London!

These are some LONG overdue photos from my trip to London with Holly, Lindsey, and Derek on 11 March 2008. Cheers.

Lindsey and the shameless tourist photo op.

Derek and the shameless tourist photo op.

Holly and the shameless tourist photo op.

Me and the shameless tourist photo op.

Lindsey gives me the stink-eye.

Parliament and Big Ben!

Horatio Nelson, who fell heroically at the Battle of Trafalgar, commemorated in Trafalgar Square. I hear that George Orwell, during his tramping days, shaved in the fountains here. There is also a mysterious absence of pigeons. Holly thinks it has something to do with the Chinese restaurant across the street.

How are we going to climb the lions?

In imitation of Asian tourists.

We came to, uh, pay homage to Horatio Nelson, British naval hero.

Group photo in front of the National Gallery.

Testing the self-timer.

Derek is not so sure about the whole Harry Potter thing.

Holly is off to Hogwarts.

Lindsey makes her first trip on the Hogwarts Express.

Don't those Brits know how to spell?

Do you know the muffin man?

What can we do at night in London on the cheap? Go see the sights again, because now they are all lit up!

St. Paul's Cathedral.

Walking the Thames at night was probably my favourite part.

There are not pictures here, obviously, from the Tate Britain or the British Library, both of which we visited. At the Tate Britain, there was some amazing William Blake engravings, paintings, and sculptures, and some terrible pre-Raphaelite art. There were a few nice ones, but overall I find pre-Raphaelite art to be particularly displeasing. They had that cool Lady of Shallot painting, though. We also looked at some JMW Turner, which Derek wanted to see on recommendation from a certain Mr. Kirkpatrick. It was really beautiful, and apparently Turner is one of the quintessential British artists. He painted a beautiful image of the HMS Victory returning to Portsmouth (which we visited just a few days ago).

Then, at the British Library, we saw some awesome stuff, like the Codex Sinaiticus and the Lindisfarne Gospels.

So that is kind of my London trip in a nutshell. It pretty much ruled. We walked down Fleet Street to St. Paul's, saw a Barber Shop (Sweeney Todd!) and basically had an awesome day. I think it was probably one of my favorite days since I have been in England.