Long Night's Journey into London

We boarded the plane and flew through the night and have arrived safely in London! We were seated with the other AHSTF schools from Virginia. All were extremely polite and well behaved, though there were many furtive glances exchnged accross the aisles as the students sized each other up. Then everyone turned with a shrug to the in-flight entertainment and watched movies before dozing off--or trying to. Uncomfortable! But we did enjyo Virgin Atlantic's attention to design and style. If you're going to be packed in like veal why not do it in a stylish environment?

After a fitful night's rest and a mystifying breakfast consisting of unsweetened partially frozen pain yoghurt, a sullen muffin and a packet that was labeled as "snack treasures" but which turned out to contain granola, the plane landed. I took a brief moment to remember when passengers used to applaud the safe landing of an intercontinental flight. And while it may be cooler to regard such events as so quotidian they do not merit applause, as one who has responsibility for 18 teenagers on this journey, I thought a little claping was in order.

In the customs line, our international students Brian, Lydia and Leo took over, helping their peers fill out landing cards, and answering questions about customs. I love it when the kids are able to use their expertise to assist each other, and this event proved once again that our diversity is our strength.

We were swept into the swirl of the Heathrow Landing arrivals, and met our guide, the affable and very knowledgeabe Dave. He's an actor and a playwright who also works as a licensed tour guide, and his expertise was on display all day long as he suggested multiple aternate routes to our motorcoach driver Kali as the two routed us around a city-wide 100 mile bicycle race. Wherever we went we saw bicycles whizzing by, and men and women in neon vests closing off more and more roads. A lucky break landed us at Buckingham palace, and later Westminster Abbey, where we got a hands-on demonstration of how buttresses provide support to gothic cathedrals. I have a terrific picture of the latter, but spotty hotel wWiFi makes poing pictures an impossibility today. Nathaniel's A.P. Art History knowledge came in handy as he asked a question that both delgihted and stumped Dave the Guide.

As we ate a picnic lunch in the grass outside St. Paul's huge domed cathedral, lingering in the rare and lovely London sun, the kids began to argue about whether certain things are more precious and beautiful because they are ephemeral. Examples ranged from flowers to theatrical performances to sunsets, and the kids ultimately conlcuded that yes, there's something about knowing the thing you are looking at is fleeting that makes it more beautiful. If it were always there, it would fade into the background. Then a pidgeon challenged Leo to a stand off, and we slipped from the sublime to the ridiculous.

"So, obviously this isn't a regular group of high school kids," said Guide Dave to me at one point. "They look up and smile whenever I'm talking--they make eye contact and ask terrific questions. Their level of discourse is not what I normally get on these tours." We concluded that our whirlwind tour was delgihtful and that Dave the Guide was astonishingly knowledgeable (and had a razor sharp wit), but that it was very hard to stay awake whie battling jet lag.

We fared better in our evening adventure; a walk down to the Thames to take pictures and enjoy perfect summer evening weather. The kids have become experts at spoting the street art installations, and we all enoyed walking through the West End Theater district after sunset to see all the dazzling marquee lights from London's version of Broadway. We finished up all crammed into a single hotel room to sing for Leo's birthday and enjoy surprising snacks. ("Dorito Roulette" where 1 out of every 8 chips is incredibly spicy and you never know what you'll crunch into, was a big hit.)

Tomorrow, we are going to split into groups for chaperone-led mini adventures to museums in the morning. A small faction is determined to go to the Ultra Hipster restaurant "Cereal Killers" which according to Brooke "features all kinds of cereals and milks of the world!" You won't be surprised to hear that I'm looking forward to the kids' tour of the Globe and their acting workshop with one of the Ed Artists from the company. Tomorrow evening we join the audience at the Globe to see "The Heresy of Love," a new play based on the life of Juana Ines de la Cruz.

Everyone is in remarkably good spirits, and even though they are tired, they are smiling and marvelling at their good fortune to be on this amazing journey.

#London