London, baby! (and other places)

Ah yes, here I am again at the writer's guillotine—my own, of course—staring at an empty blogpost with the cursor blinking away (mocking me). Today, however, the pen is mightier than the sword!

It’s a Saturday, and I’m sat at a cafe in the middle of June; the weather is predictably rainy, as it’s been every weekend in what should have been the beginnings of a glorious summer. It’s almost what you’d expect in London—however!! Let me stop you right there—because I happened to be in the UK for ten whole days, and the weather was something right out of a dream. We had perfectly sunny days, days with the kind of brisk breeze that’s just enough to soothe your skin, days where a light layer was just another layer of comfort, and days that were misty and hazy enough to be poetic.

Did you say “we”, Keerthana? Who makes up this elusive “we”?

Patience, grasshopper. I was hosted by my lovely best friend—we’ll call her T—and really, I could write so much about her. But most of my audience knows exactly who she is, and how much she is loved, so let’s move on. I was hosted by T & Co. (does this mean friends? family? whoops, I guess you’ll never know), and it was honestly wonderful to see the life she’s built for herself since we left home in 2021. Thank you for being the best host; you know I’ll be coming back <3

Let’s talk tourism. This was the first vacation where I’ve done some solo questing! Here’s the great thing about going about on your own: you can literally do whatever you want. You can walk around for hours, or you can walk around just a little, complain of lower back pain at the ripe age of 26, and decide to sit and stare at a wall of art for 30 minutes.

Queen Victoria
Kensington Gardens, London
(heavy is the head that wears
the crown... and bird)

I visited the usual suspects—Mr. Big Ben (who wasn’t really that big, but I suppose we’ll give him his moment), Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, St. James’ Park, and Kensington Gardens, among others. London was an absolute joy to explore. In some ways, it’s sister only to New York City in how pedestrian-friendly it is, and in how steeped it is in culture and character. It was also different in the most charming of ways; I enjoyed the old architecture, the cobblestoned paths, and the calm. I stumbled upon the National Gallery and blissfully submitted myself to wandering about for a few hours (made a remark to a friend about how I didn’t realize it was an art museum when I decided to check it out, and her only comment was, “... it does have the word gallery in it?”).

Of course, I was in for a treat when I found myself on a day trip to Oxford. There are certain universal truths in the scheme of life: the sky is (usually) blue, the grass is (usually) green, and I am (always, ha!) a Harry Potter fan. I naturally had to visit Harry Potter film sites and the inspiration behind the Great Hall. T lent me her camera for the day; the lens was an acting tour guide that led me down picturesque paths and alleyways, through poetic arches and doors, and up a narrow, dizzying, spiraling staircase—127 steps—to a breathtaking 360-degree view of Oxford.

The Radcliffe Camera, Oxford

The remainder of my trip was with T & Co.! We made an expedition to the Lake District (Taylor Swift fans, hi) and the Scottish Highlands. A picture is worth a thousand words, but nothing does justice to what we feasted our eyes on. We saw more sheep than anyone’s ever counted in their sleep—dotted across rolling green fields, against the backdrop of misty clouds and hills. We searched in vain for Nessie, wandered about William Wordsworth’s estate, stepped back into history and visited old castles and Roman ruins, said hi to several cows (spotted a Highland cow!), and made our way across the Skye Bridge and into the Isle of Skye... Perhaps the biggest highlight of the Highlands was witnessing a rainbow that made herself known and shone her beautiful colors across the awesome landscape of the Isle of Skye.

Eilean Donnan Castle, Scottish Highlands

There’s so much I haven’t written down here—things that have to do with making memories with people; whether it’s new and strong friendships forged, silly conversations and peals of laughter with abandon, listening to some scrumptiously great Tamil bops for hours on end, or the easy silence that comes with comfort and companionship.

This was a perfect chapter in my ongoing book of life.