Before even stepping foot into London I knew I wanted, no I needed to do one thing, and that was to go to Buckingham Palace. I felt like I had a duty to see the palace for no particular reason, I just needed to see it, I needed to be there in the flesh and blood and see for myself where the royal family gathers and lives. While this seems like a normal touristy thing to do, there were some issues along the way. See, on this day we had done lots of touring, and Delia and I also toured Borough Market and around there on our own, we were tired. Not only were Delia and I tired, but our feet hurt, and we were miles away from the palace. While Delia wanted to call it quits, I protested. It was our last day to have time to see Buckingham Palace, and I had a call to go there, and I was not going to give up, or leave London without seeing the palace, even if it was the last thing I did. In order to get the the palace, we had to take the Underground, which Delia and I had never taken, much less by ourselves. We knew we had to start by finding an entrance to the Underground. Once we scanned our Oyster cards and walked down the stairs, we were more than confused. There were so many different lines going in all sorts of directions, we were sure that we would get lost. We knew that our hotel was on the High Street Kensington stop, which was on the District Line. So as long as we know how to get home, we should be fine, right? With the Tube directions in my phone, Delia and I rushed to board one of the trains. To this day I am not sure what line we jumped on, but we took the right guess and ended up on the Circle Line going to St. James Park. When we finally walked up to the huge gates in front of Buckingham Palace, I was in shock. It was so surreal to finally see something in person that you have been thinking about for so long. To see the balcony that so many Kings and Queens have waved to the English people on felt so special to me. While I am not English, the sheer beauty of the palace invoked a feeling of pride and also a feeling of respect for the monarchy and its institution. At the front gates of the palace there were two Beefeaters marching back and forth so elegantly and robotically it almost looked fake. It was such an honor to see these Beefeaters execute their job so reverently even with a crowd of onlookers. The sheer mass of the building also shocked me. In person the palace looked five times bigger than anything that I have seen in the media or on TV of it. It was such a special feeling to admire the palace with one of my good friends by my side, after an amazing week of traveling and touring. Figuring out the tube was also something that forced me to problem solve and take matters into my own hands. England not only taught me about medieval history and English literature but also how to push myself to do things that I might not have been comfortable doing at home.
There and Back Again