Well on Monday it was not rainy for the first time in a little while and although it was still not super sunny or warm I decided to head up to London for the day. As much as I adore the people I've been up in L-town with to this point, it was really nice to do what I wanted, at my own pace. Sometimes being by yourself is refreshing.
It was a day of uber-tourism. I got on the train at 8:53 (the first train I could get on without having to pay 20 quid. It's cheaper if the train gets in after 10:00- off peak hours) and got into Victoria at 10:15. That train station feels really familiar now and it makes me happy...in fact, as I was walking to the tube station, I just had to smile to myself because I was glad to be in town. I hopped on the tube and went on to the Tower of London, getting there at about 10:30, standing in line for while to get my ticket (tourists! bah!) and got into the attraction soon thereafter. The next Beefeater tour was starting soon after I got in so I waited around for that. I think the Beefeaters are some of the best tour guides ever. And from what the guy said, not only are they entertaining and witty but they also have to have an impressive background to even be considered for the job. They have to have at least 22 years of military service, reach a certain rank and have outstanding recommendations. So not just your normal tour guide. The tour was interesting and gave a concise history of the tower as well as point out the major points to see. He also informed us that May 19th was the anniversary of Anne Boleyn being executed on Tower Green, which, while there was no fanfare to commemorate this event, was still pretty cool. After the tour, I obviously had to go to the crown jewels. Mom, I have found what I want my 21st birthday present to be. I think one of the crowns will suffice. Or maybe that sceptre with the 530 karat diamond in it. You know, whatever. They were very impressive and now I see why one would want to be queen. It was also fun to stand on the moving sidewalk and slowly glide past all the cases. Cuts down on congestion, I suppose. I also enjoyed the coronation robe, all the silver and the massive gold wine cistern. After the jewel house I went to White Tower which used to house the royals, knights and had a dungeon in it and is now various exhibits about arms and warfare. Kind of interesting but after seeing the jewels, its a little anticlimactic. And the torture exhibit in another tower was also a let down, small and not enough devices.
After being in the tower for about 2.5 hours, at 1 I got back on the tube and headed west to Westminster. I had debated about going to the Abbey because of the massive amounts of churches I've seen in my travels but decided I would be disappointed in myself if I didn't go. And I'm glad I went. The history behind the place is unfathomable, considering its been used for royal coronations, weddings, funerals, etc since the 14th century. And there are so many dead there! I think if I had to pick one location to raise the dead from, it would probably be here. Well...maybe not. All the kings would probably start killing each other to determine who would have power. Perhaps I would just raise Poet's Corner. I also was particularly moved by the Unknown Soldier's tomb and memorial. I think its kind of nice that its there and the inscription is beautiful. Also it's the only tomb in the Abbey that it is forbidden to walk on, which is especially kind.
I got out of Westminster around 3 and back on the tube (love, love, love public transportation) to the Victoria & Albert musuem. Now I knew that the jewellery exhibit was closed for another 5 days or so, but I really wanted to see the fashion exhibit so I thought jewellery be damned and went anyway. Plus after seeing the crown jewels, I don't know how impressive the collection would be. The fashion was fun like I thought it would be, albeit a little on the small side. I think it could have been bigger. Afterwards I wandered around (Rick Steves said the museum has 12 miles of corridors so obviously there would be no way for me to see it all) and ended up in the stained glass/religious artifact (basically tracing the evolution of Christianity through its possessions) section which went nicely into the silver collection. Turn right and BAM huge hall of silver. The eyes go all wonky after looking at so much silver. After that I looked into the small photography exhibit and wandered around until I found the exit for the tunnel connected to the tube station.
After the V&A, I did a myriad of small things just to cap off the London day. I went into Harrod's which was massive but kind of creepy because of the memorial to Princess Diana and Dodi (her fiance who died with her that night in Paris). There's this kind of scary looking Egyptian statue with eerie eyes and these large photographs of the couple above this fountain. And then sitting on the fountain was this pyramid which had the wine glass that Diana drank from the night she died (still with lipstick smudges) and her engagement ring. It was all just kind of weird . Then I went down to the food halls which were not weird but AMAZING before leaving. Being close to Hyde Park, I wandered through there for a little while (I wish it had been sunnier and warmer, then it would have been amazing) got on the tube to look at Picadilly Circus. From Picadilly I started to walk through Soho but saw all the "xxx girl" shops and decided that I didn't really want to deal with that at the moment and changed directions, heading towards Leceister Square just to see some of the big fancy theatres and the English tkts booth. After LS it was getting pretty late, so I took one last tube ride to Victoria and hopped on the 7:06 train to Brighton.
So yeah, another wonderful day in London. I have a feeling it might have been my last day there because I've sort of run out of time (I'm leaving with my sister in a week!) so I wanted to try to see a lot. And I did. The sad thing about London is that I would need probably a couple solid weeks of being there to really accomplish everything. But we've had a good run and I know I'll be back to see the things that I've missed.
In other news, I finally got my hair cut today! Caitlin found this salon in Brighton which has a training school downstairs so they cut your hair for uber cheap. I was a little unsure at first but Caitlin got hers cut a couple weeks ago and it looked fine so I decided to do it. The girl was really nice and was almost done with the training program so she knew what she was doing. And now my hair is about 4 inches shorter, a million pounds lighter and looks much better. Huzzah!
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