Tuesday, October 20, 2009

it's rather cold.




i actually have some spare time so i think i'll start from the start and try to straighten out my thoughts on my trip so far. starting with london. (i won't go into the plane trip, because flying does not particularly appeal to me, and i dislike long plane journeys. weirdly, i lovelovelove long train and bus and car and boat journeys. i'm not scared of heights, i just don't like planes, i guess. i'd much rather fly on my own. or swim. if only.)









so from the train journey into london things were magical - the suburbs upon suburbs of darling, quaint lttle old houses with ivy brambling about them! oh i loved it. and then we got into london and outside of our apartment was the most amazing telephone box EVER and the sky was grey and the trees were shedding leaves like the little flakes of gold i panned once on a school trip to bathurst...









once we'd dumped the bags (and by we i do mean me and my family {mother, father and little brother}) we went to scout our surroundings. the apartment building was on a street running of trifalgar square so we were just so close to everything. big ben rising up from parliament house, which from a distance looks like an elaborate cake, the giant bicycle wheel london eye, the churning grey thames... we saw it all, and a darling gold-flake-leaf strewn park in the middle of which pecked and picked a couple of crows... or ravens as they call them here.









after the scout it was about twelve-thirty, and we made out way to westminster abbey. i loved it so much, i was so blown away by the tombs of queens elizabeth and mary... but my favorite favorite was the shakespeare memorial, because i love him so. closely followed by the memorials of lewis carrol and jane austen.









after that we made our way back to the apartment, meaning only to stay there so we could rest a bit and eat before making our way out again... but we all fell asleep before we got to the eating, and i woke up in the morning. sixteen hours later. heh...









turns out a big, long sleep is the perfect cure for jetlag, though, because after that initial sleep i was fine and my body clock in almost perfect sync (i WAS going to bed at 7 PM and waking up at 6:30AM for a bit there, which is SO unlike me), and out we went again. to the war museum i do believe. my favorite there was the exhibit of a standard house in the time of the first world war (i found the funniest picture of a jigsaw called the 'emmet railway'). the holocaust exhibit, too, was enlightening as it was disturbing, and i was glad my brother wasn't old enough to be there.









after that came a quick lunch (ministrone soup for me, perfect for chilly, wet london days) and a trip to the tate. which is an art gallery, and a darn good one at that. i'm starting to really really love art galleries, which is good, because the only reason we're on this trip is because my father's an artist and got a studio apartment in barcelona for four months, so i was always going to have to get used to them. such skill some people have! i could never never never be so good at art. i'm lucky if i can come up with a recognisable squirrel. my greatest triumph are owls. i'm rather good at drawing owls, i think.









oh. and when my father and i ventured out that night to find something to bring back for dinner WHO should we come upon to see, leaving the london premiere of her debut movie? none other than lily cole, who looked fabulous. yes, lily cole! i was so excited. my father had no idea who she was. i was hoping maybe johnny depp would be there too, but sadly no. oh well. not two full days in london and i was seeing celebrities! craziness!









the third day meant a train trip to harrod's with my mother and brother while my father went to the tate modern, which apparently isn't as good as the tate. harrod's is such a decadent place in every way! i felt unworthy. especially when i saw a child's mink fur coat for eight thousand pounds. not that i'd ever wear mink or any other fur, but still. my eyes popped just a little. the food hall was lovely, too, full of all sorts of sweet things. i had to drag myself away from the macaroons. i refuse to let myself try one until paris. the initial plan was to get a picnic from harrod's and eat at hide park but the drops started to fall from the grey skies and it couldn't be done, so we ate back at the hotel. and afterwards, when my father got back and the rain calmed and all the baclava was gone (mm), we visited buckingham palace, or ol' buck house as it seems a ot of you british out there call it. so lovely. i saw my very first squirrel ever in the park near it. after that i sat down in the grass and another came running up to me. so adorable.









and guess what? that night, well. we'd gotten the tickets earlier that night, so once we got back to the apartment my mother and i quickly quickly got ready and headed to her majesty's theater. to see nothing other than the phantom of the opera. which is one of my favorite stories and movies EVER. ever ever ever. i was so excited. and it was so amazing. i can't explain. there really is nothing like seeing it live. the set, the voices, the ah-mazing costumes (the masquarade ball scene dresses took my breath away in loveliness), everything. best. night. ever! i can't even begin to describe how amazing it was, and how talented everyone was, and how excited i was to hear all those songs i love so much LIVE and how ecstatic i am to add the programme booklet of the Phantom of the Opera to my collection of programme booklets from plays I've been to, which up until now are just small productions mostly featuring a close family friend. wonderful plays of course, but still. the phantom of the opera. at her majesty's theatre. nearly a month and at least four countries later and i still can't get over it.





the next day we bought a picnic lunch and wandered our way to hyde park via oxford st (drool worthy). without my father, who is the only person in the family good with direction. so we ended up about halfway across baker st before we realised we were going the wrong way and corrected ourselves. and by the time we got to the end we were all 'omg it's baker street!!!', which i'm sure the people passing by thought was weird.

buuut all's well that ends well because we found hyde park in the end. it's about at least six times bigger than my suburb at home which makes me wonder how on earth we could have missed it, but everyone was mainly relying on me, and my head's so high in the clouds i cry rain.

my goodness, hyde park is just amazing! a forest in the middle of an urban jungle, the most perfect little (okay, not little) enchanted fairytale wood i've ever seen. and i know there are fairies there, because i saw them. flitting around peter pan. and even if i'm just dreaming, there are squillions of squirrels, which are really just fairies with furry tails.

the trees were all different colours. green, gold, yellow, orange, brown, scarlet, they were all in a different stage of shedding for winter in the same way my kitty waay back at home is probably shedding for summer right now. after our picnic (which included some really, really good baclava) we found our way to the Prince Albert Memorial, which is beautiful, but really very sad. the whole thing harbours a sense of melancholy, doesn't it, like the Princess Di memorials. I felt so sad for Queen Victoria.

and then was our last full day in london. walking up fleet street, where i may like to end up one day (i'd love to be a journalist and an author). seeing the twinings shop. THE twinings shop. it might sound rather odd that i was excited, but i am odd. and i love tea. the national gallery. flipping out some more when i saw van gough's sunflowers. loving the dreamy watery misty monets. and visiting the tower of london. just amazing. a medieval castle right smack bam in a huge modern city. happy days. taking a ferry across the thames back home (want to sing 'i'm on a boat' but not having anyone {j} to sing it with). having dinner at the quaintest, cutest little old english pub called the Sherlock Holmes. the next morning, saying goodbye.

so all in all, london was and is a dream. i'd love so much to go back there; it's so beautiful.

also, i'm sorry about the photos which i have not posted. we have a limited download capacity here, so i'll wait til next week when we go to madrid to share with you.

next i'll write to you about prague and sorrento ^^

1 comment:

  1. oh this post was so amazing to read dear, sounds like such a magical trip! also, i love the new name of your blog ♥

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