England

So it's actually been a few weeks since I've been in London... things definitely picked up since we left Scotland, and I haven't been able to bring myself to sit in front of the computer for an extended period of time. But luckily, now I'm in an enormous HI hostel above the Rhine River, surrounded by a blanket of fog so thick that I can barely see the water or streets below us. I guess I have some time to catch up!

The first couple days of London gave us typical London weather- gray, rainy, and cold. We decided to see the big museums and indoors-y attractions, hoping the weather would clear up after a while. On the 23rd we saw the British Museum- it was more expansive than I'd imagined. You could easily spend a week in there. First we saw the Rosetta Stone- just barely because of the swarms of school groups and aggressive tourists. We decided to see the Hadrian exhibit, featuring newly discovered information and artifacts. It was actually really cool to see the kinds of things they had uncovered. At the end, we were interviewed by a woman who presumably wanted to see if we were shocked by the information on his homosexuality. We told her it was nothing new and moved on, trying to narrow down a sliver of the museum we would want to focus on. That wasn't too hard- British Museum means lots of mummies! I think for a while that museum and the one in Cairo were the only ones with uncovered mummies on display. Not surprisingly, they were pretty grotesque, but very interesting. We even saw a mummified cat. After that we went through the Greek/Roman section, which is always fascinating- kouros sculptures, old coins, huge amphorae with gods and goddesses and mythical scenes painted on them- always the most interesting section (for me.) After the museum we had some overpriced sushi and went to the British Library, but only to the artifact room as we were running out of time. We saw everything from ancient maps to original Shakespeare publications to original lyrics by the Beatles. We spent quite a while there as well. After that, we dragged ourselves (and our swollen brains) back to Gail's.

The next day was also pretty rainy, so we made our way back into the center of London and decided to see the aquarium. Honest opinion? Camden is much better. It was still a relaxing way to kill a few rainy hours. Afterwards we head to the Tate Modern, and I realize I simply do not have an appreciation for some modern "art." We went in with an open mind, following the crowds of visitors and being tailed by a very English girl- "I KNOoooww, don't you just Loove it here, I could spend the whole day, just OHHLlll these TOUURrrists..." at this point me and Ruaridh realized there is nothing more annoying than a posh english accent. We get to one of the floors, and some of the art is actually something I would consider art. Picasso-esque. Some things disturbing, some photography, but I'm still steadfastly denying the fact that most of it is crap. We get to one redeeming room with some really beautiful artwork, but then move on to- my favorite- the minimalist stuff. A painted canvas. A misshapen rectangle of white paper. A block of metal. Poorly attempting to stifle our laughter, me and Ruaridh leave, deciding that Tate Modern, if anything, gave us a good laugh. We get back to Rayne's Park pretty early, so we decide to head next door into Wimbledon and find a bar or a cafe or something. We have some great wine- a Rioja Crianza. After a bit my stomach starts to bother me and we head back.

London, what a place to come down with food poisoning (or whatever I got). I spend the entirety of the 25th in bed, with the exception of running to the store and getting some fresh air and Powerade. But the next day we are both antsy from boredom and end up doing quite a bit- we take a trip up the London Eye in the morning, and get some great views of the Parliament building and Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, the Thames, etc. We walk along the Thames to the Tower Bridge (really amazing in person) and see the HMS Belfast and some other cool stuff, including Shakespeare's Globe- I book me and a reluctant Ruaridh some standing tickets for Timon of Athens on the next day. We cross the bridge and decide to tour the Tower of London, which was really fascinating. They still have the ravens on the ground (they bite.) After seeing the crown jewels, we take a bus into Piccadilly Circus, and walk around to Regent's St. until it's well after dark. London seems like it must be a blast at night- I wished we had more time, but at this point we have 2 more days until we leave for Amsterdam.
Saturday I'm not feeling too great again, but we make it out to see Timon of Athens, a play of Shakespeare's that hadn't been performed during his time because of it's harsh criticism of the aristocracy of his day. It was really fun- even Ruaridh admitted to enjoying it! (Gasp.) I get pretty sick midway, so we leave at intercession, and I explain to Ruaridh that the second half is classical Shakespearian tragedy. After eating a bit, we walk around a lot and I feel a bit better- we head to Trafalgar Square and see the National Gallery. Some original works of Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, etc. We move past the vast amounts of seriously religious work into some beautiful landscapes, but have to leave as the gallery closes.

The 28th arrives, and it's our last day in London. Tonight we take an overnight ferry to the Hook of Holland, and then a train to Amsterdam Centraal. We miss the changing of the guard in the morning, but head into St. James Park to see the Palace anyway. The park is really beautiful. Lots of fearless squirrels, ducks and swans (captive?) There are even- no joke- Pelicans. From a bridge over the lake you can see the London Eye. We walked up to the Palace- only 2 guards on duty. The palace is pretty huge, but the surrounding area, the fountain and the gates are much more attractive. We wander the park a little more and then head back to Rayne's Park to pack- our train from London leaves at 8:30PM. The train ride seems to go smoothly, and the ferry we are on is really nice. Me and Ruaridh are giddy for our next adventure, and run around the ferry like hyper children. The set-up of the ferry reminds us of the boat we had in Greece senior year, with all our friends. We have a drink and head to sleep, and 4 or 5 hours later we get our obnoxious wake-up call and head to our next train.

It's funny to recall the events of the past couple days after I've had some decent food and a good night's sleep. Now I am at Gail's house in London again. Despite plans we made last night for today, I slept like a rock and didn't feel completely motivated to run around just yet - after all, we are here until Sunday.

Last time I wrote, I was happy and on the ferry to Holyhead, Wales. We were told by an Irish Ferries staff guy that our ferry would arrive around midnight at Holyhead and the train to London would depart at 2AM, which we were fine with. After waiting a bit at the Holyhead station, we started to get nervous and asked a staff member when the train was arriving. He said the next train wasn't until 9:56AM. Ruaridh comes back with the news, and I was furious. I tried not to think about how many times we got screwed in the past several hours, and tried to fall asleep in the metal chairs. Some drunk kids in club clothes wandered in and out around 3 or 4, and I finally get up around 6:30AM. Even though our train was late, and we had to transfer here and there, we eventually made our way to Gail's.

After a shower and a hot meal, I felt great. Last night I didn't wake up once after hitting the pillow, which I don't think has happened in months. Overall, I think we got a lot of positive out of the big s#*& storm that was Dublin- I'm just glad that for a while we have stable, free accommodation (no haunted chapels or train stations.) Hooray for London!