After a full day of traveling (including waking up at 3 in the morning to get to the airport), my older sister Rabia and I finally arrived in London. Because we are British citizens, we were able to skip the line at immigration and had a pretty stress-free time getting into the UK. Traveling to Europe is even easier than getting back home to the US!
(A snapshot of me fresh off the plane)
We are staying in my grandparents' apartment (my second home:) with my aunt Khala and my grandpa Nana in South Kensington. Sadly for us, our grandma, Nani, isn't here - we sort of traded places because she is in the US right now visiting our cousins.
Anyway, Khala took a day off work to take us around London today. There is so much to see and do, and so many places to visit and revisit that I found myself trying to do everything.
Our first stop was the Natural History Museum, a longtime favorite of mine. I've spent countless hours wandering around the museum in the past, but Rabia, Khala, and I just did a brief tour before moving on to the Victoria and Albert Museum. There were several groups of tiny tots running around in their cute little school uniforms (and causing their teachers grief), which was just as amusing to see as the exhibits were.
(Exterior of the Natural History Museum)
(Interior of the Natural History Museum)
(The Mammal Exhibit - Rabia's favorite!)
(Me and Khala posing in front of the skeleton of some extinct animal)
(Giant baby...extremely creepy)
(Me and Khala outside the Victoria and Albert Museum)
The Victoria and Albert Museum had some excellent exhibits. I loved the Islamic Art section and the British section with artwork and artifacts from 1500-1700. Rabia enjoyed the latter very much...
(Rabia in an old English petticoat in the British exhibit)
(Islamic Art)
(Impressive entrance to the V&A Museum)
After eating lunch, we hit some shops. I can handle shopping in small doses, so I wasn't too opposed to the idea. Topshop and Zara had wonderful clothes, but I preferred sitting on the benches in the shoe section to actually trying the clothes on.
We walked and walked (which was nice because it was really fresh despite the ominous rain clouds above us) until Khala insisted that we stop for afternoon tea. We embraced the English culture and ended up spending two enjoyable hours in Patisserie Valerie, a cute French pastry shop that served incredible English tea (with scones of course!)
(My very English afternoon at the French patisserie...how ironic)
Feeling energized, we headed to Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square. Both were chockablock with tourists, but it was still fun taking pictures.
(Our own version of a British postcard)
(An artsy shot by Rabia)
(More of the same in our rain gear)
We headed to Trafalgar Square, which until recently was Land of the Pigeons. I remember feeding and chasing them when I was only three feet high (aka when some of the fat pigeons were bigger than me). The statue of Horatio Nelson (who won the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 against the Spanish fleet and Napoleon's French fleet) overlooked the square as usual, surrounded by his guardian lions. A new addition to Trafalgar Square was a huge countdown clock to the 2012 London Olympics - how exciting!
(Lord Horatio Nelson on his pillar with Big Ben in the background)
(Olympics Countdown Clock)
The National Portrait Gallery is right in Trafalgar Square, so Rabia, Khala, and I headed on in to our third museum of the day. I was giddy with excitement to see paintings we discussed all year in Euro class. I got to see Arnolfini and his Wife, a Northern Renaissance painting by Jan Van Eyck; An Allegory With Venus and Cupid, a mannerist painting by Bronzino; the Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger (also from the Northern Renaissance); The Hay Wain by John Constable (a Romantic painting); The Gare St. Lazare by Monet (an impressionist painting); and so much more up close!
Below are images of the paintings from above (in order) that I found on Google and Wikipedia...aren't they incredible? My favorite is The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein because of the frighteningly large (though not immediately obvious memento mori symbol (skull) at the bottom). Can you make it out? Try looking at it from the right...the effect is powerful - especially when viewing it live!
We took the tube back home after spending a few hours admiring the works above along with originals by Ingres, Van Gogh, Seurat, Gaugin, Cézanne, and more. I loved every minute in the National Gallery. It was definitely my favorite museum of the day.
Everything about today was perfect: the sites and sounds of London; the company of Rabia, Khala, and Nana; and the museums. The weather even felt nice - on the bright side the drizzly rain gave me the opportunity to finally wear my bright blue raincoat!
It is such a nice change having the chance to do what I want when I want. I finally feel relaxed and have learned a lot minus the stress. Though the city of London is bustling, I feel at peace here.
Now, the train below the apartment is chugging along at its usual rhythm and Khala's bed laden with goose feathers beckons...
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This is great !
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