Simply Me: A Little Fall of Rain, and a Lot of Art

Today was the first day the weather was quintessentially British. At least, that's what it was for the morning and early afternoon. Then the sun came back out and it was really quite lovely. Immediately after class, however, (when we were out walking to the Tate Modern to fulfill an assignment) it was quite drizzly. I don't know if I can classify it as strictly rain, though. . . It was more like a mist that was blowing all over and for which an umbrella did nothing. I guess it was microrain? I'm rambling. It's late here.

The Tate Modern was. . . interesting. It's actually a pretty cool building; it was an industrial building that was transformed into a museum for modern art. I'm just generally not a huge fan of modern art. There were certainly pieces in there that I liked, and many others that I could see as art, but then there were others--like a mirror mounted on the wall--that were beyond my comprehension. I did try to give each piece a fighting chance, though. I don't think I'll be going back, but it was a good experience.

After the museum we were all famished. We were craving Mexican food so we headed off to Charing Cross to eat lunch at Tortilla. You wouldn't necessarily expect to find good Mexican food in London, England, but Tortilla is pretty darn good. It might hold its own against Cafe Rio or Costa Vida. Maybe.

After lunch we headed back towards home to fulfill our next assignment: touring Kensington Palace. I wasn't particularly over the moon about that visit, but it turned out to be pretty cool. There was an exhibit on Queen Victoria that depicted her life from birth to death. I wish we'd spent more time there so I could have read everything, but I enjoyed what I did read.

There was also an exhibit about royal fashion where they displayed dresses from Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, and Princess Diana. I liked Queen Elizabeth's dresses best; they were classy and sophisticated and they were from the 50's which I already love. Princess Margaret was able to go a little more outlandish in her fashion choice because she wasn't next in line for the throne. She was dressing during the time of the Beatles and that certainly influenced the clothing she chose to wear. Princess Diana's dresses were obviously from the 80's which, while possessing a certain charm, is not my favorite era for fashion.

As we were leaving the palace and walking through the park to return home, a helicopter flew over our heads. It was flying low and we realized that it was going to be landing right next to us. The other girls ran to the fence to see where it was touching down and our suspicions were confirmed. There were bodyguards with big guns scattered throughout the enclosed field and we watched as Prince Charles (the crown prince) dismounted the helicopter and got into a waiting car. Caitlin waved and I cautiously put my hand up as well, and he waved back at us. Kenna's wish (that she vocalized upon entering Kensington Palace today) of seeing a royal was met. So that was pretty cool.

Dinner tonight was so good! Our chef here is Brazilian and that has resulted in some interesting flavor combinations, but tonight she made a traditional Brazilian meal and I was happy as can be about it. I honestly wouldn't complain if we ate Brazilian cuisine for the rest of our stay here. I hope there are leftovers in the fridge so I can eat it again for lunch tomorrow.

After dinner I folded laundry (though half of my clothes are hanging from various places in our room because clothing doesn't dry particularly well here) and read. I don't know how long I read, but I was ready to fall asleep after a couple of hours. I'll have to make more time to read while I'm here; nothing soothes me as well as a good book.

Now for a few pictures (every night as I upload my pictures I'm shocked at how many I took. I didn't feel like I'd taken all that many today, but there were 54 so. . . yeah. That's cool, I guess. More memories, right?)

Waling to the Tate Modern in the drizzle.

St. Paul's Cathedral. I'm going to visit there before I leave.

A memorial for The Blitz.

A really old baby gown. Prince George wore this.

Elizabeth's gowns.

Pretty jackets. I think these were militaryesque because of the war (the leader needed to appear able to lead in the war or something)

I didn't take pictures of any of Princess Margaret's dresses because I was hurrying to catch up to the rest of the group. These are Diana's.

The stairway leading up to the King's Chambers

This is super blurry because no flash photography was allowed, but these doors were HUGE! I'm standing up straight in this picture and the doorknob is to my neck.

I don't know whom this is a painting of, but I thought it was pretty.

This was just straight-up cool. It's a dress on a form, but the shadow shows a person.

One of the games that was set up. And Kenna and Caitlin.

Sorry for the poor quality; the lighting was terrible. Kenna playing dress-up.

This is the girls dancing in the royal hall.

After Queen Caroline (at least, I think it was Caroline. . .) died, the king was so saddened that he requested that nothing in the palace be changed, not even the logs in the fireplace. His wishes were obeyed, so those are some pretty old logs that haven't moved for several years.