All by myself - no more
Trip Start
Sep 20, 2010
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19
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Trip End
Feb 17, 2011
London, England, United Kingdom
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Eddy arrives tomorrow morning bright and early and then my holiday truly begins.
Yesterday I had the first of my two uni exams at 9am. The content was nothing unexpected and I think I did alright.
Not wanting to waste my last days by myself in London, I decided to do some things I hadn't done. I went to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. At the moment there is a christmas tree in the square which is an annual gift from Norway to thank Britain for its help in WWII. There is also a giant menorah in the square which I don't think is a gift from anyone but is a symbol of London trying to encompass different December traditions.
I spent a good couple of hours in the National Gallery. There are so many beautiful paintings, with an overwhelming number of pictures of Jesus and various religious figures. It was really interesting to see the ways that art has changed and developed over the last 500 years both as well as the differences between different nations' artists. My favourite paintings were in the venetian section, with many landscapes and beautiful details.
The gallery is also home to Van Gogh's painting 'Sunflowers', which was pretty cool to see. I find it pretty funny though because the plan of the gallery gives you a list of famous or significant paintings to see but I generally found so many others to be far more appealing than these ones. Maybe I just don't understand art. Or, as I prefer to think, I appreciate art at a much higher level than everyone else.
After the gallery, I took a trip down Whitehall towards westminster, with Big Ben and the HOuses of Parliament.I walked past the Horseguard cavalry museum (or something to that affect) which has mounted guards in front. The horses that they sit on are quite beautiful and despite giving a couple of people a fright, generally very temperate creatures. I naively thought I would be able to wander down Downing St and take a photo of the prime minister's house at no. 10 along the way. To my disappointment, when I reached the famous address, there was a massive barred gate manned by police with massive guns. When I was there, someone was trying to drive in with a car of what seemed like christmas decorations. They must have been there for about 10 minutes as the security looked through the car and spoke to the drivers and examined the contents before they were finally let into the gate. Security certainly is very tight in Downing St.
I headed further down the street and reached Westminster and the backside of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. I had timed my walk perfectly and was there just on 3 o'clock so heard it chime, which I still find a novel sort of event.
After that, I headed on the tube home.
Today I had planned to head out to Hampstead Heath and possibly see a movie at a really cool cinema in Leicester Square but I literally just couldn't be bothered. I have been so busy recently and that's not going to let up anytime soon and I have to be up at 4:30 tomorrow so I thought taking it easy would be a good option. I made a bit of a scrapbook with various souvenirs I have picked up during my time here and did a bit of a clean up. Tonight will more than likely be my last night in Lee Abbey and I'll probably officially check out on Saturday. Hard to believe I'm almost halfway through my trip. Bring on Europe!
Can't wait to brag about my travels face-to-face with everyone when we get home!
Love and miss you all
Beth x
Comments
Hope your travels are as wonderful as mine were. Can't wait to hear all about it.
Love to Mr E and travel safe. J xox