June 16, 2006

Henley-on-Thames, England-We only had one practice on Wednesday (June 14), so we were free to go anywhere we wanted after our steady-state row. The majority of the team decided to hop a train to London Paddington station.

With so much to see and do in such a huge city, we decided to split up and choose our own activities. A large group of girls went to see the Tower of London, where the Crown Jewels are kept and headed to Westminster Abbey. Another group of girls went shopping and walked around beautiful Hyde Park. Personally, I had seen a lot of these things when I visited London during my semester of studying abroad in Germany, so I decided to do my own thing and find something different.

Seeing a show seemed like a great idea--the arts are a big part of British culture, and I admit I somewhat "fancied" the idea of relaxing for a couple of hours and being entertained in a theater.

From Paddington Station, I took the Tube to Piccadilly Circus (which I should add is not a circus but more closely resembles Times Square). I walked a few blocks to Leicester Square, a central location in London for buying theater tickets. I had read online that after 10 a.m. one of the ticket booths sells matinee tickets for half-price, so I headed straight there to find out what shows still had tickets available.

I ended up choosing a show called "Fair" that was playing in Trafalgar Studios, right next to the famous Trafalgar Square where Mary Poppins fed the birds. I really enjoyed the show because it contained a lot of themes that I studied while at Villanova: nationalism and the potential for multi-culturalism. The lead male character represented traditional British nationalism and the desire to keep England more pure, ie: free of immigrants from the East. The female lead was an idealistic college graduate who argued that more diversity in England could be a great thing. The two characters had some great dialogue and I thoroughly enjoyed the play.

With the few hours left before dinner, I saw some paintings at the National Gallery as well as some street performers doing a comedy act outside the Covent Garden market. At 7 p.m. I met up with the other girls back at Piccadilly Circus to make plans to eat. Someone suggested Chinese food, so four of us walked down the street to a very exciting Chinatown, with far too many options for where to eat. Finally we picked a place that was crowded, as my mother always says this is the only way to tell if the food is good! Her tip was right on, and we enjoyed a delicious dinner. We met back up with the other Villanova girls and boarded the next train back to Henley after that.

It was a great day for most everyone--London is quite the city! So much so many of us plan to go back on Monday when the racing is done.