London Calling!

Hello Readers,

This past weekend I spent three days in, well as the title says (oh come on, use those detective skills Sherlock), London. No, as I've never read any of the books I didn't visit Sherlock's home, but I hear it's a pretty accurate representation of what Sir Arthur Conan Doyle described in his novels. I did however manage to see a lot of other things, even with the little time I had in London. I went with three friends, the same girls who came with me to Strasbourg, but I made sure we were better prepared in terms of planning and time management (that is to say, we all agreed on what we wanted to do before we got to London and when we were going to get up in morning).

We arrived by train Saturday morning, and I had one of those wonderful experiences of making friends with the stranger sitting next to me (I'm being sarcastic of course. The man was a bit of a creeper, but luckily he left me alone as soon as we got off the train). After we checked into our hostel, the sightseeing began with a walk along the Thames. Here, I'll show you:

London Bridge
(did I get the song stuck in your head?)

HMS Belfast
(seeing this felt a little like home)

Tower of London
(for all those Tudors fans, this is where Anne Boleyn was executed)

We took a little break to get some fish and chips!

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

We stopped at the Tate Modern for a bit of art.

Egyptomania
(you can see the London Eye in the background)



Big Ben



Parliament Square
(Abe doesn't get to sit down in London)

Westminster Abbey

The mandatory picture of all my friends in a phonebooth :)

To end the day's tour: Trafalgar Square

Sunday, we were a little less lucky with the weather as it misted most of the day, but I guess that's pretty normal for London? We spent the morning walking through several of London's parks (pop quiz: what style do you think the gardens are in? I'm going to go with English). Then we moved inside for the afternoon, touring the British Museum and the National Portrait Gallery.  



 

I'll give you three guesses as to the name of this road.
Why do you think those goofy tourists want a picture of themselves
walking across this particular street?

Parthenon Marbles in the British Museum

 

This one's dedicated to Dr. Gatti.



"It is also thanks to Elgin that generations of visitors have been able to see the sculptures at eye level rather than high up on the building."
(The museum as a whole didn't make me feel angry, but this sign made me laugh a little bit.)

















Monday was spent in more museums: Tate Britain, National Gallery, Wallace Collection, etc. Suffice it to say, I think I'm all museumed out for a little while! Anyway, that concludes Caitlin's guide to London. I came back to Paris early Tuesday morning, and immediately had to run through the metro to my first class (no rest for the weary as they say). Even though I loved London, I was excited to return to Paris, which has come to feel like another home to me (or as my mom likes to say "home").

Until next time,
Cheerio!