London Update: Not So Timely After All

outside Waterloo Station

Here's the run down on the London trip. It was shorter than the rest of my trips, and I did more things that I'd done before. I wasn't feeling as contemplative either, so I wrote and philosophized less.

Dali Universe—art by and and inspired by Salvador Dali. His paintings uniquely explore our interconnectedness and dependence on time (which made this poem get stuck in my head).

South Bank Book Market—Open air books under a bridge. Didn't find anything irresistible this time, though. (This photo isn't as artful as I'd hoped.)


The Tate Modern—I liked some of the cubism, impressionism, and surrealism, but there is some strange modern art that I just don't get. The place was crawling with high schoolers on field trips. I ran into some of them making out in the stairwell. The exhibit below I liked, not sure I 100% got it or whatever. It had concentration camp looking bunks with no mattresses. Each bed had a book about war or oppression tied to it (like 1984). I felt like it was a statement about how literature fights oppression and makes suffering bearable. Then over top there was a gigantic spider about to lay eggs; didn't get that part.

St. Paul's from The Tate Modern

The Design Museum—Snazzy fashion exhibit; not wearable fashion, but fashion with meaning behind it. Plus, they gave you a pamphlet that explained what it all was supposed to me so that you didn't have to just look and wonder and feel left-brained.


Tour at the Globe Theatre—Didn't get to see as much behind the scenes as I'd hoped. My favorite part was when the guide told a story about how a pigeon flew into the hole during the gravedigger scene in Hamlet. The gravedigger had to get it out of there before they put the body in, so he picked it up instead of Yorick's skull and Hamlet did the "Alas, poor Yorick" speech to a pigeon. In the picture, the stage is all graffitied for an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet geared towards 12-year-olds. Apparently there's a soap star in it and all the 8th graders swoon.


Notting Hill—Fancy antiques and junk shops. There weren't any street vendors our since it was a weekday. Bought a cute dress. Spent an hour looking at pricey knobs for my dresser.

Tea at the Ritz—Classy, formal, ritzy. Yummy sandwiches and scones. No photos allowed! (Mom will probably demand that I write more about this later, so I won't waste it now.) Emily has the pictures of us all dressed up.

Behind the Scenes Tour of Parliament—Emily's friend works for Parliament so we got to take a look around. He also explained how Parliament works, which we, of course, were clueless about. We got to enter through the building across from Big Ben, go through security, get sweet name tags, and go through a tunnel under the road and under Big Ben. The House of Commons had let out so we got to look around. I love that their voting process involves running to opposing hallways: very kinesthetic, and maybe a little peer-pressure oriented.


Burrough Market—Open air market with fancy-yum foods of all sorts. Olives and cheeses and breads and pate and brownies and Turkish Delight. (And raw meat.) And coffee that's so good it will make you think that maybe you just might make it in life. We bought way too much food then took to eat by the river.

Westfield—Big fancy mall. Countless designers I've never heard of.

Snow Patrol concert—I love concerts where I know every single song. Since I've been listening to their music for a few years certain songs bring back vivid memories. And since my last computer didn't want to pass their album, Hands Open, to my new computer and I hadn't heard it much in awhile, those songs were particularly striking.

Restaurants I was particularly looking forward to:
PingPong—Yum yum Dim Sum.
Nandos—Spicy chicken salad and olives.

And yet more photos:

cute street by The Design Museum

a bird in flight

palm trees and Tower Bridge

bridge o' tourists and St. Paul's

a golden bird and The Eye