And so ends another wonderful day in London. I feel like I am always moving- places to go, people to see! Today, my adventures brought be from one end of London to the other! (Well, from the middle of London to the west end... but still pretty far!)
A CLOUDY DAY!
Were you surprised?! I hope so. I wanted to create suspense! But really, I hope you weren't... if you thought I was waking up to the sun every morning, you are dead wrong.
Because my jet lag left me feeling like I was walking in a daze the second day I was here, I made the mistake of signing up for a 10am Library Tour for today. Usually this is not a problem- it is only a problem when you usually sleep till 9:30 since you have been using all your energy exploring the day before, and then going to bed at 2am.
Instead, I had to be out of the flat by 9:30, since I had to FIND the library. I was told by one of my flatmates that the library was actually supposed to originally hold royal and government documents, so it has the best fire codes in the city. However, they found a more suitable place to put these documents, so King's came into possession of the property. Naturally, I had high expectations.
My expectations were more than fulfilled. My library is a castle. Legit. You have to scan your ID to get in through security, and they have a round reading room. It. Is. Amazing. Since I can not describe it merely with words, my camera helped me out. Quite a far cry from URI's library, where books go to die.
King's College Library from the Street
King's College Library from inside the compound looking out into the street
First on the list was the Natural History Museum. Think of the one in D.C. or New York. Nothing really new- but still impressive! Some definite places to look at are the Dinosaur exhibit and the Earth Section (for the cool escalator). Otherwise, the rest of the museum was a reminder of how much I hated Vertebrate Biology last semester (even though I did really well). In the dino exhibit, we were following the CUTEST little British boy and girl- the little girl was 2 years old at most, wearing a tiny fur coat, and stomping around roaring at all the skeletons, even the life size, moving T-Rex. Her 4 year old brother, on the other hand, burst into tears when he saw the T-Rex. "MUMMY! I DON'T LIKE IT! I DON'T LIKE IT!" he cried. Most people would get annoyed, but how can you when this ADORABLE little boy has a British accent. I was talking to my friend Mary tonight on Skype, and she said, "If I ever have British kids, they will get whatever they want- just because of their accent". I would have to agree. I'm a sucker for a
kid, let alone a kid with an accent!
Entrance to the Earth exhibit
After perusing the museum for about 2 hours, we decided to leave and find some food. As we left the museum, we took a left. BAD DECISION! Or so we thought....
We walked around for about 45 minutes, basically around the museums- without finding ANY food. Any stores. Anything unless you were looking for the Imperial College of London. Or the Albert Memorial. Or Royal Albert Hall. If it was any other time, and my stomach was not about to eat itself, I would have stopped in. However, I was on a mission.
We continued to stroll around, in search of food. Our worst case scenario was to go back to a museum and eat in their overpriced cafes. However, by taking a few random turns, we happened upon the French section of London! French theaters, cinemas, bookshops, bakeries, crepe places, vintage shops, etc. AMAZING! Also, there was another Snog here! HUZZAH!
We popped into many of the bookshops and vintage shops, and eventually into a tiny baguette shop. For £4 I got the baguette of the day (Tuna with cucumbers, tomatoes, and lettuce) and a white coffee. This might not sound like much, but the baguette was at least a foot long, and soooo delicious and filling!
In other words, I STILL HAVE YET TO HAVE A BAD MEAL IN LONDON! Really, folks are giving it a bad name it no longer deserves.
After paying for our lunch in being told to come back again, we went to the V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum). This has to be my favorite museum yet. You can see anything from Church artifacts to sculptures, jewelery to costumes, paintings to gardens. Literally anything you want to see, they have. It is absolutely amazing. I plan on going back on Mondays and Thursdays (when I don't have classes all day) and sketching out some of the sculptures there. Ahhhh, it will be wonderful to draw again!
Out of all the places I have seen in London thus far, this has been my favorite. We were there 4.5 hours, and didn't even finish half of it! To see some of the exhibits, feel free to Facebook stalk me and see tons of pictures!
The best part, however, was the the costume section in the Theater exhibit. Not only did they have many costumes from famous London plays, BUT....
THEY HAD A SECTION WHERE YOU CAN DRESS UP IN SOME COPIES OF THE COSTUMES! Hence, the amazing pictures of Caitlin and I in amazing outfits. Here I put up some of the best costumes I tried on...
"Juliet" - this weighed a TON!
"Mr. Frog" ....I think I look like Urkel, high-waters included
"Soldier" ... Soulja boy tell 'em (me dancing to this song in this outfit is on Facebook)
I have no idea what this was- but it was ridiculous!
Thought this was "China Man"... turned out to be "Magician".... wrong pose!
After finishing the costume section, we rushed to the jewelery section, and just as we were finishing, the museum was closing. In order to avoid shenanigans similar to those in "A Night at the Museum", we exited, jumped on the tube, and then experienced Underground rush-hour traffic like no one's business. Check that off the list....
Then our busy day was done, and I was left to upload the pictures and write this blog! HOORAY FOR ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL DAY! Tune in next time!
Cheers!
Then our busy day was done, and I was left to upload the pictures and write this blog! HOORAY FOR ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL DAY! Tune in next time!
Cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment