Londinium

Well, here we are again, back at the Hamilton from another excursion, which in my opinion has been the best one so far. We spent four nights in my favorite city in the world, London, a city of stories.

I had been to London once before with Dad, long ago when the world was young and John McCain was hunting dinosaurs (I don't care if the election is over, that's still funny) and I loved it. It's the only city I've been to where I don't feel completely overwhelmed or rushed, where the buildings aren't trying to blot out the sky.

Once we checked into the hostel, seven of us headed out on our own to do something I hadn't done with Dad the last time I was here: the London Eye.
Think of it as the world's biggest Ferris wheel. The whole ride takes about forty minutes. I thought "This is going to be the longest forty minutes of my life, isn't it?"
This didn't come out quite the way I hoped. I tried to make it look like I was scared to go up but instead I just look like a pirate. "Argh a matey, who parked this giant steering wheel on me ship?"

Turns out we went there at just the right time. We went up in the eye around 5:20 just in time for sunset.

Now I'd like to tell you I had some great philosophical revelation while observing this magnificent phenomenon. Really, all that went through my mind was "I am a hundred feet up in the air and I am not utterly petrified. This is weird."


It was dark when we got off the Eye, but in spite of this we decided we'd go around and see some of London's sights, the first obviously being the one the only Big Ben.



Next we took the Underground to Piccadilly Circus kinda like London's version of Times Square, only less claustrophobic.


After we ate at a Thai restaurant (where I had squid and it was surprisingly tasty) we headed back to the River Thames.
We found the only coffee shop open late in London (I got hot chocolate, I can't stand coffee don't know why, maybe it's genetic) then found a couple of benches where we could look out on the river. It was beautiful even after nightfall. I don't know what it is about nighttime and water that puts people in a contemplative and open mood but it happened to us and before we knew it we were talking about why we were on this trip, what anxieties we had about it, and we had learned from it. I won't repeat what was said here out of respect for the others, but it was pleased to see that I had reached a level of comfort with these people that I can be honest with them.

The next day we hit the Tower of London. We had a decent yeoman warder tour, though he wasn't as funny as the one Dad and I had when last we were there.


After seeing the highlights there, the Crown Jewels, the Bloody Tower, etc, I headed out with more or less the same group from the night before to lunch then onto Trafalgar Square, where I got to see some old friends of mine, the Lions on the monument to Lord Nelson.

Anyone now how to start one of these things? No? Oh, well...

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the National Gallery, which was interesting. Not the biggest art fan per se, but there were some interesting paintings depicting biblical and mythological stories, though it was a little ridiculous seeing Perseus dressed in 16th century garb.

That night we all went to see Les Miserables. Now I won't lie, I didn't have high hopes for a show literally called "Misery" but it was well done and had a feel good ending so I guess I left more or less unscathed.

The following morning we headed to the Globe Theater, misprinted on our itinerary as the Glove, not that it really mattered since it doesn't look like either.

We had a tour by one of the actors who performs there, got a history lesson about Shakespeare, then had a theater "workshop" which wasn't quite the improv sessions I used to attend but were vaguely similar.

A bunch of us headed next door to the Tate Modern Art Museum, well mainly because it was there and there was nothing else to do. It was perplexing to say the least. Ordinary art doesn't make any sense to me as it is, modern art even less so.

Down kitty...
At some I got split up from everyone else, how I don't know. After looking for and failing to find anyone I shrugged my shoulders and said "Oh, well." I resolved I'd see two places in London that were on my personal to do list. First a trip to Baker Street, specifically 221B Baker Street. I'll give you a hint as to why.


I know what you're thinking. "A museum dedicated to a fictional character?" Well, stranger things have happened. "Like what?" Well there's this story in the Old Testament about a talking donkey...

I'll admit it was a little cheesy turning the Great Detective's address into a tourist attraction, but it could be worse. They could've built a McDonald's instead.


There was some cool stuff inside though. Notebooks, paraphernalia from some of Holmes' cases. There was even a room full of wax figures depicting famous scenes and people from some of Conan Doyle's most popular stories.


This is from the Adventure of the Speckled Band, a personal favorite of mine. As you can tell this guys seen better days.

This is Professor Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes' arch-enemy. He has an odd look on his face as you can tell. I guess even criminal masterminds get hemorrhoids from time to time.

And of course the museum's name sake was all over the place.

Holy crap it's Sherlock Holmes!

Holy crap, it's Sherlock Holmes!

Holy crap, it's Sherlock Holmes again!

Okay, this didn't turn out right. I was trying to do one of those pictures Stephen Colbert takes with his "friends" but instead it looks like I'm giving Sherlock Holmes a wet willie. When I left the room I could hear him going "What an odd fellow, Watson."

My next stop was the Ripley's Believe It or Not Odditorium. I had been to the one in Gatlinburg and it was pretty cool, so I figured one in London should have some pretty neat stuff.


This is one of the first things I encounter, a robot T Rex and I go "This is officially one of the coolest places EVER!"

They had other cool stuff too, like this five-legged cow...

...A Tibetan dragon mask...
...a model of Tower Bridge made entirely from tooth picks...
...this sculpture made entirely from cattle bone...
...this wooden statue from Goethe's Faust, where one side is Gretchen, Faust's love interest, the other Mephistopheles, but from the side it looks like the statue of a single person...
...a mastodon skeleton...
...dinosaur eggs...
...Look, Ma, no legs!!!


The last thing they had was a mirror maze which was cool and weird, cause it's all too easy to end up talking to yourself in there. Hehe, mirror mirror on the wall, who's the craziest of them all? "You have to ask?"


I can hear my brothers now. "There more than one of him?!?! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

Hehehehehe...

I went back to the hostel after that ready to call it a night, but then I ran into Adam who wanted to do something but wasn't sure what. We decided we'd hit the cinemas, and I owe him for that because I got to see a movie I'd been wanting to see for a while, The Wrestler. A powerful film with strong performances, especially by Mickey Rourke, I highly recommend it, though be warned, it is not for the faint of heart.

The next day we went to Westminster Abbey, though we didn't stay long.

We split off for the afternoon wandering around the market place for a while. I went to a bookstore and bought Volume 7 of the Sandman cause it's one of the few I don't have. We met back at the Lyceum Theatre to catch the matinee of the West End production of The Lion King.

I had seen the one in New York and this one didn't disappoint, though it was a little odd hearing all the characters, not just Zazu and Scar, having British accents.

After the show, four of us headed to Hyde Park to find the statue of Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up. Lucky bastard...
Am I the only one who notices where Wendy is looking? For crying out loud, they haven't even dropped yet, lady, why are you looking up a minor's skirt. Yeesh. Weird people.

The next day was our last day in London, so we went out with a bang. Our entire day was spent in the British Museum.
It was easy to spend all day in that place. They had relics from pretty much every culture the British empire ever encountered.





This is Ganesh, the elephant headed god from Hindu myth. It is said that his mother Parviti, consort of Shiva, conceived him without his father's knowledge. As a result when Shiva encountered Ganesh who blocked him from entering Parviti's home, Shiva in a rage struck the youth's head off with his sword. Parviti wept aloud, and Shiva to console her, sent his servants into the forest to bring back the head of the first animal they encountered. They found an elephant, cut off its head and brought it back to Shiva who placed it on Ganesh's head and restored him to life.







This is the Tree of Life, created by artists from Mozambique from the parts of AK-47s as a symbol of peace, that which once had the power to destroy now can be used to create art, a symbol of peace.

And of course there was one part of the museum I had to resist spending all my time in, the rooms devoted to the remnants of the land that gave birth to Western Civilization, Greece.





This is the Nereid Monument, brought to Britain from Greece. The Nereids were the daughters of Nereus, the old man of the sea, and served in the court of Poseidon, Lord of the Sea.


These are remains of the friezes that decorated the Parthenon, the Temple of Athena Parthenos, for whom both the city of Athens and the Parthenon are named.





Alright, so we're back in Cambridge now, working on our projects and planning for independent travel across Europe, which is exciting and a pain in the butt at the same time. Ah, well, it'll be fun when we're finally doing it I suppose. See you next post, gang.