Wrapping Up London

Hey, it's only 23 days late, but I'm finally finishing up the blogging for my London trip. Now I only have to write about trips to County Cork, Edinburgh, and Copenhagen! Not to mention finish homework and report on the strike tomorrow. That's right, the union of public sector workers are striking tomorrow. That means all university staff and faculty, bus drivers (maybe?), and such will be off.

Sunday was a sad and rainy day in London. My trip was about over, and I would have to say goodbye to Jenna until late November. We had about half of the day to make use of, though, so we checked out of our hotel, stored our bags, and headed out. Jenna wanted to see Charing Cross because it is home to the Leaky Cauldron in Harry Potter. Once we made a stop on that street, we realized how close we were to the National Portrait Gallery, National Gallery, and Trafalgar Square. We then went to National Portrait Gallery, National Gallery, and Trafalgar Square. The Portrait Gallery was expensive, and we were unsure as to whether or not it was worth paying, so we just looked in the shop, because art museum stores always have fun stuff to play with. Next door was the National Gallery.

They didn't allow pictures, but there were several famous and fantastic works. There was The Ambassadors, which is a painting of 2 ambassadors posing with several objects they had brought back from their travels. When I applied to Northwestern, this painting was the subject of one of their essays, so it was really fun to see it in person. I never realized how deep of a painting it was; there were minute details that ended up being very important, like a broken string on a lute representing fragmentation of society during the Reformation. Also, there is a piece of 'driftwood' or something in the foreground, but when you move to the right of the painting, it shows itself to be a skull. Very interesting to see completely different objects based on what angle you look from.

Right outside of the National Gallery is Trafalgar Square. It was a little monotone because of the rain, and because the fountains had been turned off for the season. Nevertheless, it was an impressive sight. In the middle stands a huge monument to Nelson. There were lions the size of trailer homes at the base and a several-story high pillar with Nelson on the top. There used to be a Nelson monument in Dublin, but someone blew it up...

After we picked up our luggage from the easyHotel and took our last walk around Paddington, Jenna had to catch her bus to the airport. It was very sad to see her go. I moped around to where my bus would pick me up and stopped to have a last cask-conditioned ale in the pub next to the bus stop. I rode for an hour and a half to Stansted Airport and got herded onto my Ryanair flight to Dublin (moo!).

Here are some miscellaneous photos from along the way, of the hotel, the restaurant we ate at Saturday night, and the Tube.