We didn't have long in London, so we packed a lot into a short time. On our one full day in London we had lots of walking and museum visiting planned. So of course, it poured down rain all day. We escaped the first drizzle of the day in the British Museum - the largest collection of stolen goods known to man. For a small donation, a visitor can see all of the things the British have "borrowed" from other cultures, and it's absolutely amazing. I don't know if I'll ever be able to get to Greece, Egypt, or Iran so it was pretty incredible to see so many ancient pieces in one place.
I tried to imagine what it must have been like to see a statue like this in person. Probably made it easier to think of your ruler as divine, or as least all powerful. Because seriously, that thing packs a punch.
This art is over 2000 years old. I stood in front of something that people around the world have been standing in front of since Jesus was alive. That blows my mind.
We came out to (you guessed it) pouring down rain and spent thirty minutes looking for Jamie Oliver's restaurant Union Jacks. The search was worth it as this restaurant was both delicious and full of character. I had a cheesy cauliflower dish, and Paul had something made from a dead animal. My stomach and design aesthetic were both very pleased with our choice.
We then got very wet looking at lots of cool monuments and historical sites following another one of Rick Steves' London audio guides. We caught so many more details of the places we visited because we had great supplementary info.
Can you tell my shoes are a different color than they were at the beginning of the tour? That's because they're soaked! The walking was well worth the effort though, and the crappy weather was a great excuse to visit the National Gallery (in the left of the photo) to dry off. I'm not sure if we would have taken the time to go inside otherwise.
My favorite experience in London was seeing Les Miserables at the Queen's Theater. The show was incredible, and Paul and I enjoyed comparing it to the movie (guess which was better?). When we left the theater, the whole area was so lively and full of people. Colorful lights shown on all the buildings, and many streets were closed to cars. Insert "pinch me I must be dreaming moment" here.
On our last morning we walked through our neighborhood to the train station and made the 8th best decision of our marriage by going to the most wonderful Indian buffet restaurant on earth.
Ok, so who knows if it was actually the best, but just take a look at that spread! Scrumptous!
We said goodbye to London here, and I held up luggage traffic by snapping a photo of the lovers statue at the far end of the station. Simply beautiful.
No picture of the 9 3/4 sign at the train station in London?? Did you distract the guard? they're supposed to be stone faced no matter what face you make at them
We didn't make it to the 9 3/4 sign. It was going to be our last stop and sadly we ran out of time. The guard wasn't even distracted by the pouring rain! I would have been miserable out there without an umbrella.
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About Mary
I'm a twenty something Midwesterner sharing joy from my everyday life. I love to garden, read, write, and photograph beautiful things.