Let’s Call It Crazy

I’ve been giving out a few tantalizing ideas about how crazy my weekend was, but now that I’m finally sitting down to write about it, I’m not quite sure where to begin. For starters, the original plan was to go to Edinburgh for the weekend, but that feel through last minute. Half of the group decided to go to Paris instead, but Ryan and I thought going to Cardiff sounded like fun. We’re both Doctor Who fans, and we thought it’d be cool to see the places where it was filmed and do the ‘Doctor Who Experience’ tour, things like that. And because everything in England is routed through London, we had to go there first. We decided to get to London early in the afternoon and see a show before catching the train to Cardiff. So on Thursday, we headed off to the train station after class. Getting to London was the easy bit-we’ve done that before. We then took the subway over to Hyde’s Park Corner and explored Hyde Park for a bit. We even climbed a tree! That bit was probably a little risky, but it was a seriously cool tree and really easy to climb. There were also a ton of birds in Hyde Park, from pigeons and seagulls to geese and swans. After circling most of the park, we headed over to Westminster Abbey to listen to Evensong. It was absolutely gorgeous, and free to boot! It took me a little bit to remember that the entire choir was made up of boys, and that the wonderful soprano sounds I was hearing weren’t girls. And the way the sound moved through the Abbey itself–it was an amazing experience.

After the Abbey we headed toward The Victoria Apollo Theatre to see Wicked. I’d seen the show maybe six years ago, but Ryan had never seen it before and I was up for a refresher when we got cheap seats. For one, the Elphaba we saw was absolutely phenomenal. My family can tell you, I’m not one to cry at pretty much anything, but I had tears in my eyes and goosebumps everywhere by the end of The Wizard and I. And of course, the set is incredible and the story takes so many turns that you can barely remember what happens next, even if you’ve never seen it. It was even cooler to see it with someone who didn’t know the story, because Ryan’s face at the end of Act One and during the major plot twists in Act Two was priceless.

After the show, we made our way to the London Paddington train station to catch a train to Cardiff. The train took about two hours, and we were both so exhausted that we slept most of the way. As we pulled into Cardiff itself at 1am, the very first thing I heard were police sirens and I thought to myself, “Oh, well that’s certainly promising.” It was freezing outside the train station, because Cardiff is located on a bay, and it was incredibly windy. We couldn’t find the hostel right away, we kept walking right past it without realizing it was there. When we finally located it, the front door was locked so we had to knock on the window to get the desk attendant to let us in. Originally, the attendant wasn’t sure he could check us in, because it was after midnight, but it all worked out and we basically passed out once we got into our beds.

Waking up the next morning was easier than I expected it to be. I was tired, sure, but I was equally as excited to see Cardiff. First thing to see after checking out of the hostel (which was really cool looking in the daylight, actually) was the castle. Yep, real life castle just a few blocks up the street from the hostel. We didn’t go inside because it cost 11GBP and I’m not about to spend that money randomly, but it was really cool to peek in through the gates and to walk along the outside walls. We also traipsed around the grounds of the castle, which are now a park open to the public. We found some cool stone circles there and of course took pictures. It was really cool to walk around not only for the nature, but because the atmosphere was very different from any place I’ve been up until this point. It was relaxed, and friendly, and there were dogs running around everywhere and people out for walks just because. It felt a lot like Up North, actually, and not only because it’s been getting colder here lately. It felt homey and comfortable in a way that London, for all its wonders, does not.

After the park, we made our way toward the bay. It was breathtaking. I mean seriously gorgeous, in ways that you think are only possible in movies and pictures until you see it for yourself and it smacks you in the face. The sun was shining and the clouds were that bright fluffy white that only happens occasionally, no matter what you drew in the sky in kindergarten, and the sky itself was this intense blue that reflected brilliantly off of the water in the bay. I probably would have been content just sitting there and relaxing in the atmosphere for a while, but it was actually quite chilly and we were planning on going to the Doctor Who Experience tour. After geeking out over the place where Torchwood is on the BBC show, we walked along the bay toward the huge Doctor Who Building. We were actually very lucky because we got into the tour with a bunch of older people, instead of the screaming elementary school kids in the tour before us and the moody teenagers in the tour behind us (I say teenager like I’m not one… oops). But the tour was really cool for a Doctor Who nerd like me. We got to go inside the TARDIS. INSIDE. IT. It was so cool. And after the interactive part of the tour was over (I’m skipping over that part because the Daleks and the Angels scared me a bit) we were let out into this huge warehouse that houses all sorts of artifacts from the show, including original TARDIS consoles, costumes, sonic screwdrivers, and villains. I mean, I saw the Face of Boe! And the Wooden King and Queen! And 10’s sonic screwdriver and TARDIS console! It was pretty much incredible.

We hung around the bay for a while before catching a train back to London. We had some time to kill before heading to the club that night, so we went on an adventure to find 221B (Sherlock Holmes’ apartment). We were sad to discover that the apartment doesn’t actually exist, although there’s supposedly a Sherlock museum near where it should be. It was too late for us to find it, though, so we decided to head to Pizza Express for dinner before going to The Ministry of Sound, London’s biggest club. We went there for two reasons; one, because there was a really good DJ playing the main show in the Box who Ryan wanted to see, and two, so that we didn’t have to pay for a hostel that night. The DJ was really fabulous, and I had a ton of fun at the club. We were just there until 5am, at which point I was almost too exhausted to get to the train station. We did catch the 5:45am train back to Cambridge though, and were back in the house, sleeping, by 7am.

Needless to say, it was probably one of the more insane weekends I’ve had, but everything seemed to work out for us. Things fell right into place, and it reminded me yet again that England is an amazing place, one I’m extremely blessed to experience. I don’t need to go jetting off to some other country every weekend, although that can be fun too. There’s amazing things right here, I just have to go looking for them. With that in mind, I’m going to stick around England for a bit and explore the places here before my BritRail pass expires. I can run off to Europe then, but for now I want to appreciate the place I came here to live in.

With amazement, incredulity, and love,

Bryn