Saturday, 9/7/13
Skipped a day again, haven’t I? I’m not doing really good at this.
Yesterday wasn’t the most fantabulous day, anyway. We started off early, and it was rainy. British rain is surprisingly dreary even though it doesn’t rain much at once. It was coming down just enough that necessitated an umbrella. Messy affair.
We intended the day to be a museum day because of the weather, but museums around here don’t open until 10:00 am. So we walked and dawdled around toward Trafalgar Square, the location of the National Gallery.
Since we walked so much the day before, my legs and feet were screaming at me. I’d take a step, then my ankles would scream, them I’d take another step, then my calves would scream, and so on.
On the upside. I got to see Michaelangelo, El Greco, Raphael, Monet, Manet, Seraut, and many other favorites.
We were there till about lunch, then we went down to Lambeth and the Imperial War Museum, which many people and guidebooks recommended.
Unfortunately, the museum was under a renovation, so we couldn’t see much. There was a spy exhibit and the Holocaust exhibit. Quite depressing.
We were exhausted and I crashed at the hotel for a bit around three. At six we roused ourselves for dinner (fish and chips) then we strolled around Kensington Park.
I was asked for directions once, which was pleasing. Means I don’t seem too foreign — at least to Germans — and I could answer their question. Yay!
Today (finally to today) we slept late, then went to the British Museum. And here I sit, still at the British Museum. This place is awesome. We have seen artifacts from Ancient Egypt to Greece to Mesopotamia to Europe and even the Americas. Doubt we’ve even seen half of it, really.
Had lunch here. Wasn’t the best — the British like to put mayo on everything.
Now we’re trying to work out plans for the afternoon, so I guess I should assist.
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Now it’s almost 5:30 and we’re on the tube heading toward Notting Hill. Earlier we found the London Stone! I had read about it many years ago and have wanted to see it ever since. Success! It was hidden, literally, in a hole in the wall.
We also walked around an area where a Roman amphitheater once was and walked around a garden space that was once a church which was destroyed on the fire of 1666, then Wren rebuilt it, then the Germans bombed it in WWII. Bad luck church.
We’re going to see if the Portobello Market is anything special.
