Upon waking up, her first thought was, "I'm going to see London today." She had her outfit picked out for weeks. The camera was charged with new batteries. And journal and pen were in hand. "What is this day going to teach me," she thought. She got dressed and went downstairs to meet the group. There was a quiet buzz of excitement in the air. Everyone else in The Manor, besides the group traveling, was asleep, but attempts to be quiet were arduous, especially while making their plans for the day. A couple of people were headed to Oxford. Most were heading to London though. Even the professor's kids were excited.
"London"- a place known to her through some of her favorite books. This is a place where Dickens, Austen, Shakespeare made themselves known. it's where Lewis, Tolkien, and Chesterton sat in a pub. They walked the streets, saw the Thames. These people that she has spent so much time studying, actually lived there. She has known their worlds through their words. They loved London, and she was going to to see it.
They made it to the train in Liss and waited on the platform for the train. You don't quite realize how fast a train goes until it whizzes past you, swooshing and screaming - the wind nearly knocking you over.
The pictures start. She is determined to document every second of this day. As she gets on their train, though, she starts to use that pen - writing on her way to London like so many of "the greats"... as if she was one of them.
As she writes, more and more Brits get on the train. A delightful melody of British accents and laughter fills the air - it's like magic. As they pass homes, schools, and businesses in the countryside, she can see children dressed in school uniforms - drearily walking to school. A few getting on the train cause her to think that they might be going to Narnia rather than London. After all, it was children like these that inspired Peter, Susan, Edmond, and Lucy.
The smell reminds her of the Amtrak train she rode when she was small. It was like stale food and shoes or bologna, with a hint of disinfectant - yum. She thought of this and her grandfather, who worked on the Amtrak train and didn't even know she was in England. The smell of her best friend beside her and the chap-stick she was putting on made for a much more pleasant memory.
Excitement built up inside her over seeing the Abbey - Westminster Abbey that is. Two of her other best friends and one L'Abri sister was joining them on their trek across London. There was so much to see and so little time to see it all. Lia wants to go see a play; David wants to sit in a pub or coffee shop; Liv wants to see... well, everything; she just wants to see the Abbey, the palace, Covent Gardents, and half a dozen other things - no big deal.
As she thinks about their "to-see" list, she notices that the trees are starting to disappear and the buildings are huge, railway tracks are everywhere, and there's a huge ferris wheel towers above a river.
"Wait, is that... Yes, it is. The London Eye," she thinks, as she bumps Liv's elbow and points.
"Look, Liv! It's the Eye!"
They pull into a warehouse looking structure; there are stopped trains all over the place, and a blue sign states that we have arrived at Waterloo. They had officially arrived in London.
No comments:
Post a Comment