London Three Ways

Although I went to Amsterdam this weekend and there is Royal Baby about to be born a mere 60 miles away, I realized that I have a bit of catching up to do. I've been to London three times already and haven't mentioned it once. It's time to correct that.

I imagined my first visit to London to be an extravagant experience filled with royalty, tea and small sandwiches. In reality, it started with me taking a large swig of a luke warm banana smoothie (I like bananas almost as much as Joan Rivers likes aging naturally). It was not a good time. 

I was in London for the first excursion of my Grady Seminar. We went to the offices of the Guardian newspaper, and got to talk to one of the global development reporters. I had never been inside of an actual news room, and it was incredible that I got to make my debut at such an accredited publication. I learned a lot on the excursion, but didn't see much of London. My only cue that I was actually in the city was the signs for the Underground. I made sure to do it up right nice on my next visit. 

I was the biggest tourist on my second trip, but I feel like when you are unfamiliar with a city it's best to start with the basics. The bus from Oxford dropped us off behind Buckingham Palace, naturally that was out first stop. 

Everyone and their mother camped out
for the changing of the guard

It was insane. People where crammed up against the gate, police on horseback were managing traffic and the crowd and every step of the Victoria Memorial was filled with people fixed on the palace. At first, I thought the Royal Baby had been born on the ride over, but then I saw a man in a tall black fuzzy hat. Every other day in the summer at 10:30 a.m. the changing of the guard takes place at Buckingham Palace. We happened to hit it at the height of the tourist induced pandemonium. 

Big Ben in all its golden glory 

We ducked out early as not to get stuck in another mob and headed toward Big Ben. It's always a strange experience seeing a building or landmark that you've only ever seen in pictures. Big Ben was smaller than I expected, but I couldn't stop staring at it. I can never get my head around the history that a building like that has stood through. It was built 20 years into Queen Victoria's reign, it's seen three London Olympics, and it survived the bombings during WWII. After all that I, a nobody, get to stand in front of it. Being able to touch and see history of that magnitude is one of the most rewarding parts of traveling to me. 

The view from the top

We rode the Eye next. I love ferris wheels, and I think after riding the London Eye I have reached the pinnacle of all other ferris wheel rides. At 443 feet in the air, the only sight that surrounds you is London. The city seemed to stretch out forever. 

The rest of the day consisted of walking around, touring churches and scoping out locations that were used in Harry Potter. Needless to say, it was a vast improvement from my first trip. 

Looking back on my third visit seems like a Devi Wears Prada induced fever dream. We toured the Hearst Magazine office with Terry Mansfield. If you're unfamiliar with either may I suggest clicking here and here. Our tour began with Elle. More specifically our tour began with meeting the editor in chief of Elle magazine. Our tour ended just as grand as it began, as we went on to meet the editor in chief of Cosmopolitan. I even got to ask them a few question, causing the magazine fan girl inside of me to die of happiness. 

I kept scanning the office to try to find the fashion closet, but unfortunately my hope of a makeover montage went unfulfilled. All the searching made me realize that 90 percent of the women in the office had their hair in a top knot. Is this a weird form of fashion magazine uniform? Is it a job requirement? What if your hair is too short? I have now made perfecting my own top knot a priority in my life. 

In all seriousness, what struck me most was how unglamorous the office actually is. They both produce a large glossy fashion-filled magazine, but its done in a small area where everyone's desk, beside the editor and publisher, touch. At Elle, the walls were packed with past covers of the magazine. At Cosmo, the beauty editors desks were piled with empty beauty product bags that they were testing.  It was much more chaotic than I anticipated, but the excitement in urgency made me like it even more. 

London hasn't disappointed, but I'm planning on going back one more time before I leave. I didn't get to tour the Tower or have high tea. However the obvious and most important reason to go back one more time is to buy a commemorative something of the Royal Baby's birth. Until then, happy Royal Baby watch.