Ever hear the story of Flat Stanley?
Apparently I’m the only person who hasn’t. But, if you’re like me and don’t know, Stanley was a young boy who was sadly flattened. Although he was sad at first, he found out he could easily be mailed to cool places for a flat USPS rate rather than paying $700 on Continental Airlines.
My 8-year old cousin, Lea, is reading the story for her class and they all had to send Stanley somewhere, so she decided to send him to me in London. I was excited at the chance to rediscover what makes London great (hey, after living here for a while, it’s easy to lose track of the majesty of the city that a tourist enjoys) while educating her class. See, England and the USA may have the common language but London is very different from what I expected. It is foreign to someone used to living life large in America (like me). So, although Stanley mainly saw the landmarks of London, he did gain some history of London (from what I’ve learned from my classes and experiences living in London for 3.5 months). Here it goes…
Stanley learned about the Tower of London. First major fortress in London built by “William the Conqueror” during the early years of the Middle Ages. Many kings and queens have lived here, and although it’s more famous for its prisoners, is still a residence today. It also holds the Crown Jewels. Stanley loved the bling the current Queen dons. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take pictures of the Jewels (lame rules here).
Stanley is sitting on the Tube in this picture above (the District line to be specific). It was here that Stanley learned some of the discrepancies in words between British English and American English. See, the Tube in the Underground would be known as the Subway back somewhere like New York (or the Metro to be specific). But, a Subway in London is either the restaurant (of course) and an underground walkway to get easily from one side of the street to the other. Over 2 million people travel through Central London on the Tube everyday. He loved the Tube rides.
Stanley visited one of the most famous streets in the world: Oxford Street. Oxford Street is comparable to Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles and 5th Avenue in New York City. Lots of famous shopping. There are a lot of awesome department stores on Oxford Street, and Regent Street (right off of Oxford Circus) has some fantastic shopping too. Although I’m more interested in going to an awesome department store like Debenham’s, Stanley was more interested in checking out the Nike Store (which was filled with official Olympic merchandise, since the 2012 Summer Olympics will be in London!).
Of course, Big Ben and the House of Parliament was number one on the list to see. Mainly because it’s the most famous landmark in London. Interesting fact: Big Ben is actually the bell inside the clock tower; the tower is called St. Christopher’s. The House of Parliament is attached to Big Ben and it’s where Parliament gathers to create important legislation. Parliament comprises of two houses: The House of Commons (who are elected by the people) and The House of Lords (who are appointed in various ways).
Although London has the Olympics next year, something else big is happening next month that Stanley is upset to miss (but hopes to check it out on TV, or “telly” as the English call it) the “Wedding of the Century” between HRH Prince William and Catherine “Kate” Middleton (second picture above) at Westminster Abbey (first picture above) on April 29, 2011. Westminster Abbey has been the place for coronations and royal weddings and the city will be completely shut down to accommodate the Royal Family. Unlike in America where the President is the all mighty ruler, the Queen rules all, making England a monarchy. Though the Queen is nowhere near as powerful as the royal family used to be (the Prime Minister exercises her power to run the government), the Queen still signs laws into power and lives in quite a few castles, but her main residence is in London’s Buckingham Palace (third picture above). Stanley thinks the royal family is cool and wishes he could be around, but he has other places to see. Off to Paris- hopefully he doesn’t need to know too much French.
Location: Central London, UK
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