Today was probably the day I walked half of London. It started out as a nice day. We got to wake up a little bit later. Extra sleep is always a bonus! We got ready and met everyone downstairs at 9:30 as requested. Then we walked the few blocks to the V&A (Victoria and Albert) Museum. Which I have to say is AMAZING! We were given until noon to wander around before heading back to the flat for lunch. It wasn't enough time. There was so much to see that I have decided I'm going back. The top floor was dedicated to ceramics. There were cases and cases full of ceramics. I never thought that there could be so many. And they were from all over the world, not just here in the UK. I traveled down another floor and was lost in Queen Victoria and Albert's stuff. She is my favorite monarch and it was so cool to see her furniture and even some of her clothes. There were these typical Victorian chairs that had their portraits on them. I was in love! Soon it came time to leave that wonderful area and head to a different part of the museum. The metal works collection was crazy. You think you've seen all the metal designs ever until you come here. On every wall there was something different. The gates and keys were my favorite out of this collection. There were also some chicken designs. It was amazing to see what was out there! I continued to wander through exhibits until I saw the biggest spiral staircase ever. It was made of wood and probably went up three stories. It was crazy to see something so massive. Plus you think of when they make these things and it makes you wonder how? I'm in awe of how they could have made things this massive when they didn't have the technology we have now. I was in the same amazement moments later when I found a room with two large columns that had to be 3 stories high. and that wasn't even their full height. It also makes you wonder how did the museum transport these? After standing there for five to ten minutes with my mouth hanging open I went to the jewelry exhibit. Unfortunately you couldn't take pictures; I would have loved to get every single piece photographed. It was quite the collection. I only had time for one room, and that one room was spectacular. They really built it up with the lighting of the room. It was pretty dark with spiral staircases that glowed blue. There were the basic cases that lined both sides of the walls and then in the middle they had four cabinets that were c-shaped holding other amazing jewels. There were also benches, in case you had to sit down in amazement. There was a spiral of all different kinds of rings. And as I looked at them I found what I want my engagement ring to be based off of. It was beautiful. It had and orange main rock then small diamond all the way around it. I don't want my replica to have orange though, I want it to be pink. Okay moving on... The rest of the jewels were amazing and I could have spent all day in there. Unfortunately after that I had to head back to the flat. That was a whole other problem. I knew how to get to the corner of the Natural History Museum and that was it. I couldn't remember the rest of the way back. Luckily Jessica, in her bright orange coat, came to the same corner I was at. I was no longer alone which was a relief. So she and I started back to the flat. Unfortunately we didn't turn where we should have and ended up taking the long way back. We got there, but we walked more than we had to.
After lunch we got together at 1pm and headed for the Tate Modern. Well I thought we were, but we made a ton of stops before hand. We took a walk by the Natural History Museum which combines the classic style of architecture with modern glass and metal. The front is more traditional where the edition is the glass and metal. It seems to flow together even though they are so different. In a way it enhances the classic part. We hopped on the tube and continued our journey to down town London. We walked by The Monument, which was huge and I guess has an amazing view of the city. It is one large column with a balcony at the top. It is meant to commemorate the London fire. We continued to walk until we came to the perfect picture spot. We took pictures with the bridge that everyone thinks is the London Bridge but isn't really. Then we continued our long walk to the Tate Modern. My feet were starting to kill by this time. The Tate Modern Museum is really intimidating from the outside. It has this center tower that has no windows and looks like Azkaban kind of, well it has the same mood as the prison does. It is also a brown brick which isn't the most friendly construction material. Once you enter though it is very open and looses the prison like intimidation. To be honest I wasn't that impressed. There were some interesting and cool pieces and then there were pieces I just didn't understand. My favorite works of art were by Taryn Simon. The work was of people sitting against a white wall laid out to make one large piece of work. Along with the pictures of the people there were pictures of just a blank wall. The pieces he made spoke to me. I was interested to find out more and to know the meaning. I found them really interesting. After the Tate Modern we broke into smaller groups to go do our own thing. My feet were still killing me and now I was hungry to top it off. So Stephanie, Elyse, Griffin, Madison, Laura, and I went to find something to eat. We went to one place, and didn't like that menu so we went somewhere else, were seated, looked at the prices, and went somewhere else. We finally decided on a place called Nandos. Pretty good food and excellent dessert. After eating we headed off to St. Paul's Cathedral. It was closing as we arrived so we didn't go in it. But the outside was spectacular. After looking at it and taking picture upon picture we decided to go to the Gherkin designed by Sir Norman Foster. That was one adventure. We decided to take the tube there since it was rather far away. Unfortunately we go the wrong directions and ended up heading the opposite direction. We started walking. We ended up walking by St. Pau'ls so we knew we were walking in circles. After a few more crazy turns and crazy circles we ended up heading in the right direction. My feet were now wanting to kill me for making them walk this much. While I was in pain it turned out to be worth it. We saw many cool buildings and experienced London differently then we had before. I loved seeing the ruins or old churches because it added character to the built up area. It was also great to see the old mixed in with the new. I think that is why people love London. It has so much to offer. It has history but it also as advancement. Also along our journey we saw Egg Chairs at McDonald's, and black and white Barcelona chairs in two different locations. It was cool to see the furniture we learned about in history in places people go all the time. We continued our walk through London, and after about 2 hrs we found the Gherkin. We took many pictures and yelled in joy. While we came for the Gherkin we stumbled onto this really cool building. the stairs were spiral and looked like one of those drill bits. The ones you use to make holes. And it was such a cool looking industrial building. I have no clue what it was for but whoever designed it did a cool job. This discovery made it all worth while. Then we wandered a little further trying to find a tube station. A lady helped us and we were on our way back to the flat. The others wanted to go to Covent Garden so I took the train back, because as much as I would have loved to continue our journey my feet couldn't handle it. So I headed back. This day was quite and adventure and a lot of fun. We laughed a lot and probably burned a ton of calories. Now it is time for a free day and for going back to the V&A and exploring what wasn't explored before!
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| V&A Museum |
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| Victorian Chairs with Albert's and Queen Victoria's Portraits |
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| Wooden spiral staircase |
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| The multiple story high columns |
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| Me and the Bridge |
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| St. Paul's Cathedral |
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| Gherkin |
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| The very industrial building |
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