still alive.” Awesome. Then we rode the London Eye, and even though it was kind of expensive it was well worth it. For 30 minutes, I sat above the Thames and looked down into Whitehall Place and the buildings of Parliament. I traced the parade route that William and Kate took to Buckingham Palace, and admired the beauty of St. Paul’s Cathedral and the surrounding parks and buildings. It was breathtaking. It was such a perfect day and even though I spent a lot of money and was dead tired by the end, it was so worth it.

My name is Amy Swearer, and POTS stole my life. I'm taking it back (In England!).