Waking up at the crack of dawn on Sunday wasn't all that difficult for me, because I was really excited for the first boot sale of the season in Bromley. The boot sale, as it was explained to me, is kind of like a flea market, except vendors sell stuff out of their car's trunks (or "boots," as the name explains). Kez, Ryan, Chris, and I headed out shortly after 7:00 am, only to find out that the boot sale wasn't until Monday. I was thankful for the extra couple hours of sleep. After attending church with Ryan and Kez, we all came back to the house to decorate Easter eggs. One of the traditions Kez's family does is the egg race; you decorate hard-boiled eggs & roll them down a hill, and whoever's cracks last wins. We all hopped in the family car and drove to Dulwich park, where we rented banana bikes (or "recumbent" bikes for you proper folks) and rode them around for an hour. Dulwich didn't have any big hills for us to roll the eggs down, so we went to Greenwich park instead. The park was situated on top of a hill that had a beautiful view of the city of London. Bethany and I tied the egg race after about 5 attempts at rolling my egg down the hill and no signs of cracking. The prime meridian runs right through the middle of the Royal Observatory beside the park; I stood in the eastern and western hemispheres at the same time! The rest of the evening was pretty relaxing, filled with pizza, photo editing, and TV.
Waking up early for the boot sale Monday proved futile once again, as the entire field had been waterlogged and the sale was cancelled upon arrival. I took the train into London, determined to do some more sightseeing and exploring. My journey was a lot easier because all of the places I wanted to visit were right on the River Thames (so no getting lost this time!). I passed by the OXO Tower and went in one small art gallery there, disappointed by the fact that all the other galleries/shops were closed on holiday. Luckily the Tate Modern was still open, but unluckily everyone and their mom was queuing for tickets to the Damien Hirst exhibition that had just opened. Although I waited in line for over an hour, I was thankful that my ticket was free (thanks Rosie!). I had a few hours to kill before my time slot for the exhibit. Walking to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge was surprisingly pleasant despite the annoying mist/rain that hung around all day. As much as I wanted to go inside the Tower of London (as well as St. Paul's and Westminster and the London Eye), I couldn't bring myself to spend nearly £20 (or about $30) for entrance to each. I grabbed lunch at a KFC beside the Tower of London that looked a lot like a dungeon inside, got another random tourist to take my picture in front of Tower Bridge, and caught the tail end of a tour at Shakespeare's Globe Theater before making my way back to the Tate Modern. One of the main exhibitions was on Surrealism, which was really cool because I got to see a lot of the artists that I wrote about in a big art history research paper last year. The Damien Hirst exhibition was superb, and I definitely would have paid the full ticket price if I had to. Once I got back to Bromley, I played a game of Harry Potter Cluedo with Kez's folks (and somehow won!) and packed my things to head back to Sunderland in the morning.
My trip to London was perfect in every way, shape, and form. I saw more art and more street performers than my brain could handle, rode the tube, visited all the typical touristy sites, and stumbled upon a lot of cute little surprises in the process (like a mini-pirate ship hanging out in an alley, a prison-turned-museum, chocolate muffins at West Kennet Long Barrow, a completely graffiti-ed skate park, a massive inflatable purple cow at Magner's Pasture, etc). Being in London reminded me of why I wanted to open up an art gallery there someday. Part of me does wish everything with Kingston University would have worked out because I would have lived just a few minutes outside of the London; Sunderland isn't exactly a thriving hub for the arts (or a thriving hub for anything for that matter). Nevertheless, there
is a reason for everything and I'm incredibly thankful to have the opportunity to study abroad in England. This weekend, I'll be leaving for an 8-day Eurotrip with Katie and I am beyond stoked for it! Packing won't be any fun, but I did manage to borrow a luggage scale to make sure my carry-on fits Ryanair's restrictions. Tomorrow will consist of doing laundry, printing off boarding passes, packing up, and any other last-minute things I can think of before we leave Saturday. This might be the last post for a while (unless I can find extended internet access while we're travelling, which is unlikely... but still keep a keen eye out for any updates that might follow). Hasta la vista, amigos -- next stop: Spain!
Waking up early for the boot sale Monday proved futile once again, as the entire field had been waterlogged and the sale was cancelled upon arrival. I took the train into London, determined to do some more sightseeing and exploring. My journey was a lot easier because all of the places I wanted to visit were right on the River Thames (so no getting lost this time!). I passed by the OXO Tower and went in one small art gallery there, disappointed by the fact that all the other galleries/shops were closed on holiday. Luckily the Tate Modern was still open, but unluckily everyone and their mom was queuing for tickets to the Damien Hirst exhibition that had just opened. Although I waited in line for over an hour, I was thankful that my ticket was free (thanks Rosie!). I had a few hours to kill before my time slot for the exhibit. Walking to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge was surprisingly pleasant despite the annoying mist/rain that hung around all day. As much as I wanted to go inside the Tower of London (as well as St. Paul's and Westminster and the London Eye), I couldn't bring myself to spend nearly £20 (or about $30) for entrance to each. I grabbed lunch at a KFC beside the Tower of London that looked a lot like a dungeon inside, got another random tourist to take my picture in front of Tower Bridge, and caught the tail end of a tour at Shakespeare's Globe Theater before making my way back to the Tate Modern. One of the main exhibitions was on Surrealism, which was really cool because I got to see a lot of the artists that I wrote about in a big art history research paper last year. The Damien Hirst exhibition was superb, and I definitely would have paid the full ticket price if I had to. Once I got back to Bromley, I played a game of Harry Potter Cluedo with Kez's folks (and somehow won!) and packed my things to head back to Sunderland in the morning.
My trip to London was perfect in every way, shape, and form. I saw more art and more street performers than my brain could handle, rode the tube, visited all the typical touristy sites, and stumbled upon a lot of cute little surprises in the process (like a mini-pirate ship hanging out in an alley, a prison-turned-museum, chocolate muffins at West Kennet Long Barrow, a completely graffiti-ed skate park, a massive inflatable purple cow at Magner's Pasture, etc). Being in London reminded me of why I wanted to open up an art gallery there someday. Part of me does wish everything with Kingston University would have worked out because I would have lived just a few minutes outside of the London; Sunderland isn't exactly a thriving hub for the arts (or a thriving hub for anything for that matter). Nevertheless, there is a reason for everything and I'm incredibly thankful to have the opportunity to study abroad in England. This weekend, I'll be leaving for an 8-day Eurotrip with Katie and I am beyond stoked for it! Packing won't be any fun, but I did manage to borrow a luggage scale to make sure my carry-on fits Ryanair's restrictions. Tomorrow will consist of doing laundry, printing off boarding passes, packing up, and any other last-minute things I can think of before we leave Saturday. This might be the last post for a while (unless I can find extended internet access while we're travelling, which is unlikely... but still keep a keen eye out for any updates that might follow). Hasta la vista, amigos -- next stop: Spain! 
Hannah
ReplyDeleteYou make me feel like I am right there walking through through those places with you. You are such a talented and special young lady. Keep posting... I love reading your posts.