London Calling

Ah, London. I haven't been there in ages. Since 2002 I believe. I didn't have a whole lot of time to spend there, but I made the most of it. Hansa, girl down the hall, was going and I figured I might as well go seeing as I didn't have any papers or stuff due anytime soon. So I went and did all the touring things. I went to Piccadilly Circus first because I had no idea what it was. As it turns out, its a plaza with cars and a statue. Glad to have gotten that one out of the way. I also went to Trafalgar Square, which I can't remember being to before. It was pretty awesome, mainly because of Nelson. But the peopel were ridiculous, climibing all over the statues and stuff. All I wanted was a clear shot without some parent taking a picture of their kid in front of the giant broze lion in it. I hope these people don't think they're original. So i also went into the National Gallery and caught a glimpse of some of my favorite paintings. A few, such as the Turner paintings, I've seen before when they were on tour in DC last January. But the Botticelli Mars and Venus was real cool to see in person. I had no idea it was there until I spotted the postcard and then looked it up. To think I could have missed it. There was also a Leonardo daVinci sketch, which was pretty much the most badass drawing I've seen to date. So Other than that, I milled about the parlimentary buildings gawked at protestors who've run out of things to say and snapped a few pics of the various cool things on the way. One especially neat thing that I found was the Cenataph a few days after Remembrence Day, which basically means it was loaded with poppies put down by the Queen and other politicians, plus the armed Forces. It was really quite awesome. So other than that, i didn't too too much. I'd like to hit up the Imperial War Museum next time, because of course, there will be a next time.