Today was my first full day in London where I at no point had someone helping me decide what to do. This was great because I could do whatever I felt like at whatever pace I wanted to. However this also meant I had to pay for whatever I decided to do. Luckily, while London is an expensive place to stay and eat it is a cheap place to find culture and entertainment. Many of London's largest and most prestigious museums are free.
By 9:30 I had said goodbye to my fellow exchange students and checked in at the hotel where I will be for the next few nights.
The hotel I am at is near Hyde Park. I had heard there were museums near Hyde Park that were free but I wasn't exactly sure what was in them. The two I discovered were both fantastic: the Natural History Museum (NHM) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A).
In the NHM I felt like a kid. There were all sorts of rocks to play with and compare in the earth history and geology section. In the section about plants there was a room that put you 'inside a leaf' to see how plants turn the suns energy into energy useful for the rest of the world. It turns out plants have their own personal David Attenborough explaining their process. Elsewhere was a section of tree trunk taken from a place that is now called Big Stump Meadow in Giant Sequoia National Monument where I worked last summer. Giant halls were filled with modern day animals and the bones of their extinct counterparts.
Down the street was the Victoria and Albert Museum. This museum has gone through several expansions and been renamed a few times but in the last 150 years it has become a rival in some respects to even the British Museum. It has the largest collection of post-classical sculpture in the world as well as the largest Italian Renaissance collection anywhere outside of Italy.
The square museum has a lovely plaza in the middle where I spent some time. A shallow fountain had the occasional toddler running through. The sun was shining on all the happy museum goers with their expensive museum lunches. I spent a while out there simply enjoying the sun before my stomach told me to get back to the hotel where I had some food, it was mid afternoon.
After some lunch and a small errand I was running through the streets of Westminster, past the houses of parliament to get to Westminster Abbey before 5PM. Running up to the gates as bells tolled the hour I was ushered into the church.
This was my first time going to church! Most days of the week the abbey has evensong where the sermon is actually sung by the choir. Normally it is the boys choir but because they are still on summer holiday the men's choir was performing this evening. It was quite nice to sit admiring the church while the men's tenor and baritone were filling the lofty place. Though I don't believe in much of anything they stand for, old churches are beautiful places. The 45 minutes flew by.
Across the street from the Abbey is the Parliamentary building I had so quickly run past earlier. The public is allowed to sit in, so I did! I didn't see anything too terribly exciting. There were maybe five MPs (Members of Parliament) still in for this last part of the day. I'll post more about Parliament next time, the building has an interesting history.
By 9:30 I had said goodbye to my fellow exchange students and checked in at the hotel where I will be for the next few nights.
The hotel I am at is near Hyde Park. I had heard there were museums near Hyde Park that were free but I wasn't exactly sure what was in them. The two I discovered were both fantastic: the Natural History Museum (NHM) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A).
In the NHM I felt like a kid. There were all sorts of rocks to play with and compare in the earth history and geology section. In the section about plants there was a room that put you 'inside a leaf' to see how plants turn the suns energy into energy useful for the rest of the world. It turns out plants have their own personal David Attenborough explaining their process. Elsewhere was a section of tree trunk taken from a place that is now called Big Stump Meadow in Giant Sequoia National Monument where I worked last summer. Giant halls were filled with modern day animals and the bones of their extinct counterparts.
One room of the NHM. That is a statue of Darwin behind that person in the black shirt.
Down the street was the Victoria and Albert Museum. This museum has gone through several expansions and been renamed a few times but in the last 150 years it has become a rival in some respects to even the British Museum. It has the largest collection of post-classical sculpture in the world as well as the largest Italian Renaissance collection anywhere outside of Italy.
The square museum has a lovely plaza in the middle where I spent some time. A shallow fountain had the occasional toddler running through. The sun was shining on all the happy museum goers with their expensive museum lunches. I spent a while out there simply enjoying the sun before my stomach told me to get back to the hotel where I had some food, it was mid afternoon.
After some lunch and a small errand I was running through the streets of Westminster, past the houses of parliament to get to Westminster Abbey before 5PM. Running up to the gates as bells tolled the hour I was ushered into the church.
This was my first time going to church! Most days of the week the abbey has evensong where the sermon is actually sung by the choir. Normally it is the boys choir but because they are still on summer holiday the men's choir was performing this evening. It was quite nice to sit admiring the church while the men's tenor and baritone were filling the lofty place. Though I don't believe in much of anything they stand for, old churches are beautiful places. The 45 minutes flew by.
Not the best picture ever, but you get what you get
Across the street from the Abbey is the Parliamentary building I had so quickly run past earlier. The public is allowed to sit in, so I did! I didn't see anything too terribly exciting. There were maybe five MPs (Members of Parliament) still in for this last part of the day. I'll post more about Parliament next time, the building has an interesting history.
Oooooo, history piece. You excited?
