London

So here are some pictures from London, which is very, very nice and I liked it very, very much, if for no other reason that the great people I hung out with

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I had to wake up at 3:45 in the morning to catch my train because I had to get up, get dressed, eat breakfast and walk to the train station. All I can say is that it was depressing to see that while I was walking to go on a big adventure, most people still hadn't gone home from the bars because Thursday is party night, and I left Friday before the sun came up.


Traveling on the Eurostar was fun, once I got on it and everything. It was pretty nice. I like train travel, I think. Although all I did was sleep the entire way with my face smushed against the glass.

Once I got into London, Caitlin and Bridget, (after a hug tackle that Caitlin is infamous for) being the kind souls that they were, helped me to find a cheap place to eat breakfast. This cost me 3 pounds. I was so happy I could have cried. (Re: Meat is expensive in Belgium)





Not to mention it was really, really good. All the breakfasts I had were approximately 3-4 pounds, and they were all this size...you know, meal size. It was so refreshing.





This is a picture of Caitlin while we went to look at the Cathedral where Nelson's tomb was. I like this picture for some reason, although it's very fuzzy. Note how very, very smily Caitlin looks. By the end of the weekend she was giving me the infamous two fingers about every fifteen minutes. I won't say I didn't deserve it. (What can I say, I was cheeky.)





This was in front of...St...Paul's? I think? I don't remember the Cathedral name, since we didn't go in (because it cost 9 pounds to look at stuff in there, and Bridget got in for free because she was researching there.) but Bridget was very nice and told me all about the differences between Ionic and Corinthian and...uh...another type of column. Anyways, the long and short of it is (no pun intended) that there are 'male' and 'female' version columns. Who knew? Not me. I really should go look that up, now that I think of it.





This is me looking like a deer in headlights for some reason while I look over yonder. We were in the church waiting to see how much it cost and stuff.







This is what a typical London intersection looked like. Busy. We were on our way to the Virgin megastore, in which Caitlin nearly lost her sanity, and certainly lightened her wallet. The next day when we went there again, I also bought a bunch of stuff, and now I own a bunch more CDs, and they're actually quite nice. Virgin megastores are really, really big. like, not just by European standards...they're REALLY, REALLY big. I can't imagine how much it would cost for them to have a store that big in central London.






This, Caitlin informed me, is where all the famous Shakespeare actors studied. I was really impressed, it looks like a really rundown building, in a pretty normalized neighbourood, but I guess that's where all the genius hides.






Caitlin nearly cried when she saw this sign that said this was once the home of the Pre-Raphaelites. I was like, "Whose the Pre-Raphaelites?" All I could think about was religious orders at the time, so it didn't make any sense to me. I got it later. Good one, Brennan.





This was Caitlin and me in a VERY dodgy going-outta-business store where they literally were GIVING things away. Everything sold for one or two pounds. I made Caitlin try on this hat. I also tried on hats, and she laughed at me. It was fun. Now, it was funny because I practically DRAGGED Caitlin in there, and she was the one who found a nice Dr. Who shirt for very cheap. I tell ya. No gratitude. =D








This I saw while we were walking to the museum. I had to take a picture because I just would not have grown up the same without Calvin and Hobbes, and really, even thoughI practically wanted to own this placard, what would I do with a placard? I certainly couldn't put on some rank smelling clothing and then walk around proclaiming the "End is nigh!" (Even if that's a very Calvin and Hobbes thing to do, really.) I just wouldn't suit me. I'm not tall enough to be a doomsday-guy. They're all lanky and stuff. I thought this was the greatest thing on earth until Caitlin told me she had taken a picture of the very same thing for her ex-boyfriend. Then I was a little embarrassed. But I still really like the picture.







This was the front of the museum...of...uh....um....Liz would know. I forgot already. It was either the V & A, or the British Museum...I think it was the British Museum. =D The best thing about British Museums is that they are, for the most part, completely free, which I think is terrific. If I had any sort of income, I would have given money of large sorts, but, uh, I don't. =(







This was one of the many, many Buddha-buddies in the East-Asian gallery. And, to suit the atmosphere of the culture, it was stifling and hot in there. We basically looked at some jade, chatted about Eastern culture, and headed on out.









THIS WAS TERRIFIC!!!! Well, I was happy, even if Caitlin was pretty disenchanted. This is the Rosetta Stone, and wow, it's big! I thought it would be a little smaller for some reason. Anyways, it was really cool, and I really, really liked the fact that I got to see it. Especially, when I was like, "Hey is this the Rosetta Stone?" and Caitlin said, "Yeah, I guess." Then I started doing my happy dance.







This was the thing I liked best out of everything we saw, I think. This was the Temple of the Nereids. This was a burial temple for a family, I think, and it was just beautiful, and MASSIVE. Like, mega uber massive. And it was just so beautiful. I really liked this.







I don't know why I found this appealing, but I did. I guess it represented to me all the things that I ever supposed that a headless statue would be, if that makes any sense at all.








This is Caitlin taking an ULTIMATE CHOMP out of her ULTIMATE BURGER. There was an honest-to-goodness burger restaurant, and I hadn't had a REAL MEAT BURGER IN, LIKE, A YEAR, and so we had hamburgers, and it was everything I thought it would be. I love meat. I really, really love meat.






Look at how beautiful it is. *Sniff* Look at it. *SOB* I MISS YOU ALL BEEF PATTIES!!!! If you look, you can see the chili fries we had with the meal. While they weren't anything too special, I didn't care BECAUSE THE FRIES HAD MEAT. That made me happy. Really, really happy. I love beef. Regardless how much this meal costed, it was totally worth it. TOTALLY.


After this pleasant meal, we went to the V & A , which had some really impressive fashion galleries, and a bunch of modern art. Because Caitlin said I wasn't supposed to take pictures in most of the galleries, I just took the ones where she said it was alright or didn't yell at me for taking photos. Probably the two most interesting things were





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This







and this. The hanging...um...whatever it was...was at the start of the museum, dangling above the museum receptionist's head. The crazy bicycle thingy was actually a piece of art which had one of those coin wells where you put in a coin and watch it go round and round was at the end of the museum. It was made to work only for larger coins, we thought, since the small coins basically just went klunk, but like I was giving them 2 pounds to see something roll. I mean, really.






The next day, we went to Trafalgar Square, with the whole history of the battle of Trafalgar, blah blah blah, ask Bridget about it. It was very, very, VERY crowded, and Caitlin didn't like the tourists, even though she accepted the fact that she was one of them. I accepted the fact that she, as she puts it, "At least tried to learn something about the culture before coming here, and not just walking around aimlessly." And, I mean, really, all Caitlin and Bridget did while I was there was fill my head with facts. Very fun.






I don't know why I like this picture, but really, this is just so typical. Don't they both just look so smart? I mean, really.






This is us figuring out how to get to one of the places Bridget needed to see for her research. Very nice. We also mapped out how to get to Church for the evening, and they indulged me by letting me visit Buckingham Palace. (I'm of the impression that they had no desire to go. Especially since that's what they said while they waited outside the gates.)






This was the monument at Buckingham Palace. I was pretty non-plussed with the palace on whole...I was expecting more trumpets, or fountains going off while men on horses talked genially with ladies and tipped their hats. I don't know why I thought that but I did. However, I did get to see the soldiers in fuzzy hats, AND IT WAS EVERYTHING I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE AND MAN IT WAS GREAT. I watched them do some marching, and I decided that being a soldier in a fuzzy hat made you a near certain volunteer for shin splints. Keep digging in those heels. I would love to watch a military parade or an English march past now. Military drill. Never get tired of it.





This was 'Mini-Big-Ben' which we saw on our way to Church. I also saw the real Big Ben from a distance, and I didn't see any need to get closer, since it also was a little disenchanting. I was kinda hoping it was...well, bigger. Sad, right? Anyways, this guy was constructed during the time when Big Ben wasn't working, as an apology to the people of London. It said something to that affect on the plaque. That's another thing, everything in London has a plaque. Everything.






This impressive building is where we went to church. It was absurdly big, and I mean that. I was so big that they had....something like six people serving communion. I think there were more than a 1000 chairs in there. It was very pretty, but it had too much smell of tourism, so there just wasn't any 'feel' to it that was probably supposed to be there. Mass was also a bit of a downer because, well, there was no singing. Yeah. It was all spoken, so I was really sad because I wanted to hear some English hymns. But it was still really nice because I went to mass with some very nice people. =) I have now heard Mass in 4 countries. Not bad.


Anyways, that's my trip! After all this, we went back and relaxed and just chatted the night away. I got up at 5 in the morning to catch my train, and I had a wonderful time. I'm SO glad I went. It was a really good break for me, and it was a nice sort of way to forget about school for a bit and just veg. I slept HUGE hours, even though it was really, really hot there. I had fun, and I would say that London is really fun. I liked it. I would certainly recommend you go, since it's so accessible and not too unfamiliar. =)


OK, well, I'm outta hear. It's late, and this took a while because I uploaded so many pictures. =P Later days!