Next day, I got up at 8 and started to get ready for my big day. Matthieu walked me to Hyde park and the Prince Albert Memorial and off I went alone. I was a little freaked out about being left alone all day in London, but I figured I'd make the best of it. Armed with a map and a walking tour that Matthieu gave me, I was ready to go!
After walking through Hyde park, I stopped at the Italian garrdens and fountain and sat down on a bench because my feet already hurt. Pathetic I know, but apparently my shoes aren't as good for walking on asphalt as I originally hoped. A few minutes later, a girl sat down beside me and pulled out a map. I figured that the only way to meet people is to talk, so I asked her where she was from.
Turns out she was from just outside Stuttgart, Germany and we decided to spend the day together looking around London. We continued a walk through Hyde park and figured we'd check out Buckingham palace because she hadn't see it yet, and I'd seen nothing. As we walked towards the Palace there was an impressive rank of horsemen in traditional uniform and pith helmets. Escorted by the less attractive British police in neon yellow. So it photo op it was. We noticed ahead that the place was PACKED full of people. We got there and there was music (from Hollywood movies) playing and hundreds of people. We were wondering what the fuss was all about and then got yelled at by a police officer on a horse. Police on horses are intimidating. But it does make sense since they can survey the crowd and trample people as required. Anyways, turns out there were barriers that people had to stand behind. Remember, we still have no idea what's going on. So we keep on walking as the officer ordered and noticed all the nice soldiers in nice furry hats marching around behind the gates, so I took a photo. And got yelled at again for blocking the way. Meh. I got a good shot.
Finally we stopped somewhere in the crowd and asked what was with all the pomp. A nice woman from Brazil explained that it was the changing of the guard going on and we just caught the tail end of it. Which was kind of cool. Still confused as to why they were playing The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. I mean, good song and everything, but it doesn't really strike me as particularly “English.” Well, because it isn't English at all. So finally the gates open up and the marching band marches out and I got some more good photos. The crowd cleared right away and we were pretty much the only ones left.
Melina suggested going to Trafalgar Square which is nearby and so we head over there. Tried to get into a Garden Party for the Environment, but it cost WAY too much money. So we got to Trafalgar and grab lunch. There's the chain called Pret A Manger, which sells pretty decent sandwiches and salads and the like. All pre-made, but not nasty like 7-11 sandwiches. I mention this because there were two prices on all the food. You actually pay more to eat in the restaurant (which consisted of a packed room with 6 chairs) or pay less and do “take away.” We took away our food and went to a convenience store and got doughnuts and then looked for somewhere to sit. We found a bench just beside that big monument outside the National Art Gallery.
Pigeons are the Devil. Adam, you win. I have always vouched for pigeons, because I feel bad that everyone hates them. But I officially get it. They are EVIL. We tried to eat out food and these pigeons are the ballsiest creatures I have ever seen. You actually had to try and KICK them to keep them away from you. I'm serious! What kind of animal gets close enough to people that you actually fear for the food in your hands? I'll tell you: Possessed-Demon-Pigeons-From-Trafalgar-Square. Evil. So instead of a nice lunch outside watching people and the nice waterfall and the weird electronic thingy (which I'll explain later), we got to play who will actually make contact with a pigeon with their foot first.
Now when we were trying to fight off the psycho pigeons, we notice this machine thing wit robotic “arms” moving intermittently. So we went and checked it out. Turns out it was an art installation pice called “Outrace.” That is all I can tell you. I have a photo on facebook. Basically, it looks like a really, really expensive stage with a bunch of robotic arms moving around. I dislike art like this. It just seems like an excuse to waste money that could better spent on real art projects and heritage funding.
Melina and I then figured out the tube (with the typical confusion of new tube users) and we made our way to the British Museum. Quite frankly, it bored me. This is the one museum that I really wanted to see and other than the great court, it was a bit ho hum. It might be that my feet hurt and I was jet lagged, but really, I hated to walk through this museum, known as the BRITISH museum, and see very little actually related to Britain. Really, it just seemed like a trove of mostly-stolen loot from the colonies. The first show stoppers was the Rosetta stone, which was too packed to actually get a good look at and was badly lit and mounted to actually see it. But now I can check that off my list. I wished that I could have had a better look at the stone. There was a small text panel explaining its importance, but it was pretty bland. The frescoes and statues from the Parthenon are also very famous and popular. They had a series of beautiful chambers to house the frescoes as one might have seen them when they were in the Parthenon. They were well-lit by natural light and nicely mountain to see them. But they weren't very interesting. The panels were once again boring at best. One thing I can say it that the objects are beautifully cared for (not that I saw the storage), and they will be safe there until Greece is in a position to care for them appropriately. Milena soon thereafter left and I quickly finished off most of the museum. I liked the Aztec and Mayan exhibit. They even still have the (fake) Crystal Skull on display, which made me smile. The last thing that I really checked out was the Enlightenment Room which actually was formerly the National Library. Today it is a recreation of a typical Enlightened museum. It went through how Enlightened folk (and later on the Victorians) wanted to label and categorize absolutely EVERYTHING and the hall gave a good interpretation of the Enlightenment ideals and demonstrated how museums are a tool to do this categorization work.
I came back to Marilyne and Matthieu's flat and we then went out to the White Horse Pub a little further afield. I had Pimm's for the first time (YUMMY!) and we shared a plate of deep fried lamb's tongue. Sounds horrible, but anything tastes good when its deep fried in batter! A cousin of Matthieu and his co-workers met us at the pub and we spent the evening drinking beer and talking. Well, they did the talking, and I tried to keep up with the Patois. I managed to understand most of it!!!
