This morning we got up a bit later than we had intended (we were rather tired from the day before). The first thing on the list for the day was Borough Market (which you may recall from a post approximately a month and a half ago). We took a bus for a little while, then hopped off and walked, which gave us a chance to see:
This cool market that's been in operation since 660 ish (though the current building is Victorian).
And the Monument (remembering the Great Fire).
And we walked across London Bridge.
From which we saw the HMS Belfast and the Tower Bridge.
Then we finally got to the market, which was already packed. We wandered through the whole thing, then went back for food. I opted for the most epic grilled cheese on the planet (there are no words for how tasty it was), and then we bought a chocolate bar from the super amazing chocolate place, and then coffee and brownies from an incredible pastry shop.
From there, we made our way to the Tate Modern, where we played with pieces of an installation made up of one million ceramic sunflower seeds, and then ate the decadently delicious brownies (though perhaps we should have done that the other way around). Daniel headed home at that point, and Clay and I went through the museum. It was an impressive collection of modern art, but after a certain point, for me anyway, modern art starts to get on my nerves (there is only so long that one can stand having one's 'perceptions of art challenged').
Then we took a boat a little ways down the Themes to the Tate Britain-- a collection of exclusively British works, from every time period. It was smaller, but it had some fun exhibits-- like one that taught you all about color theory-- and a lot of great work by JW Turner. But my feet were killing me by that point, so I started to lose some focus on the art. Oh, but we found a portrait of Elizabeth the First, which was pretty awesome.
Things we saw on the boat ride:
Parliament and the (Big Ben) Clocktower.
The London Eye.
The Tate Britain.
Things we saw in the Tate Britain:
Yup.
After the Tate Britain, we decided to wander in search of the Parliament Buildings, which we passed on the boat. And thanks to Clay's excellent wandering skills, we found them:
As well as Westminster Abbey:
And the street that the Prime Minister lives on (which is guarded by three men with machine guns):
And what I think is the British Museum (but what's important is the guard in front):
And somehow, we wandered ourselves back to...
Trafalgar Square!
And we were very, very, very tired, so we decided to sit in the square for a while. There was also some sort of LGBT event going on, so we got to listen to a choir practicing on the steps of the National Gallery for a while (while I took pictures and tried to rest my feet), which was lovely.
Then it started to rain on us, so we ran to the nearest Tube station and headed back to the flat (another adventure in map-reading and public transportation navigation, which thankfully, I had Clay around to do for me). Once there, we regrouped with Daniel and headed out for dinner. Tonight, we decided to go for a London institution-- Indian food on Brick Lane.
Brick Lane is an experience. Not only are there all sorts of interesting people walking about, but there are at least twenty Indian restaurants, each with a person standing outside who will do their absolute best to lure you into their particular establishment. Their pitches usually go something like this:
"Good evening to you miss. You looking for delicious curry? We have wonderful curry-- please, look at menu-- I promise you love it. Listen, listen to what I do for you-- I give you free drinks. All of you. And 20 percent off. Look-- all the people inside are happy. Gimme a chance to explain--look at menu. I take care of you."
It was fantastic.
And once we finally picked a restaurant, we had the most delicious Indian food that I've had in a long time. Oh man. It was good. That's really all I can say.
That about sums up today. One more day in London until... Dublin!
I leave you with this lovely picture:
"Excuse me, Mr. Admiral Lord Nelson, Sir... but there's a seagull on your hat. I've heard that they can be kind of nasty-- one stole my pasty once. You might want to do something about it."
No comments:
Post a Comment