I got into downtown London on Friday at about 11 AM, where I found my friend Tim's dad's office, and I dropped off my stuff and he gave me info where to go... I felt kind of bad popping in with my travel garb, especially since they were all dressed in suit and tie kind of dress. Anyway, I went straight across the street to the British museum (history museum), where I saw a dead, mummified Cleopatra and several other old things (pictures to come). Next, I met back up with Tim's dad, where he took me to lunch at this Belian restaurant with lots of good beer and DELICIOUS food, not to mention that they were all dressed as Belgian monks... good stuff.
Next, I went downtown London, where I saw tons of stuff from a big marketplace with lots of dudes painted like statues that stand up on soap boxes to a guy juggling on a tall unicycle. The statue guys looked REALLY good... it's hard to imagine that they put on their makeup to do that all day (I'd never be able to stay that still). They DO move a little, but in some cases it's no more than just a wink here or there. Next, I moved down to Trafalgar Square, where they have statues and pillars and a national art gallery. I have never been much of a fan of paintings (especially religious paintings), but the gallery had so many BEAUTIFUL paintings. I'm sure I've seen some of these in books before, but they really don't do justice to the real things. The colors used are so vibrant and the detail is amazing... it is almost as if these paintings come to life. It is really remarkable. Unfortunately, no photos allowed:-(
Next, I headed down toward Big Ben and near some governement buildings and such. Big Ben was really much more impressive in real life than I thought it would be. The architecture of the entire area was AMAZING! It was hard for me to choose my pictures. I took a stop over to the London Eye (a big ferris wheel), but I didn't go up b/c the line was so long and it was £14 (about $28) to go up, so I just took pictures of it instead. The real interesting part of that, in my opinion, was that the "spokes" of the wheel were cables instead of solid metal bars, which means that the whole wheel hangs from the hub in the center. I thought it was pretty neat.
Onward to Westminster Abbey, which was beautiful on the outside and expensive on the inside (I was about to pay the £10 to go in, then I peeked in and it didn't look special in any way, so I decided that the charge was more likely for a "religious pilgimage" type deal, so I left). Not much more to say about that. I headed over to Buckingham Palace next, which was a bit smaller and more contemporary-looking than I had anticipated. The gates were pretty elaborate, but the palace itself didn't seem to have any notable features about it. It was still pretty impressive though.On the way back to Mr. McEvoy's office, I walked through a beautiful park and just enjoyed the beautiful weather (a bit cooler than back in the States). Once I got back, we hopped a train to his house, I took a shower (which felt AMAZING after all the traveling), had a nice kabob dinner, and I fell asleep on the couch at about 9:30 or so while we were watching TV, so I turned in for bed (and slept until about 11 the next day!). Although my stay with the McEvoy's was short, they were delightful people who catered to my every need and made sure I was comfortable while in their home (Thank you McEvoys!) In the morning, I woke up and took a train to York to see my friend Tim, which will be discussed in the next chapter.
See First set of pics here! (I'll request that my mom make this album shared without a password)
See more pictures here
