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Published: June 18th 2014
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London Eye
Photo was kindly taken by a kind couple from Brisbane. Aussies help each other out! Monday 16th
Today I awoke to an empty boat. Everyone had left early for work and thought I had the place to myself. However some Thames friends decided to visit....a special ducked named Gary (Nick who also lives on the boat had warned me about Gary, and told me that he regretted naming her Gary after realising she was a she) and a few geese who flew into the kitchen wanting bread for breakfast. Once everyone was fed I set off walking into London, with no plan of what to do. It took as little as 20 minutes until I was standing under the London Eye ferris wheel. I decided to take a ride on the wheel to get a good view and to see where was close by to visit on foot. The view from the Eye was amazing!! It also gave me time to decide to cross the river to Trafalgar Square to the National Gallery.
Trafalgar square was really beautiful with the old fountains and giant statues. The giant lions would have looked very regal and impressive, except that they were being absolutely dominated by children climbing up onto them. The gallery was free entry
so was so I spent that little bit of money to buy the head phones audio tour. Something I would strongly recommend to anyone who is one their lonesome. I enjoyed seeing all the pairings dating between that 1200-1900's and the building its self was beautiful. Whilst looking at Van Gough's
Sunflowers I was surrounded by people taking candid shots from their smart phones of the painting. It made me feel really uncomfortable. The photos were not even being taken thoughtfully but rushed so that the authorities would not see, which meant that the photos would never do the work justice, not that a photo can ever do the painting justice. It made me think, how would Van Gough or any of the Great painters have felt about their works being so easily duplicated so freely and poorly?
After the Gallery I walked into Convent Gardens. I have to say I didn't spend much time here but I put it on my list of places to revisit. Next time I come I will eat a baked jacket potato for Mum. Something Mum always remembers doing when both my brother and I visited when we were little. I watched some
street performances (unfortunately not very good ones, Melbourne's were better), visited the markets and roamed some price-y hipster boutiques. The amount of money it can cost to look like a grungy 90's chick is scary. I can honestly admit I resisted the temptation to buy anything except an apple and saved my money for a rainy day, which in England there are sure to be many.
Random Learnings:
1. At the tube station on the escalators everyone stands to the right side and busy traffic moves quickly down the left side. Opposite what we do, yet we all drive on the same side of the road. WTF LONDON?? Why you have to confuse everything!!
2. I drink so much more tea here then I ever did in Australia
3. The London tubes are not as scary as I thought they would be
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