Wanderlust: Day Seven: On the streets of Londontown

Day 7

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

I was able to sleep in today (9am!). So brilliant. I got a delicious breakfast then went with Michael, Janelle, Hannah, Heather and Suzy to the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. I had never seen it before so I was pretty excited...and so too, apparently, were all the other tourists in London. The square around the Palace was so crowded. Normally, I try to be polite and courteous about crowds. However, I have learned that one must be aggressive in these situations, so I boldly pioneered my way to the front lines of the action...sort of. Basically, I was able to see half of what was going on, and get several clear pictures. The crowd control there is crazy. I felt bad for the police officers who had to keep telling all the crazy tourists (including myself) to back up behind the ropes and to keep the pathways clear. This one Indian lady in front of me never seemed to get the memo. She kept moving forward into the exact spots that the officer was trying to clear, and she allowed her three year old daughter to roam freely about in between the barriers. The girl kept getting in the way I guess, because the officer had to tell the mother multiple times to get her under control. It seemed very irresponsible to me. But then again, I was only a foot behind her, so maybe I can’t judge.

Now, I may burst a few peoples’ bubbles here, but unfortunately, Mary Kate and Ashley lied...there were no British guards available for me to try out some of my best jokes. I was really hoping to see one of them crack. Sadly though, all the guards on duty stand in boxes inside the Palace gates, beyond the reach of my witticisms. Too bad for them!

After the Changing of the Guard, which consisted of marching around the square, a military band, and a lot of standing around waiting for something interesting to happen, Michael (who is, btw, a girl, if I have not yet clarified this) and I decided to go visit the Victoria and Albert Museum while the others went to sites we’d seen on our previous visits to London. The Victoria and Albert Museum is pretty big, and there are quite a few different and semi-random exhibits there. Michael and I spent a good amount of time going through their jewelry exhibit that showcased some cool pieces from ancient periods through modern eras, including a very weird metal bra that looked highly uncomfortable and not at all practical {prelude to the chastity belt?}. I even got to “try on” a rather ornate tiara. I was hoping to be discovered as the next princess of Genovia, but I guess they already have one of those :( Maybe I can talk to Queen Elizabeth...William may be taken, but Harry is still technically on the market.
I should have worked harder on this while at Buckingham Palace...

{Chastity bra}

{Crowned princess}

We also saw an interesting photography gallery that presented a photographic commentary/record of the Apartheid in South Africa. One of the coolest things, in my opinion, that is housed in the museum are some enormous Raphael cartoons (depicting the Acts of the Apostles).

Cartoons = pre-sketches of larger paintings

Cartoons ≠ Calvin and Hobbes

{although that would probably be the highlight of my museum experience}

I think its cool to see the original sketches of famous murals and paintings that are exhibited in other major galleries. The sheer size of these cartoons was overwhelming as well. The pictures were drawn on smaller squares of canvas that were then pieced together like a puzzle in order to make the large final sheet we see at the end.

Raphael Cartoons Gallery

(This is a contraband photograph that I took before I realized no photos were allowed––a lesson I learned immediately after taking this picture when the nearby guard informed me. Oops!)

Around 2:20 we left the museum to go over to the British Museum where a bunch of people from class were meeting up at 3pm. Matt’s former freshman roommate Nils (from Denmark) is interning at the British Museum, working on his Masters in history. He wants to be a museum curator. He was nice enough to meet up with us and give us a short highlights tour of the museum. i.e. the Rosetta Stone, the Elgin Marbles, the Egyptian gallery and a couple others. I was just glad he didn’t try to take us everywhere but kept it short and sweet, because my feet were killing me. And I’ve already been to the British Museum and it is MASSIVE.

This statue's head was missing a nose...so I decided to help it out.

{I'm walking the Queen's Walk}

{Hannah and I}

I was not in the mood to go through it for three hours or more. Instead we only spent about an hour or so walking through, then Suzy, Hannah, Michael, Janelle and I found dinner at an Italian restaurant about a block away. The food was surprisingly delicious. Pretty sure they were a legit Italian establishment...at least, they spoke with Italian accents and acted foreign. Either way, I ordered some sort of tortelloni (not to be mistaken for tortellini) and it was amaaazing. I ate it so fast. Mmmmm. Only downside? We had to pay for our water. They serve water in bottles that you have to pay for, instead of from the tap. So we just split a bottle between us.

Translation: I got a small European-size glass of water for my entire meal.

{Our expensive bottle of water}

Further Translation: I was thirsty the whole time.

Once we finished our dinner, we split up again. Hannah, Michael and I took the tube to the Tower Bridge area because Hannah hadn’t seen it yet and we still had some free time left in our evening. Unfortunately it started raining as we ate our meal, but we all had umbrellas so it wasn’t a big deal. Just your typical London weather! We just meandered down the pier by the bridge and then walked down some back streets, exploring London. We walked too far though and ended up kind of out of the way from any tube stations. Problem: I had to use the bathroom so bad (even though I’d only had that small glass of water for dinner). Let’s just say the walk back to the tube and then to the hotel was a long one.