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Published: August 23rd 2005
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(sorry this is late, I just now found the time to finish my blog)
Hello, from a surprisingly sunny London. Nick and I arrived almost three days ago and we're having a great time. We actually were a little apprehensive about returning, considering the luck we'd had the last time through, but the city has treated us well so far. However, we can't help but feel a bit overwhelmed. There is way too much to do and see in this city and we're having a hard time trying to fit it all in. If it weren't for the efficiency of the tube we wouldn't get anything done.
Nick and I booked our London hostel at the last minute and managed to really hit the jackpot. Our place had everyting - bar, club, laundry, cheap rates, and a rooftop hot tub. And as if that wasn't enough, it was close to a lot of great sights (being just south of London Bridge).
We spent the first night just haning out. Nick took a nap and I sat in the hot tub and did laundry. The hostel is a definite party zone and there were a lot of people from
all over the place. I met a lot of Amercans and Australians.
On our first day Nick and I decided to do some exploring and get to know our area of the city. In doing so, we stumbled onto the London Tower and Tower Bridge. From there we followed the Thames over to Southbank and went to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. I'm a huge fan of Shakespeare, so I was really excited to go. The only downside is that the theatre is only a replica. The original was torn down. Nevertheless, it was an interesting stop.
From there, we went to the Tate Modern which was great, and easily became my favorite museum on this trip. I'd never seen any Andy Worhols in person and the museum had a few, which was really cool. The setup was fantastic and the collection was definitely something for Londoners to be proud of.
After that , we wandered further west and came to the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. Being in that area reminded both of us of the scene in European Vacation where Clark gets stuck in the roundabout. We took pictures but we didn't go into
Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
This was cool. It's an exact replica of the original Globe Theatre, where Shakespeare wrote and presented his most famous plays. any of them because the admission was way too expensive.
The British Pound kicked our asses. London is expensive enough as it is, even without the terrible exchange rate. The dollar is really suffering. Luckily a good number of museums are free.
That night Nick and I just hung out in our hostel and ended up meeting some really cool people on the roof and spending the rest of the night in the lobby bar.
On our second day, we got up and headed straight to the British Museum which oddly enough, has not one single piece of British history in it. What it did have though, was a lot of excavations, relics, and artifacts from their colonial territories and beyond. It was an extremely impressive collection that included a lot of well preserved bodies and mummies.
After that, we shot over to London Monument - which is essentially a 61 meter tower in the middle of city centre. The climb up really sucked, as you can see from the photo of the spiral staircase. Nick was none too pleased. The view was a bit of a pay-off though, and we managed to stay up there
Chevy Chase...
Hey kids look, there's Big Ben. There's Parliament. There's Big Ben. There's Parliament. and take a few shots. London is a huge city. It also happened to be close enough that we thought we'd call it a day.
That night we decided we'd see what the London nightlife had to offer, so we did some research. At first I was set on going to Ministry of Sound. Then I found out that the cover was 14 pounds (essentially $25) and that we couldn't wear jeans or sneakers (which was all we had). So, to settle, we headed over to a place called The Strawberry Moons. The place was really nice, and the DJ was fantastic, but the ratio was terrible and Nick and I, for some odd reason, found it somewhat difficult to let loose on a dancefloor full of guys crowded around the 12 girls that were there. We left not soon after arriving. On the way back we found out the tube closed an hour earlier than we had planned, so we had to take a double-decker back and walk about 10 blocks to get home. Thank God it wasn't raining.
On our third morning, we went straight to Trafalgar square, site of London's infamous bronze Lions and better
yet - the London Gallery - which boasts a great collection of Renaissance paintings. However, the highlight of the trip (sadly) was when Nick and I realized that over the course of our three hour visit, we saw works that represented each and every one of the ninja turtles, prompting Nick to ask where the Splinter exhibit was. Good for a laugh. But, honestly it's a great museum, and I'd recommend it. At this point we were just completely arted out. I can appreciate the Renaissance for it's importance to artistic expression alone, but I can only see
so many pictures of Jesus on the cross and Mary holding the baby Jesus. After a while you start thinking you've walked into a room you've already been in.
After making our exit we got our first real taste of London rain, which was baffling. We'd completely forgotton about how bad the weather was supposed to be during our visit, but London was good to us for the most part. I think she was trying to make up for the last time.
From there, we took a few hours shopping around Piccadilly Circus, then headed over to the London Museum
Big Ben
Actually not really called Big Ben. That name refers to the bell that's inside the clock tower. (I'm a nerd, yes) of Natural History, which I thought was really fantastic and Nick found totally unimpressive. Aside from having a great exhibit of stuffed animals, they had an entire wing dedicated to a modern dinosaur exhibit, complete with a robotic T-Rex so realistic that it gave me the chills. But the museum managed to cover a wide range of scientific topics - the human body, geology, natural disasters, animals, etc. After leaving, we decided we'd give in and let the rain have its victory.
We spent one last night on the roof drinking Carlsberg and having a good time with the group of friends we'd made at the hostel. I think I stayed in the hot tub until about 3:30. It was great.
When we woke up the next morning we only had time to make a short stop at Buckingham Palace. So we walked around the grounds and giggled at the goofy guards. Pretty uneventful.
London is a great place, but it's a huge city and unless you have a lot of money to spend and about a week to spend it, there's no way you can leave without feeling like you missed out on something. Nevertheless, it
was a great way to end our trip.
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