World Wanderings

I feel like I'm overwhelmed by politeness. Not necessarily from the people themselves, but from all of the advertisements and announcements. From the constant barrage of 'a good service is running on all lines' to the way the English accent sounds so prim and proper.

Anyway, I've had a few days to explore London now, and am slowing taking in all of the sites. Big Ben and Parliament building is just astounding. I took a ride on the Eye of London, the huge Ferris wheel on the Thames. Been to a few museums, Tate Modern and the National Gallery. Within which I've seen a wealth of paintings and various artwork. One installation that was particularly interesting, was a room set up to look like a construction area. With blocks of wood, tools, and misc items lying around. I thought to myself, well this is rubbish. That is until I read the description for the room, and realized all of the objects were made out of polystyrene and painted to look realistic. I enjoyed looking at the construction of the objects, as well as watching other people walk in and right back out.

Also in my travels I saw Buckingham Palace, Shakespeare's Globe, and St. Paul's Cathedral. I'd yet to have been in a real cathedral before St. Pauls, and was overwhelemed by the scale of it all. Not only the large scale of the space itself, but the small ornate details which covered the building. From the sweeping mosaics, to the grand paintings on the dome, I truely wonder how on earth they built a structure like this. I enjoyed the fact that the path around the dome, as well as the stairs, were well worn from hundreds of years of use. The stone took on a soft and welcoming appearance.

Well, today I head off to finally take a walking tour of the city, which I meant to catch yesterday. I had trouble finding a hostel I was looking for, and ended up wondering around aimlessly for an hour. I also plan on seeing the Tower of London, and the British Museum if I have the time. Beyond that, I plan to take a bit of time today and relax some, as I'm plenty sore from the past two days.

I'll leave you with a few things I've noticed.
-Despite driving and walking on the left hand side (for the most part), people are asked to stand on the right hand side of the escalators.
-I saw signs everywhere that said "To Let". At first glace I thought they left out an i, for toilet. Then I though there must be a company called "To Let", a pretty big company at that, since there were signs everywhere for it. Then it dawned on me that it was for rental space.
-Dogs must be kept on a lead instead of a leash.


Buckingham Palace


St. Pauls


View from ontop St. Pauls


View from atop the Eye of London


St. Martins


Big Ben


The Eye of London (and the river)