A Loaded Day

Although Friday is the day that I don't have any classes, I feel as tired as though I have been sitting in class all day. Because I have 2 books to read for next week (Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream), I decided to get cracking and go out to Hyde Park to read. I picked a bench opposite the Albert Memorial and stayed there for probably an hour and a half or longer. However, I couldn't resist taking pictures of every side of the memorial (or of Royal Albert Hall across the street - jeez, this guy's popular, huh?). There was a gate surrounding the entire statue, and at each corner was a group of statues representing a continent (in the front were Europe on the left side and Asia on the right side, and in the back were the Americas on the left and Africa on the right). The whole memorial was much bigger than I expected it to be, and more colorful too! (Oh yes, as a side note, in order to get a better view of the pictures, just click on them and then you can see them at actual size.)








Finally, I had had enough of reading and so went walking in the area just to see what was around. It's kind of annoying to keep track of the streets, they don't have posts at the corners with the street names on them! Instead, there are signs on the walls of buildings or on the walls surrounding a property with the name of the street on it! I walked the length of Hyde Park and eventually ended up in Knightsbridge, home of everyone's favorite overpriced department store, Harrods!! (I didn't go in there, apparently you're not allowed in with big bags or torn jeans - not that I wouldn't have qualified :) ) If I remember correctly from the bus tour of London, the father of Princess Diana's boyfriend, Dodi Al Fayed, owns Harrods and he has put in a memorial to Princess Diana.




Also along this walk that I took were the Victoria & Albert Museum , the Natural History Museum and the Brompton/London Oratory . I'm pretty sure the admission to the museums are free, but the special exhibits would charge.

Later in the evening, after I rested my aching feet and had dinner, 5 friends and I went to Leicester Square to try to get tickets to Little Shop of Horrors, which is unfortunately closing tomorrow night! We got there about 2 hours before it started and requested student discount tickets. In the end, it cost 20 pounds each for seats that were 5 and 8 rows from the stage! (They had to split us up, there weren't 6 seats in a row free.) The theater was SO small, it couldn't have mattered when you sat, the view was still awesome! The whole show was amazing, it was funny and upbeat and got the entire audience into it. Afterwards, we waited outside by the stage door for the actors to come out, and though I didn't get in any pictures I did take one of 2 friends and the lead character, Seymour (though not with my camera! I'll have to bug her for it!)(I felt so badly I didn't know any of the actors' names!) All in all, today was a very packed and fulfilling day.

Tomorrow, I am on my way to Brighton, a seaside town on the southern coast of England, for a day trip. There will be a professional tour guide there, and I think we are also supposed to get a little free time. The Brighton Pavilion is located there, I vaguely remember it from art history class in high school. Another opportunity to take pictures!

Cheers! :D