After three weeks of hel- I mean midterms, fall break arrived. Students had been talking about where they were going to go for months and finally the time was upon us! Slowly but surely, the IAU students inhabiting Aix made for the airport or train station, vacation bound. I was one of the last to leave as it was cheaper to leave on a Monday than during the weekend. Understandable.
While others had elaborate plans of which 4 countries they were planning to hop to in the span of the week, I kept things simple. I was headed for England. Specifically, I was going to spend my fall break in London. The land of Harry Potter and Royals, Tea and Rain. Perfection. That’s where I was headed. So on Monday, October 31st, I set off towards the Marseille Airport. First stop: Paris.
My plane trip was pretty uneventful. I flew Air France for the first time, which was pretty nice. They gave me a Madeline as my in flight snack and within an hour and a half I was across the country in Paris. Getting from the Charles De Gaulle Airport was a bit… tricky. The subways were being worked on and even if I was to use them to get to the train station I needed to be at, there was something going on involving SCNF staff and police in bullet proof vests, so I opted for a Bolt instead.
An hour and 17 euros later, I arrived at the train station I needed to be at: Gare du Nord. Of course, I was still a bit early, so I got lunch at McDonalds across the street and then explored a bit. The train station isn’t that big, but it was a bit confusing to navigate. Especially since I needed to be in a specific part for the Eurostar trains. I went through the strictest security i’ve ever been through. Those Eurostar people don’t mess around. I went through most of security blind since I had to take off my glasses for multiple face scans. That was fun… But once I was through, I was in this whole other section I didn’t know existed. It was pretty snazzy. And when i bought Pringles at the little convenience store, they spoke English with me! Without question. I knew right then that it was gonna be a good trip.
The train ride itself was pretty average. I couldn’t see much out the windows since it was dark out, but I did buy my first alcohol on a transportation vehicle. That was an experience. I just happened to get up at the exact moment it got rough. The cider was good at least.
After two hours and a time zone change, so it had only been an hour, I got off the train in London St. Pancras. International Station. It was cold. And rainy. It was perfect. I stopped into the Platform 9 3/4 store in Kings Cross briefly, then set off with my dead battery to my hostel.
My hostel was pretty cool. It was kind of like a party hostel but not quite that intense. It was trying (probably too hard) to be hip with the kids, adding # to things and having each floor be themed to a different British pop media franchise. Mine was Alice and Wonderland. I checked in, put stuff in my locker to deal with later, and tried to charge my phone upstairs in the bar. It was pretty packed since they were having a Halloween party, but I managed to find a seat and pull a Gabriella from HSM by reading during a holiday party. I had two drinks during the night, a cider and a really fun Halloween cocktail in a “blood bag”. Fun and delicious, but kind of messy.
Moving on, the first true day of London was spent quickly hopping from place to place, but the places I went were fantastic! I just need to remember next time to space things out. I hope there is a next time. London is amazing. I started out walking in the rain to my subway station, then took the tube for the first time to the Covent Garden stop on the Piccadilly Line.
Piccadilly and I became great friends as it was my closest station and really just goes everywhere I needed to go (with a few exceptions). I had breakfast at Starbucks and went to my first event: the Harry Potter Photographic Exhibition. I tried getting a ticket for the studio tour but those were booked up through the end of the year. If you ever plan on doing that, I recommend booking months, if not a year in advance.
That’s not to say the photo exhibition was bad. Far from it actually. It was a mix of photographs from the production of the movies, stills from the films, and real props from the movie. Walking in, the first thing you see is one of the 16 flying car props they used for the beginning of the second film. It was super cool.
Walking down the stairs among floating Hogwarts letters, one is whisked into a world of production and props, all ending in a butterbeer bar and HP gift shop. I… may have bought too much on this trip. So many Harry Potter stores!
Then I caught another tube up to Marleybone and had lunch at this adorable cat cafe. It also doubles as an adoption agency for the cats, as all of them are rescues. If I lived in London, I would have adopted every one of those cats.
It was the second cat cafe I’ve ever been to and I don’t know how common this is, but I had to take my shoes off? Is that normal? The cat cafe here in Aix doesn’t make you take your shoes off. I’m genuinely curious. The food was good, the cats were cute, and it was over way too quickly. But I had another appointment. An appointment, with a detective.
A fictious one, anyway. I made my way over to the Sherlock Holmes museum at 221b Bakers Street. It was an English major’s dream. With the exception of the wax figures at the top, everything was beautiful and thought out, from the living room, to the desk set ups of both men, to the bullet holes on the wall. So cool.
Then I had Taco Bell and it was disappointing. The British don’t know what they’re missing out on. So many menu items missing…
I lounged around back at my hostel for a couple more hours, then it was off to see my first West End show of the trip: Matilda. Matilda as a musical opened on the west end on December 9th, 2010, and it’s been running ever since. Quick fun fact – the movie adaptation of the musical is coming out in the US on December 9th of this year, exactly 12 years after the curtains rose for the first time. Don’t know if it was intentional, but fun none the less.
Matilda was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. It truly lives up to its set expectations, even with the injury partway through my viewing that halted the production for about 30 minutes. I hope that actor is okay. With some scooters and swings, my first night came to a close.
Day two was a bit more frustrating. Just because this was a more tourist type day and tourists suck. They make everything kind of unbearable. It didn’t start out that way though. I started off my day how I did most of the days: at Starbucks. I was waiting for the Globe Theatre to open, because I was gonna take a tour. Located on the bank of the River Thames, it is a reconstruction of the original two globes, and it is beautiful. I’ve been to some cool theatres, but that’s definitely up there. It was also interesting to learn the history of both the original theatres as well as the new one. Super cool. I don’t normally do tours because I hate being seen as a tourist, and typically only older people do them, but this one was well worth it. And I wasn’t the only under 40 person there. Score!
Afterwards my next stop was the London Eye. I thought I could get some cool photos from there, so I paid the exhorbitant amount that it costs to do it and walked down the river towards it. The walk itself was pretty chill, but actually getting on the Eye? This is where my day took a turn. The line was SO long, and everyone was passing the time on their phones, so it took even longer since people weren’t paying attention.
Also, personal space? The people around me had never heard of it. Finally got on and everyone hogged the front window for nearly the entire time. Hello, the whole thing is made of glass for a reason! Needless to say, I was frustrated. I got some photos, but not as many as I’d like.
I got off and walked the 40 feet to SeaLife London, since I like aquariums. This’ll be cool. No. I mean, yes, but also it was all underground, chlostrophobic, and packed. There weren’t even that many animals bigger than a small fish. I got some decent photos but I can’t wait to get back to my big open aquariums and zoos.
Overwhelmed, I briefly stopped in the dream works experience gift shop, laughed at some awful merchandise, bought a build-a-bear Hedwig next door, and went back to my hostel for the next few hours.
My show that night? Book of Mormon. I knew it was supposed to be funny and good, but that’s all I knew. I did’t know anything about the story or music, just that the writer of South Park was the creator. So after some overly expensive dinner at Hard Rock Cafe (gotta catch them all, even if I’m not a big fan of it), and a quick peak into the largest Waterstones I’d ever seen, I sat down with my cider feeling a bit sacrilegious and settled in. The show. Was. Hilarious. I could not stop laughing the entire time. My favorite song has to be “Turn it Off”. If you’ve never heard it, I’d recommend. No injuries in this performance, thankfully, and that ends off day two.
Day three was the first day where I didn’t really have anything planned that I had a time stamp for. It was more a day of meandering about the city, seeing sights. Started once again at Starbucks, but I had a reason this time. The holiday drinks and merch were back. Red cup day was 11/3 and I was right there, buying myself a peppermint mocha and a holiday cup keychain. Then I went to the Disney store in Soho that was 3 floors of amazing-ness and bought a few items before moving onto my first intentional monument: Buckingham Palace.
It was beautiful and grand, though kind of sad to look at. I remember that we were eating dinner when we got news about the Queen, and it was still sort of sad. Not much going on, guards dressed in black and grey, etc. The park and grounds around it were stunning, and I’m glad I went, but I couldn’t help but feel a little forlorn.
I had my lunch that day within the park next door at the St. Jame’s Cafe which was of course fish and chips. I couldn’t go to London and not get fish and chips. It came with mushy peas, which I was lo-key kind of scared about at first, but then I tried them and I can now safely say that they are delicious. Maybe its my English roots, but they taste so good. I forgot how much I love peas. It’s been so long since I’ve had them. Delicious.
Some more shopping and a few hours later, I decided to get to my theatre early. Luckily, it had a bar that had some snacks and drinks I could get. I ordered fries and a cider and read for a while, charging my phone because it was dead. I’d had some charger issues the past few days and so any chance I got, I took. This show was one of my highly anticipated ones of the trip, that being Heathers. I went so many times when we did it last semester so I was looking forward to seeing the real thing. I’m so happy I went. I was able to compare and contrast the two shows, and honestly, I think we did a few things better. I personally think our Martha did a better job than West End Martha. I’m not saying this because she’s my friend, but W.E.M. was just a bit too fast I think. Overall though, it was probably my favorite show of the bunch, and I’m so happy I saw it. I bought so much merch too.
Day four, the penultimate day. I mainly dinked around in Leicester Square all day, bouncing from shop to shop, lunch spot to dinner spot, theatre to theatre. I did go off the beaten path slightly in an effort to kill time and ended up in Paddington Station, where I had to stop myself from buying the entire store, and a humongous Westfield mall on the outskirts of my Oyster card. That place had four floors of wonder, massive shops, and an indoor tennis court. I was astonished, to be sure.
Eventually, I made my way back into town and grabbed dinner at McDonald’s, checking England off my “Try McDonalds in every country I visit” list, and walked around a bit more before seeing my show of the night. Despite visiting The Cursed Child building, I was in for a more classic show: Les Miserables. I thought, since I’m studying in France and did a presentation on the movie for class, I should see it. It’s a classic. Well, the show itself was amazing. The costumes, sets, and casting were all spectacular. I just had crappy seat mates. A whole family in the row behind me speaking loud Italian for a good chunk of the first hour (shushed multiple times by many around us) and an old man next to me who kept taking photos. Like sir, I get that you’re older, but theatre etiquette is a thing.
One of the downside of traveling by yourself is that you’re more easily picked out by dangerous people. I was on my walk back from the station to my hostel when a homeless lady tried getting my attention. I knew she wanted money, but I didn’t have anything but my card on me, so I politely apologized and kept walking. She cussed me out but I thought that was it. I deal with homeless people back home all the time, no big deal. I kept walking, eventually reaching my hostel.
That’s when a homeless lady appeared out of nowhere in front of me, like she had apparited from thin air. I tried to handle it like a normal adult without anxiety, but that didn’t last long. She started verbally harassing me and when others tried to help, she tried to turn it on me, like I was the one following her back. I’m thankful for the random guys passing by and the hostel security team. I don’t know what I would have done without them. I’m still shaking now, weeks later, just writing this out. A girl in my room who heard me crying when I entered stayed up with me for a while and tried comforting me. She was nice.
Final day I laid in bed for a long time. I rightfully didn’t get much sleep that previous night. Despite the strong urge to stay there all day, I did have time sensitive plans, so I lugged myself out of bed and hauled my exhausted body towards Kings Cross Station. I was meeting a friend for the first time IRL, which I was both excited and nervous about. He and I have known each other for a couple years, bonding on discord over a comic we both read. I wish that chat was still as active as it used to be. That was fun. Anyway, he lives not too far from London, so he caught a train in to meet me.
They are super nice, just like online. While it was a little awkward at first, like every first meeting, that quickly melted away. We visited the Harry Potter store, the Gays the Word book store, and a couple other stores, then somehow ended up at the National History Museum. That place was cool, but it was kinda sad that the underwater creatures area was under construction. That’s always my favorite section.
Eventually we parted ways and I met up with another friend, this time from IAU, and got dinner. I got ramen, which I had been craving for so long. There’s no good ramen places in Aix. Bummer. I also tried Takoyaki for the first time, and they lived up to their anime portrayal. Right down to their hot pocket of lava temperature.
Final show of the trip was Six, another highly anticipated show. It was also the shortest show, which I did deliberately as I had to catch a really early tube to the airport. Not that I ended up sleeping anyway. Regardless, Six was amazing. I would love to see it again at a different angle, since I was pretty high up. West End may be cheaper than Broadway, but I bought 5 shows. Money needed to be saved somewhere.
I anxiously walked back to my hostel, packed, and after staying up all night, took a 3am tube to Heathrow Airport. Surprisingly packed tube for it being the dead of night, but I digress. I caught my flight which was occupied by quite a few other IAU students funny enough, slept though it, and arrived back in Marseille two hours later. Both sad and glad to be back, I made it through the impossibly long customs line, grabbed Starbucks, and hopped on the bus towards Aix. 90% of us on that bus were IAU kids. It was funny in my sleep deprived state, but looking back on it now, it’s really not.
Fall break was a blast, despite some of its downsides. Not every vacation can be perfect. Especially with my luck. It was a fun way to reward myself for finishing midterms, and it made me realize that my love for London that I’ve had since I was a kid thanks to things like Paddington, Harry Potter, and House of Anubis was rightfully warranted. I would gladly go back. Honestly, I would live there. It reminded me of home in all the good ways while still being unique. Plus the access to all those museums and theatres? I was in heaven. I am broke now though. No more trips for the rest of my study abroad journey.
Felicity
