London, UK
The past two weeks have really been great, and I thought I'd share some pictures and experiences.
One of the first things we did in London was take a tour bus all around the city - we got the lay of the land, and frankly we were too tired to do anything else but be driven around. It was an interesting experience.
We saw the major sites and it gave us a better idea of how to plan the rest of the week. Usually Jeff and I prefer to explore a city by ourselves, but I think maybe we've been missing out on something by choosing not to go on a tour.
The city itself is massive and incredibly compact - row house upon row house, with windy roads that change name at random intersections. Everything is incredibly well-manicured, both the gardens and the people.
There also had to be at least a million tourists when we were there. The line-ups were loooong for all the major attractions.
The other thing that really struck both of us was how opulent everything was in London. So much gold, so much architectural detailing, so much wealth in the old buildings. And without trying to sound obvious, there is so much history to take in. Lots and lots of little details that are interesting, yet so easily missed.
London is full of clocks. Sun dials of all sorts, like the ones in the above picture. Another clock we saw (not shown) had a black circle around the number 2 to indicate when one of the Kings of England was beheaded. Every little thing here has so much history, and we could have easily stayed for a full month without even scratching the surface.
There's also an abundance of architectural styles that showcase the past 2000 years. Most of it is neo-classical due to one of the "great fires". The name of Christopher Wren seems attached to each building, including St. Paul's seen in the distance in the picture below.
I noticed in several places that the media or tourist guides will refer to something as the great *something*. There was more than one great fire. There's more than one palace. There's also more than one modern building considered hideous. I found it amusing that more than one monument had a tag line of "Charles called such and such modern building a great eyesore", but the bridge itself is no more ugly than any other modern piece of architecture (imho).
The Thames itself is lovely. We took a boat cruise, walked over several of the bridges and along the shores eating really great ice-cream.
Unlike the waterway, the streets are clogged with traffic. There were so many cars, despite the amazing underground system and a city driving tax.
The actual sites and museums took at least 3-5 hours to go through, and that was barely adequate.
My initial wish list covered 25 museums + neighbourhoods/sites/churches/etc. After the Tower of London took 4 hours, that had to be scaled back drastically. I guess I never really realized how familiar British culture is, and how therefore it became more meaningful to see certain things in person. I also found out how little history I knew, having personally focused more on ancient cultures when I was younger. The stories of, for example, the beheading of Henry VIII's wives really did come to life; listening to the history of the War of the Roses has given a much greater appreciation of Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland.
Not that there isn't enough Roman culture in the UK, including random little spots where a chunk of floor is visible in the middle of the street. It just adds to the ecclictic feel.
Westminster Abbey is basically a mausoleum, and unlike any other church we've seen in the rest of Europe. I'm sure a large part of it has to do with the fact that it isn't catholic (compared to St. Mark's in Venice or Notre Dame in Paris), but the amount of politicians, musicians and royalty is astounding. It's the one place where you really did need an audio guide of some sort, because most of the tombs aren't marked properly. The actual churchy part of it was small compared to the size of the building.
St. Paul's on the other hand was exactly what you'd expect of a church, except as mentioned earlier more oppulent than any other church I've ever been to. The amount of polished, gleaming gold was surprising. The Yoko Ono instalation was also unexpected.
The view from St. Paul's tower was amazing. I'm also apparantly becoming more and more afraid of heights as I get older. There's film of me absolutely terrified as I realize I have to climb up much higher than I initially thought.
The Tate Modern was frankly a bit disappointing.
It had been hyped as being a wonderous new experience, where the art was grouped by theme, not by artist. Instead it felt like a pile of paintings were jammed together, and I had to strain to see some of the ones hung up higher than the others. The themes also didn't seem to be very well explored. I found the Guggenheim in New York for the big names (Pollack, Dali, etc.) and Montreal's Museum of Modern Art (for bleeding edge modern art) to be much more worthwhile experiences.
I also found The Louvre's Egyptian section much more interesting and better put together than the British Museum. But, I saw the Rosetta Stone. And they had kitties.
Am I the only one who feels compelled to sing "Rubber Ducky" when looking at mummies?
The memorial for Princess Diana, on the other hand, was amazing. It was a large circle of running water. The base contained different kinds of rock so that at different sections, the water would move differently. It was inviting and calming, and a fitting tribute to her.
Another unexpectedly cool find was Platform 9 and 3/4 at King's Cross Station :D
Not everything went as perfectly. When we arrived at Temple Church, we found that it was closed. Taking pictures of a sulking Jeff was fun though.
We did a lot of walking, and still barely saw anything of the city. We got cranky a few times, definitely got museumed out, and by the end, I couldn't listen to another audio-guide.
Vacation sex is still the best though *sigh*
Taking a day trip outside of London was a very good idea. We got to see the countryside, which is very green with brownish-undertones (Ontario is green with bluey undertones, Croatia is ashen - or am I the only one who notices these things?).
Windsor Castle was perfectly done, as expected. The dollhouse was probably my favourite of all the displays.
At Stonehenge I experienced a "Holy fuck, I'm really in England" moment.
At Bath, Jeff and I drank the disgusting yet surprisingly refreshing water. You can also see the video camera in the pic. We have something like 5 hours of video, in addition to 400 pics.
Here's a great shot of my cleavage Greenwich from the top of the Royal Observatory. We did the obligatory meridian shot, with one leg on each hemisphere.
Overall, the trip was incredible.
As for my first week of vacation, I spent a very low-key week with my Grandmother and Aunt T in Croatia.
The discolored bits on the cathedral are from when it was shot at during the war in the 90s. The country is starting to rebuild, but there are still no jobs, half the young people are on disability, and my family is getting old. It was a really good week though - it gave me a chance to be introspective and grow in a slower, but deeper way.
I've learned that I can survive two weeks without internet, that travelling for 33 hours sucks ass, and that lethargy makes me more tired than I ever thought possible. I've learned that somewhere in the past year I figured out how to do small talk, and that not all nuns are crazy (but most are). Most importantly I've learned a lot about how I really feel about myself as a person, as a lover, as a friend, as a family member, and a partner.
Thanks for listening.
EDIT: Here's a list of what we saw
Slimelight!
Big Bus Tour - The full Red line and about 1/2 of the Blue line.
Big Bus Company Boat tour of the Thames
Westminster Abbey
St. Margaret's Church
Westminster Palace (where the house of parliament are)
- Sat in for sessions in the House of Commons and House of Lords, both houses were debating sending more troops to Afganistan.
Buckingham Palace
Green Park
Tower of London
Tower Bridge
Tate Modern Gallery
St. Paul's Cathedral
Millenium Bridge
British Museum
National Gallery
Harrods
Victoria & Albert Museum
Natural History Museum
Kensington Gardens / Hyde Park / Princess Diana Memorial
British Library Museum (ancient texts and letters)
Temple Church (Outside only, was closed when we went grrr)
Platform nine and three quarters
Walked Around: Parliament & Whitehall Streets including Downing Street (well as much as you can see anyway), Picadilly Circus, Covent Gardens, Leicester Square, Trafalger Square, Camden Town, Soho, Chinatown, Kensington, etc etc. We also walked along the south side of the Thames and went into the markets there.
Outside London:
Windsor Castle
Stonehenge
Bath (where the hot springs and roman baths are)
Greenwich & the Royal Observatory (where the Prime Meridian is... i.e. 0 degrees longitude)
One of the first things we did in London was take a tour bus all around the city - we got the lay of the land, and frankly we were too tired to do anything else but be driven around. It was an interesting experience.
We saw the major sites and it gave us a better idea of how to plan the rest of the week. Usually Jeff and I prefer to explore a city by ourselves, but I think maybe we've been missing out on something by choosing not to go on a tour.
The city itself is massive and incredibly compact - row house upon row house, with windy roads that change name at random intersections. Everything is incredibly well-manicured, both the gardens and the people.
There also had to be at least a million tourists when we were there. The line-ups were loooong for all the major attractions.
The other thing that really struck both of us was how opulent everything was in London. So much gold, so much architectural detailing, so much wealth in the old buildings. And without trying to sound obvious, there is so much history to take in. Lots and lots of little details that are interesting, yet so easily missed.
London is full of clocks. Sun dials of all sorts, like the ones in the above picture. Another clock we saw (not shown) had a black circle around the number 2 to indicate when one of the Kings of England was beheaded. Every little thing here has so much history, and we could have easily stayed for a full month without even scratching the surface.
There's also an abundance of architectural styles that showcase the past 2000 years. Most of it is neo-classical due to one of the "great fires". The name of Christopher Wren seems attached to each building, including St. Paul's seen in the distance in the picture below.
I noticed in several places that the media or tourist guides will refer to something as the great *something*. There was more than one great fire. There's more than one palace. There's also more than one modern building considered hideous. I found it amusing that more than one monument had a tag line of "Charles called such and such modern building a great eyesore", but the bridge itself is no more ugly than any other modern piece of architecture (imho).
The Thames itself is lovely. We took a boat cruise, walked over several of the bridges and along the shores eating really great ice-cream.
Unlike the waterway, the streets are clogged with traffic. There were so many cars, despite the amazing underground system and a city driving tax.
The actual sites and museums took at least 3-5 hours to go through, and that was barely adequate.
My initial wish list covered 25 museums + neighbourhoods/sites/churches/etc. After the Tower of London took 4 hours, that had to be scaled back drastically. I guess I never really realized how familiar British culture is, and how therefore it became more meaningful to see certain things in person. I also found out how little history I knew, having personally focused more on ancient cultures when I was younger. The stories of, for example, the beheading of Henry VIII's wives really did come to life; listening to the history of the War of the Roses has given a much greater appreciation of Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland.
Not that there isn't enough Roman culture in the UK, including random little spots where a chunk of floor is visible in the middle of the street. It just adds to the ecclictic feel.
Westminster Abbey is basically a mausoleum, and unlike any other church we've seen in the rest of Europe. I'm sure a large part of it has to do with the fact that it isn't catholic (compared to St. Mark's in Venice or Notre Dame in Paris), but the amount of politicians, musicians and royalty is astounding. It's the one place where you really did need an audio guide of some sort, because most of the tombs aren't marked properly. The actual churchy part of it was small compared to the size of the building.
St. Paul's on the other hand was exactly what you'd expect of a church, except as mentioned earlier more oppulent than any other church I've ever been to. The amount of polished, gleaming gold was surprising. The Yoko Ono instalation was also unexpected.
The view from St. Paul's tower was amazing. I'm also apparantly becoming more and more afraid of heights as I get older. There's film of me absolutely terrified as I realize I have to climb up much higher than I initially thought.
The Tate Modern was frankly a bit disappointing.
It had been hyped as being a wonderous new experience, where the art was grouped by theme, not by artist. Instead it felt like a pile of paintings were jammed together, and I had to strain to see some of the ones hung up higher than the others. The themes also didn't seem to be very well explored. I found the Guggenheim in New York for the big names (Pollack, Dali, etc.) and Montreal's Museum of Modern Art (for bleeding edge modern art) to be much more worthwhile experiences.
I also found The Louvre's Egyptian section much more interesting and better put together than the British Museum. But, I saw the Rosetta Stone. And they had kitties.
Am I the only one who feels compelled to sing "Rubber Ducky" when looking at mummies?
The memorial for Princess Diana, on the other hand, was amazing. It was a large circle of running water. The base contained different kinds of rock so that at different sections, the water would move differently. It was inviting and calming, and a fitting tribute to her.
Another unexpectedly cool find was Platform 9 and 3/4 at King's Cross Station :D
Not everything went as perfectly. When we arrived at Temple Church, we found that it was closed. Taking pictures of a sulking Jeff was fun though.
We did a lot of walking, and still barely saw anything of the city. We got cranky a few times, definitely got museumed out, and by the end, I couldn't listen to another audio-guide.
Vacation sex is still the best though *sigh*
Taking a day trip outside of London was a very good idea. We got to see the countryside, which is very green with brownish-undertones (Ontario is green with bluey undertones, Croatia is ashen - or am I the only one who notices these things?).
Windsor Castle was perfectly done, as expected. The dollhouse was probably my favourite of all the displays.
At Stonehenge I experienced a "Holy fuck, I'm really in England" moment.
At Bath, Jeff and I drank the disgusting yet surprisingly refreshing water. You can also see the video camera in the pic. We have something like 5 hours of video, in addition to 400 pics.
Here's a great shot of my cleavage Greenwich from the top of the Royal Observatory. We did the obligatory meridian shot, with one leg on each hemisphere.
Overall, the trip was incredible.
As for my first week of vacation, I spent a very low-key week with my Grandmother and Aunt T in Croatia.
The discolored bits on the cathedral are from when it was shot at during the war in the 90s. The country is starting to rebuild, but there are still no jobs, half the young people are on disability, and my family is getting old. It was a really good week though - it gave me a chance to be introspective and grow in a slower, but deeper way.
I've learned that I can survive two weeks without internet, that travelling for 33 hours sucks ass, and that lethargy makes me more tired than I ever thought possible. I've learned that somewhere in the past year I figured out how to do small talk, and that not all nuns are crazy (but most are). Most importantly I've learned a lot about how I really feel about myself as a person, as a lover, as a friend, as a family member, and a partner.
Thanks for listening.
EDIT: Here's a list of what we saw
Slimelight!
Big Bus Tour - The full Red line and about 1/2 of the Blue line.
Big Bus Company Boat tour of the Thames
Westminster Abbey
St. Margaret's Church
Westminster Palace (where the house of parliament are)
- Sat in for sessions in the House of Commons and House of Lords, both houses were debating sending more troops to Afganistan.
Buckingham Palace
Green Park
Tower of London
Tower Bridge
Tate Modern Gallery
St. Paul's Cathedral
Millenium Bridge
British Museum
National Gallery
Harrods
Victoria & Albert Museum
Natural History Museum
Kensington Gardens / Hyde Park / Princess Diana Memorial
British Library Museum (ancient texts and letters)
Temple Church (Outside only, was closed when we went grrr)
Platform nine and three quarters
Walked Around: Parliament & Whitehall Streets including Downing Street (well as much as you can see anyway), Picadilly Circus, Covent Gardens, Leicester Square, Trafalger Square, Camden Town, Soho, Chinatown, Kensington, etc etc. We also walked along the south side of the Thames and went into the markets there.
Outside London:
Windsor Castle
Stonehenge
Bath (where the hot springs and roman baths are)
Greenwich & the Royal Observatory (where the Prime Meridian is... i.e. 0 degrees longitude)