Spring Break Starts with London

The Syracuse program likes to kick students out of Madrid during Semana Santa (the holy week, the week before Easter Sunday). In fact, if we wanted to stay in Madrid during our break (around 13 days), our señoras were not responsible for us and we would have to find our own housing and food. My señora tells me that Madrid becomes empty during Semana Santa since everyone leaves the city to go to other places.

I started Semana Santa in London, where Evita had family. For five days, I stayed with her aunt and uncle, who were extremely gracious hosts. Since they live near the Windsor Castle, it made sense to visit it.

Windor Palace - the people were so nice and knowledgeable. It was fun to just go up to them and ask some random question about anything in the room. They knew the answer, and more amazing, they answered my annoying questions with a genuine smile and nice accent (okay, the accent was not that much of an effort on their part).


Evita's uncle was our tour guide and took as around London. We were introduced to the city on the Hop-On, Hop-Off tour bus, led by our hilarious tour guide. She made us wave to everyone, especially to other tourists. I think listening to her talk about London was probably my favorite part of the trip :)

Driving on the Tower Bridge (London Bridge was pretty unremarkable - it was a normal bridge)


Changing of the Guard (sans horses) - there were so many Spaniards surrounding us (of course, they didn't have a sense of personal space in this country either). They were probably part of the majority of Madrileños who leave the city once vacation time hits. Watching the marching band with the mini-stands brought back some memories, and I'm glad that I never have to wear those fur helmet things (I don't look good in hats anyways).


Buckingham Palace - we waited until most of the tourists left (there are still so many left!). The guards in the palace were always standing or marching - this is why I could never be a guard (among other things).


Big Ben and houses of Parliament along the Thames River (not the cleanest body of water). Westminster Abbey is not too far away.


My time in London was a blur - I don't remember much except eating a lot of food and visiting free places (all the museums in London are free!). I think I was probably overwhelmed by the huge size of the city. It's the political and cultural spot of England, which means there are a lot of things going on. At least the US has DC and NYC to split the political and cultural tourist attractions (and you can experience both cities on a Korean tour of the East coast, though I wouldn't recommend it). I think I would have enjoyed London a lot more if I had at least a month in the city. While Evita stayed in London for a few more days, I decided to take an impromptu trip to Amsterdam since Easyjet made it so cheap and easy for me :)

Susan