London Part II

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London Part II

Thursday, June 21

This morning we had a presentation on WAGGGS and their purpose. We were then divided into two groups—half of us went to The National Gallery while the others went to Camden Market.

The National Gallery was amazing. It was incredible to be standing directly in front of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. It was mind-blowing to be looking at one of the most famous painting in the world and it was so close I could stick out my hand and touch it. Monet’s Water Lilies painting was also cool. When you got close you could see all the individual brush strokes but when you backed up and admired the picture from afar you got to see the whole thing. I also enjoyed Picasso’s Child With a Dove. This one he painted it at the start of his blue period. I learned at lot more about these painting than I knew before.

We then ate lunch on the grass outside the museum. Today was “Sky Day” because it is the longest day of the year. So just before the steps leading up to the museum were 200 artists painting how Sky Day related to them. It was fun to see how different people interpreted the assignment. Some people painted the canvas how it was given to them, others turned it to the side, and one man even did the backside of it. The pictures varied from flowers, to the museum itself, to abstract.

We then left to go back to the Lodge and discussed what we saw. We talked about the women in the paintings and how they were depicted. We chatted about their activities, their stance, and their clothing or lack of. We then related this to today’s society and how body image has changed over the decades.

After our talks we scrambled to get ready for our show before dinner. Everyone looked very nice in their outfits. Lesleyanne was wearing a shirt she bought at H&M on Oxford and Coral and I were wearing the dresses we haggled down at Camden Market.

We took the tube to Les Miserables—the world’s longest running musical. The show was incredible! The actors were great by themselves but with the addition of the lights and props it was astounding. It was hard to think that the musical was written decades ago yet it seemed like it fit today’s pop culture perfectly.

The plan was to go out for dessert after the show but we were all so tired and indecisive that we ended up just hitting a mini-store before going home.

Friday, June 22

The weather is so finicky here. Tuesday morning, during flag, outside was dark and windy. It was guaranteed that the skies were going to open up at any second so we all went back to our rooms and traded our shorts for jeans. The day ended up being beautiful. It was bight and sunny during the day and didn’t rain until the evening. Like every other day, today the weather fluctuated nonstop. It would be bright and sunny for an hour then the sky would tease us with rain, then when it finally did rain it would only rain for ten minutes then the sky would turn back into a pretty blue. This got very old. I was tired of putting my hoodie on and off, on and off. After playing the game again today it finally cleared up for the most part and only rained in the evening.

Once the morning routine was complete the group broke into two—half going to St. Paul’s Cathedral and the other Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. We opted to go to the cathedral. Mom and I walked around the crypt and the church levels while the others in our group were a bit more daring. Lesleyanne, Coral, Ashleigh, and Mrs. Drake all took a hike up to the top of the church. It is 434 steps up to the top in a narrow, dark, spiral staircase. I don’t know how they all got to the top—but that was only half of their problem because they still had to 434 steps back to the bottom. Needless to say they all their legs that were very worn out when they came back down. I was very proud of all of them for doing that and not one of them complained about their legs hurting later in the day.

After that kind of exercise no one in the group wanted to walk anywhere so we got onto the tube to go to The Tower of London. This was one of the funnier places we visited. We took a tour from a “beefeater”. The man was very funny yet informative at the same time. One our tour we learned about things such as the torture that took place there and the royalty that used to live there. Our last stop on the tour was at a church on the grounds. After running nonstop for the past week we have all been worn down. Lesleyanne and I rested our eyes during this portion and I ended up actually dozing off. The quick nap was something that I desperately needed to keep me going.

We continued exploring the Tower on our own. We saw other exhibits that were a bit more in depth such as the torture area where there were replicas of the machines used. We also saw the royal jewels. Everything was just so over the top--gold encrusted everything, hundreds of diamonds with touches of other precious gems like rubies and sapphires. Yeah, they nice to look at but who really needs a 530 carat diamond?

After the tower we broke off from the whole group and went to bite to eat before going on the London Eye. After trying to decide on a place to eat we finally picked out some fancy restaurant. Now, it wasn’t too fancy but we didn’t fit in with our jeans and sneakers with everyone else wearing suits and holding some kind of fruity drink. I had a hamburger, a simple dish that we often take for granted. I wanted something totally American after a full week of things that were a little different.

We had some time to waste before our trip on The Eye so we went to a tourist gift shop. It wasn’t anything different than the other shops but it did have a cat. I was scared by Smokey when he was roaming the store. I have no idea why they would ever want a cat roaming a store but the owners seemed pleased with him. At the store Coral and I met Graham. He qualified as the cute guy for the day. (Sorry Dad) We talked to him for a while. Like everyone else we have met he taught us something more about the U.K. He was a funny guy but don’t ask me how he was accepted into the local “uniy” (university) because he wasn’t all that bright. We were immediately alerted to this after a few questions. He asked us where we were from and then told us he had been to Tampa. Mom asked what brought him to Tampa and his response was, “An airplane.”

After shopping we went to The Eye. Of course we had to stop into their gift shop as well. Once we finished up there we got in line for our ride. We had only a limited amount of time to board the “the Eye ball.” It was rotating as we were boarding it. The big Farris wheel presented us with fabulous views of the city. We did our best to absorb the scenery as we snapped away the camera with our scrapbooks in the back of our minds. The ride was a lot of fun. The best part was that we got the whole ball to ourselves-usually about twenty people load into one at once. We all enjoyed our private ride.

Before going back to Pax we made a stop at a special train station platform—Platform 9 and ¾. People laughed when we asked where it was because they knew we were just some more tourist looking for the place where Harry Potter ran from the muggle world to the world of J.K. Rowling. We were at the platform for a good fifteen minutes taking pictures. We got shots of us running up to the wall, some of us just posing, and some on a special setting where it really looks like you are disappearing into another world.

After all the excitement we were exhausted. Our beds were calling our names and we couldn’t wait to get in them.

Saturday, June 23

Today was our second of two free days. After going, going, going we decided to sleep in. We slept until eight when we dragged ourselves to breakfast. We got a late start on the day but the extra sleep was necessary.

We first went back to Camden Market. Ashleigh and Coral both wanted to go back there to buy some more goodies. I know Ashleigh had something things in mind but I think Coral just wanted to go to barter with the venders.

We then went to Trafalgar Square. We ate out lunch there before jumping onto the double-decker tour bus. While we were eating we observed some type of “Modern Jesus Army” event. It almost looked like it was a cult. The man emceeing the event had a gruff voice—not something very warm and welcoming for a religion. It was all rather strange and I really wasn’t sure what the deal was with those people.

We then got onto a double decker tour bus to take us around the city. Our tour guide could have been a quite knowledgeable man but I am not too sure. I couldn’t stop cracking up when he was talking because every time he would open his mouth he would yell into the microphone. He would yell so loud it was hurting my ears. The thing that made it so funny was that he would only yell certain words or emphasize specific phrases. I just couldn’t concentrate.

We got off the bus at Westminster Abbey. We had missed the visiting hours so we could only take pictures from the outside.

We then got onto another bus with a tour guide that looked like he had had one too many drunken nights. He had sleeves on his arms and a highlighted Mohawk. I couldn’t concentrate with him because of him rambling. He just went on and on about nothing. He would say something useful but it was always followed with many of his own comments.

We then got off at the Tate Modern. It was disappointing that we had less than an hour at such an interesting place. We ran all over the place trying to see a few specific paintings. We had to see Andy Warhol and just so happened to stumble across a Monet. The place was excellent; I only wish we had a full afternoon to spend there.

We got back onto the bus with a tour guide that talked so fast his words slurred together. The things I was able to pick up on I am not sure were too accurate because I was only comprehending what he had said 15 seconds after he had said it. This guy was really a mess.

Our next stop was Harrods’s. It is the biggest department store in the world—it takes up a full city block. It is almost too big; it had five stories and was absolutely overwhelming. It didn’t have anything too spectacular to match their mind blowing prices either. Target is just fine with me.

Surprise, it was raining when we left the store. At this point we were looking for dinner and didn’t know what we wanted. I suggested fish and chips so we were off to look for a place that served it. We had a recommendation of a place but they only take reservations for dinner so we were turned away. Across the street we found another place that was reasonably priced with fish and chips on the menu.

I wanted the traditional English meal. It was almost a good thing that we were declined from the other place because this place had excellent food. I enjoyed my meal and learned that the real English F&S is served with pureed peas. They weren’t too bad but I wouldn’t be able to eat them more than a few times a year.

After stuffing ourselves we got onto a bus to go home. Coral and I quickly discovered how much fun it was to wave to the people down below on the busy streets and passengers on other buses. Our arms were flapping the whole was home and we did a few “blowfishes.” The looks we received were too funny. Some people looked at us like we should be in an asylum, others responded by waving back and some tried to ignore us. For the most part people smiled and we just smiled back.

We finally got off at our stop and then waited for another bus to take us up the hill. We could have walked it but our feet were just too tired from all the other walking that we just decided to wait.

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Comments

[Renee Van Guilder]

Thanks so much!
I just stumbled on your blog while researching our trip... I am a Girl Scout leader and we're leaving in a week for a trip to Our Chalet in Switzerland, Paris, and London & Pax Lodge. I enjoyed reading about your experience and can't wait to take my girls! Your sister in GS, Renée