Spring has sprung.

The other day at work I was driving through a parking lot that I visit everyday when I noticed that all of the trees in the lot were covered in buds and petals. When we take the time to observe the world around us there are wonderful things to see, but we must have our minds and eyes open if we want to recognize the beauty that surrounds us.

Ryann and I are planning a drive to take in more of this spring splendor and I am looking forward to it.

Where do you go when you dream?

I have mentioned before that that I generally do not remember my dreams. However this is changing.

In my struggle to help Ryann walk up each morning I try talking to her and asking her questions as soon as the alarm goes off. Often I don't have much to say only seconds after waking so I will ask if she had any dreams. This gets me thinking about any dreams I may have had and talking about them so the memory sets a bit. I have been doing this now for less than two weeks and I have remembered three dreams.

Each of these dreams has been in vivid color but I had already known that I dream in color what I did not know is that I pretty much just dream about camping. All three dreams have been about hiking in the mountains. Ryann has been in two of the dreams but not really with me just around somewhere and in last nights dream I was actively looking for her.

Day 15: Greenwich London

This morning I packed my bags and did inventory, I am missing a pair of socks the hand towels, and Dallas' battery charger. I left the battery charger at the Hyde Park before going north certain that would be a safe place for it, but when I checked at FHE I could not find it. Other than that I am ready to take off. I took the bag to the baden powell and went out to greenwich. I got off the train with know idea where I was or where I needed to be but after a nice amble and directions from a local I found St. Alphages parish church (the church many of my ancestors attended). The old courtyard is now a driveway but all the headstones are still there. They have been arranged two deep as a fence around the church. Unfortunately almost none are ledgable. I was able to go in and look around but the old church records are not available. This was disappointing but not surprising, I still feel good about going.
From there I headed to the maritime museum and royal observatory. The maritime museum was a let down for me but I loved the observatory. I got to see all the instruments used by the famous early astronomers and I got a picture of me stradling the prime meridian. They also have a camera obscura which was cool (it would be a good place to sneak a kiss and made me miss Ryann).
I had planned to go from there to the british museum, but I saw something that mentioned the Thames Barrier and decided to go check it out. The barrier has interested me since I first learned of it, but it took a lot to get to it and I didn't get to see it in action. I then hopped a bus that would take me all the way to the british museum I enjoyed sitting upstairs on the bus as we drove a meadering course across the city, but when we got to the museum I just didn't have time to see it. I needed to be on a 4:40 train if I was going to do a temple session (that is not entirely true but was my perseption).
The London Temple is not in London. It is an hour by train from the city to Lingfield and then a 35 minute walk from that village to the temple. I hear most people arrange a taxi from the train, but the taxi is a 15 minute wait so I just walked. On the walk the back of my lest hand had a bad run in with stinging nettles, but I toughed it out and got to the temple in time for the 7:00 session.
The temple is nice but lacks some of the elegance of other temples I have been in. My session only had 11 people in attendance and that was kind of sad. However one of those people was from the ward I visited in York and afterwards he gave me a ride to the train, which is where I am writing this.
It is odd to think I am done with this trip. In the morning I will go directly to the airport and then head home. I am very excited to see Ryann but it seems strange to be gng back to the real world after two weeks of being on an adventure.

Day 14: Back to London

It is 8:30 and I am on the train back to london from York. I just went past two atomic power sites maybe 15 miles apart one with 10 cooling towers the other with eight it is amazing that no one even seems to notice them they are just part of the background. I have a 3 hour train ride and have the challenge of entertaining myself for that time, this afternoon I plan to go to the imperial war museum.

My train got into London at 10:30 (only a 2 hour trip) but it took me until 2:30 to get check into my hostel. As I said earlier, if I had pre-planned everything I would not have had to stress about where to stay and could have save some money, but if I had pre-booked everything I would not have had the freedom to explore, which I have loved. I don't think I would have seen York or Durham had I pre-planned everything, and they have made the stress worthwhile.
Well I got to the war museum at a quarter past 3:00 and was glad to find that it stays open until 6:00. I visited all the displays and found that the display on how WWII impacted the children of the UK to be very powerful, even more powerful than the display on the holocost.
There is also a large mural by John Singer Sargent depicting a mustard attack from world war one. I enjoyed the museum but I had thought it would go back farther in history, it starts with 1900, but I guess all that is at the british musuem.
At 7:00 I went to the chapel, where I was pretty sure the britania ward would have FHE, and got to know Sebastian while waiting for the rest of the ward to arrive. (it starts at 7:30) I gave the lesson using my sacrament thought, because there had been a comunications problem. Then we planned a movie game that had a round of trivia, a round of charades, another of movie theme song name that tune, and finally an act out a classic movie scene. It was fun and I had a great time.
Now I am back at the hostel and finally doing the laundry that has been plagueing me for a week. I hope not to be up to much longer because there is a lot I want to do in the morning.

Day 13: York

Last night I was in a full 8 bed dorm room and this morning it was a bit crowded as everyone got going. The Hostel serves an english breakfast buffet style and I took advantage of that then checked out. I left my large bag in there luggage room and told them I might be back for the night but would not know until later.
I walked the mile or so to church and found my feet were still not happy, in fact I had a full blown limp by the time I got to church. The York 2nd ward is a good one, the people ARE WARM AND FRIENDLY AND THE TEACHERS WERE VERY ENGAGING... I THINK i MAY HAVE SAID ALMOST THAT SAME THING AFTER THE WARDS IN hYDE pARK. ONE OF THE SACRAMENT TALKS WAS ON marriage and it made me wish Ryann was with me.
after church I asked some people about the best way to get to London and was told to take the Grand Central Train that would be at platform 5 at 8:wp in the morning, they said it would only be a bit more than the bus but would be faster and more comfortable.
When I set off into talk I had barely gone a block when I saw a sign that said "windmill open" and pointed up a hill, intrigued I went up the hill. At the top I found a brick tower that had been a georgian era windmill. It was managed by volunteers, who let me in even though I did not have the admission fee on me. The site is wonderful and when they get the cap and sails put back on next year it will be even better. I thought of Dad as I looked at the massive gears and shafts, I think he would have really enjoyed it.
I then went back inside the walls of York and wandered the old city a while. Minster is lovely and there was an open air market today. I also popped into some book and jewelry shops. I was really just wandering but I liked what I saw. The weather was great and I am glad I came here.
Once things started to close down I followed the river walk back to the hostel and visited with some IU students who are also passing through York. They had climbed the Minster tower today and I was very bummed when they told me about it because I had not even thought to go into the church and according to them it is the best in the UK.
Once our visit wound down I headed off to bed with a mug of coco, It has been a good day.

Day 12: Keld to York by way of Hawes.

I slept surprisingly well and dry considering I was in a simple lean-to and it rained straight through the night. However nothing had dried overnight and even though I had new dry socks I had the same wet boots, so I put on wet socks and rain gear then departed at about 7:00 am.
The trail went over several hills and I got quite a workout. I also had some amazing views of verdant, pastoral valleys and rugged hills. I stopped and rotated sox but my feet and legs did not fair well and by the time I reached Hawes I was glad to be done with the hike and looked forward to checking into a hostel and FINALLY DOING SOME LAUNDRY. So imagine my disapointment to discover that the YHA at Hawes was full. The local bus has a stop labeled Asygarth (hostel) so after a brief visit to where wenslydale cheese is made, I caught the bus.
The asygarth hostel has met the same fate as the one at keld, and is now a B&B that has no vacancy this weekend. The bus route I was on goes all the way into the city of North Allerton I had planed to stay in the Dales and explore them a bit on Sunday but the Dales are like tahoe or maybe apple hill, they get busy with little events, that draw a lot of people and fill up on the weekend.
When the bus pulled up at the train station in North Allerton, I decided I'd keep moving. I had intended to visit York, largely based on Tim's recommendation, on the way back to London, so I got a one way ticket on the next Train to York.
I found my first two hours in York very frustrating. At the station I had gotten two addresses for Hostels in the central city, and I walked on sore and tired feet to first one then the other to find both closed and abandoned. A police woman gave me instructions for another which was some way off and also directions to church. I walked to the church and seriously contemplated sleeping in the bushes but, decided that was not appropriate, I had hoped for a sign telling what time wards met but there was no such luck. I saw a grocery down the street and went to keep a promise I had made myself on the trail, to have a pint of a local ice cream that intrigued me when I first saw it. It is a toffee ice cream with bits of honey comb in it. I also used their pay phone to confirm that there was a room available and get directions. When I went back past the church I found elders who told me that wards met at 9:00 and 1:00. Eventually I got to the hostel got checked in and got to bed. I had ment to spend this afternoon and evening idlely wander a country village but instead have spent it crossing the country, stressed and weary. I wonder if more preplanning might have helped.

Day 10: Bernard Castle and Bowes

The first half of today was great, the second half frustrating.

I woke up and found I was looking right at the big dipper. I felt well rested and couldn't go back to sleep, so in the pre-dawn light I got showered and pack and set off. The pennine way was starting a 4 mile stretch of pavement, when a side trail called the "tees railway walk" and it lead through many of the little villages in the area along an abandoned rain line. I decided I had both time and inclination, so I went down the path. I enjoyed the wild flowers along the path and even gave myself a little boutanier. By 9:00am I had come to the last of the villages and still had not found an inn open for breakfast. I had two choices: go on towards my days destination (the village of Bowes, which I had by then been told was tiny) or take yet another path to the town of Castle Bernard. Both towns were about 4 miles from where I was, and they are about 4 miles from each other. I chose to go to Castle Bernard,which the locals call Berny. The path was not an established track but rather a series of field that you entered at a gate or stile and there was an arrow pointing the general direction of the next gate, this made it interesting, but slightly less enjoyable than I had hoped.
Berny is the town I got a bus transfer at yesterday. It is where all the shops in the area are and it has a ruined castle but I didn't find anything I really wanted to do or see there. I ended up taking a nap on the greens and when I woke up I was ready to move on. When I enquired I found you cant actually walk the 4 miles between where I was and where I wanted to be. They are connected by a major hiway or you could go back the way I came. By this point I had walked 12 miles and didn't want to retrace it all and then walk the road I had avoided walking a few hours earlier, so I took the bus to Bowes. My map mentions that Bowes is the site of some Roman ruins and ruins of another castle, but it turns out the castle is on top of the roman site and there is only about five minutes worth of looking around to do.
It was 2:00pm and I was where I had planned to spend the night. Going on down the Way was not an option because the next place to sleep is 13 miles and that is tomorrow's docket, however I could go up the Way towards where I was yesterday and take an alternate route on the trail and sleep in a hostel rather than a campsite. This appealed to me since I had heard talk of rain and need to charge some batteries, so I set out. Once again the trail started by hugging a road but the turned and took me into rugged highlands pasture being grazed by sheep and goats. Along this stretch the way is hard to pick out but they have posts in the ground every few hundred yards so you can follow it... Until the posts stop. 2 miles out from Bowes (about 1/2 my trip) I found myself in a field of mixed bunch grass at least knee high with a million goat paths going every where. I set off towards the fenceline I had been going towards but I never found a marked gate. I did find a truck path and followed it for a while before concluding it wouldn't take me anywhere worth going. I was in a area between my maps and couldn't figure out where I needed to be so after an hour of bushwhacking I gave up and headed back to Bowes.
I just went out to dinner since it is now raining and I didn't want to sit outside and cook. The food was far but filing and this inn is warm and dry. It is only 8:30 and the sky will not be dark for an hour but lacking option I think I am going to climb into bed now and try to get some sleep and stay dry. Tomorrow is straight forward cross country hiking over a rather high pass (for the area) and my body can use the sleep.

Day 9: Transit & hiking

This morning I got off to a later start. Let me back up a bit. Last night I started a batch of laundry at about 9:00 and when I moved it to the dryer I discovered the washer had leaked on the floor. I told this to the lad at the deskk and went back to looking at bus and train charts trying to find the best way to get to the trail, then water started pouring down from the kitchen ceiling. The laundry room had flooded. I recovered my still wet clothes and distributed them on bedrails around my room (meanwhile having a nice chat with a pair of scott's who are biking across the country and had come in to get warm and dry) I went back to working out travel arrangements and repacking. By the time I got to sleep it was 2:00am. With this in mind it is not unreasonable that I did not get out of bed at 7:00 like I had planned. I got up about 8:40, I think, and found my clothes had not dried at all overnight. So I put them in the drier and 40 minutes later concluded that I was dealing with the world's least effective drier.
Skipping to the good bits, I finally boarded my train at 10:30 and sat next to a local girl, and I must admit to just a little bit of flirting as we went to her stop. (I have worked hard at not flirting here but it does happen.) I went onto Darlington where I caught a much slower, older, regional line train to a place called Bishop Auckland. For this stretch I travelled with a very friendly older gentleman named Tim who is a railroad buff from York, his accent was wonderful and when we arrived he helped me find a post office and then the bus stop I needed. He was great. Now it is 1:00 and I am on a bus driving through countryside straight out of a postcard, with rolling green hills, grazing sheep and hedgerows. Oh look a castle, that is my stop.
It is now 9:20 and I am in my sleeping bag, more or less waiting for it to get dark. The above mentioned castle was not my stop just more random norman era ruins. But my stop came 10 minutes later and I didn't have a chance to get a good look at those ruins before catching the transfer to middleston on tees, the village I am sleeping at tonight.
After I got to town, I dropped off my gear packed a day bag and hiked for the first time on the pennine way. My hike had everything you could ask for in an outing in the English countryside. Hillsides swarming with rabbits, sheep pastures, old stone house, a babbeling river, and a waterfall. (High Force on the river Tees is the tallest above ground water fall in the UK coming in at just over 100 feet.) The hike to the falls was a 10 mile round trip on which I crossed stone walls on a number of different types of stiles (or is that "styles of stiles") crossed brokes, and frightened a number of small creatures including some phesant.
I just ate thai ginger noodle soup for diner along with a yorkie bar, and got my camp set up, they say it will rain tomorrow and I think I am ready. Right now I am being eaten by bugs and am wishing I had a better Avon Lady.

quick update

I am back in london.

the hiking was good, but wet. I came back by way of york and it is nice. I will get the posts from this past week up as soon as I can.

Day 8: Newcastle & Durham

This morning I woke up and discovered that one of my roomies, a girl named francis, was headed to Durham, since I had been planning on going (I already had my ticket) I asked if we could go together, and she agreed. We caught the train and got to Durham around 9:00 it is a lovely little town built around a Norman catherdral. I took lots of pictures of the outside but they ask you not to take pictures inside. Frankly the inside is not all that impressive. I like the stained glass but it only dates back to the mid 1800s because all the original was distroyed by the reformers (the same group that tore down the globe theater in London). The mass of the church of England lacks some of the heritage of the catholic mass (especially when done in latin) and lacks the spirit making it basically just large and old. It has a 350 foot tall bell tower but because it was raining ( oh, did I forget to mention it was raining cats today) I couldn't go up. Despite my criticism of the interior, the out side of the cathedral is nothing short of magnificent. It sits on a hill above a curve in the river Wear. Its towers can be seen from miles away and the lush green hilll topped by this ancient and magestic structure is breathtaking. Like I said I took a bunch of pictures, it is unlikely that any can do it justice. I then wandered through the very pleasant town of Durham and went into little artisan shops and admired local products, finally hoping the train back to Newcastle about noon.
I needed to then take the rented bike back and I enjoyed one last ride down the narrow winding and steep old roads of this town. After taking care of that item of business, I discovered that even though some of the outside is being worked on, the inside of the castle this town is named for is still open to the public. It is cold and dark and impressive. The Newcastle society of Antiquities, who maintain it, have some great displays showing artifacts that have been uncovered beneath and around the site, including an impressive display of swords.
After the castle I decided to go back to the roman site I went past yesterday, but after it had closed. It is the site of the garrison at the east end of Hadrian's wall. Many of the orginal foundations can be seen as well as a section of the walls foundation leading off to the west. The site has a replica of a roman bath house and models of what the site may have looked like but for the most part is just rock outlines on the ground, I found it very impressive. The thought that "when these stones were lade some of the apostles were still alive" struck me as well as some thoughts on what empire means and the relitive nature of history. The museum at the site is mainly oriented towards school children but it had some cool artifacts and a tower from which you can view the whole site. In the evening I picked up some supplies I will need for hiking, cooked my dinner and got dessert from a little cafe next door. Now I am finishing some laudry and I am hoping to be in bed soon since I want to get an early start tomorrow.

Day 7: Newcastle

It is a few minutes before 9:00 and I am sitting in front of the tourist information center in Newcastle. I arrived here about three hours ago and had a great first impression. I have already walked around the castle (which is getting some work done so not open) across the millenium bridge, and to all three of the city's old churches (st mary's, st. Jame's and st. Nicholas). I was only able to enter st. Nick's but I got cool pictures at all three. I am waiting to get directions to my hostel, so I can drop off my bag, and then go for a bike ride.
It is 10:00. I just got checked in and frankly was not prepared to have the choice of sleep yet. I think I am going to nap for an hour then go biking. (it was a bad idea to plan on sleeping on the bus. I only got 2 or 3 hours and that was often interupted)
It is now 3:30 and I am about to check off an item from my england list by eating genuine fish and chips, and for bonuses I am doing it sitting on a castle wall overlooking the north sea.
The chips were really nothing special. It was an excellent piece of cod about a foot long but I really should have gotten so balsamic vinegar to take with me, it just needed a bit more of something, it was also slightly oily but again, I think waiting 15 minutes to eat it may be a factor. I oldered my fish & chips with a battered and fried pineapple ring that was very tasty. I have wandered the castle ruins here at the mouth of the river tyne and discovered that wind blowing through old castles makes some very creepy noises. I am about to head back to newcastle hopefully by way of some roman ruins.
I am back at the hostel and it is going on 8:30. I went to then ruins but the gate was already closed for the night. The bike rental place was also closed for the night which was a mixed blessing, it means I will pay for the full day rather a half day, but it also allowed me to explore upper newcastle on bike. They have a complex but cool and useful network of bike overpasses and skyways as well as a tunnel under the tyne.
So I am still burning money but don't feel as bad about it for some reason. I think it is because I am getting a better value from this hostel, it costs less than the london dive did and has even better amenities then the badden powell. This means the other money is being spent on lunches out and activities.
The cool moist air here usual keeps me from feeling very thirsty so I have not done well drinking enough water. Today I forgot to take any water with me on my bike ride and so I spent ten active hours and three resting ones without drinking anything. By the time I got back here I was painfully dehydrated. I will need to build back up a reserve tonight and tomorrow, for my backpacking.
I have decided that I will stay in the lounge for a while rather than going out or to bed. I want to watch some brittish tv (mainly to see what the commercials are like since they have imported so many shows) and meet the other guests.

London: Day 6

I woke up first thing this morning and discovered that I don't want to stay here again. Bad showers, bad electric access, and room mate problems, it was just not a good hostel. After checking out I walked through the park, half heartedly looking for the gardens, on my way to church. I went to the Hyde Park family ward, which was pretty good, and learned that most sundays they have about 10 visitors in priesthood. I was particularly impress by the young men who passed sacrament.
I am in the V&A museum and just came across my second Rodin in London, this one is very different than the other pieces of his I know. It is a bust of George Windham and has life like features and a smooth finish, way different than his portrait of balzack... There are a dozen or so rodin's in this sculpture exhibit and only two seem "not Rodinish" to me George, and a small marble of cupid and psche... The muse is another piece originally from "gates of hell" in am intrigued anew that he never had it cast. Muse has the seams visible where pieces of metal were joined... Even Rodin used the fig leaf (john the baptist). Alfred Gilbert does very similar word to rodin.
There are seven Rapheal cartoons (paintings on large paper) on display in another room, done as templates for tapestries in the sistine chapel and elsewhere some gorgeous katana blades.(2:00pm London )
Well I decided to go back to churchfor the singles ward. The hope was that there would be a "break the fast" type social and I could just talk to some londoners, but no luck. I did enjoy their EQ lesson though.
It is about 6:30 and I write this as I pause hiking cross country through Hyde Park looking for Kensington Gardens. I am amused because it is real hiking, narrow single track through high grass and thick trees, and because I am wearing my church clothes a transparent rain jacket and a 35lb backpack, yet no one even seems to notice.

Well apparently you can walk through Kensington Gardens and not know it. KG is a stretch of Hyde Park that has been naturalized. In fact, I was standing in it when I wrote the last note.
Well it is 8:30 and I have gone to the buss station, checked my bags and am now sitting in a lovely little park. If it were not 1/3 of the way 'round the world I would want wedding pictures here. It turns out this is a private park and membership is £180 a year, but I was let in by a member so I am okay. I took some pictures of the flowers but there is just no way to do this park justice, it has a manicured path a natural grass tenis court and play set, aswell as nice wooden picnic sets that many couples are currently taking advantage of.
I am glad to be leaving London. I have enjoyed dropping into museums and galleries just because they are there, but the city is so exspensive, I have made every choice based on "is this a good use of my money" and "if I do this now will I have enough money to last." Newcastle is supposed to be quite a bit cheaper and I am looking forward to backpacking.

Thoughts on Tate Britain

J.E. Millias' flowing to the river.
That seem like a poor choice of outfits to wear fishing... If you focus on the foliage in the center as you move past it appears very 3D.

Herbert Draper "I wonder if he's a cousin"

Some links to religion or classicism to justify the nude form are pretty big stretches

Sargent's "mrs carl meyer and her children" that woman seems the victim of unfortunate lightning. (the woman standing next to me said "I'm trying to figure out the size of her waist. No one that skinny should be able to stand")

Watts' Hope. I think this is the piece referenced in the title of Obama's book.

Watts' Eve Trilogy. She shall be called woman I think Watts is capturing the nobility of Eve, and thereby all women, here in a way I don't generally associate with artist of his era.

I had not known that Mammon was the name of a roman god of money.

The sluggard: yup that's me in the morning

Sargent's "Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth" the frame is an amazing complement to the art, i wish it wasn't under plexiglass it is getting bad glare.

William Coldstream (cool name) "Inez Spender": oh, that woman looks like a teenage boy to me.

Graham Sutherland "Somerset Maugham" I like the richness of this piece. I think I would have enjoyed talking to the man in this painting.

Augustus John "Dorelia standing before a fence": Sexy? This painting is unbearably flat and she is largely shapeless. I guess I'll yield on coquettish.

I forget how dark the world used to be. Paintings that see dark and ominous are probably just accurate depictions of how life was indoors not that long ago.

Carnation Lily Lily Rose: wow, it is all I had hoped it would be. I am enjoying watching other people (for who it is not already a favorite) look at it.

Burne-Jones "king cophetua and the beggar maid": I love his armor, her outfit is rather sexy for a beggar.

Sargent, "W. Graham Robertson": I thought that was a Sargent! The subtle transitions of blacks and greys is amazing. The cane is cool. The dog didnt get much attention. It is interesting to note the use of black and greys here in contrast to the colour and white of CLLR.

Where is the one of fireworks?

Whistler "Nocturn: Blue and Silver" impressive use of another more or less monochromatic scale.

Rossetti "the anunciation": I am intrigued by what can be found outrageous by art critics. The idea that 19th century artists would try to paint like pre-renaissance iconist is interesting and I feel cheated the Magri never covered it.

Ford Madox Brown's "take your son, sir" the idea of this picture and its unfinished nature are interesting. The baby seems so life like and the brush strokes are tiny. I also like the use of a mirror to do a blurry self portrait.

Arthur Hughes "April Love" I love the vibrant colours he has used, I am amazed they are this bright after 100 years.

Rossetti "the beloved" this is beautiful, look at those eyes, it is so bright. I miss ryann.

Whistler "Nocturn: Blue and Gold": Ahh. The one with the fireworks, it is actually a bit of a let down after the other "nocturn"

British aristocrats don't make good subjects for busts, especially when their trendy 19th century sideburns are featured.

Francis Harwood's "Bust of a Man" is beautiful, noble and amazing. The use of black marble is just right. It is amazing to see such a proud depiction of a black man coming from 1758.

I don't think much of Romantic landscapes. They lose the beauty of a natural scene by trying to amplify its grandeur. I they had just painted the mountains as they are I would like them better.

I wonder if it is an uncomfortable experience for an artist to chisel a phallus on a marble sculpture, this maybe why sculptors were willing to keep the fig leaf on men long after they had rejected it on women.

Picking one's nose in an art gallery is an amusing dichotomy.

Ruben's "Apollo bestowing royal liberty suppresses Avrice" this reminds me of comic book art, perhaps it is the dark outlines.

Ruben's "the apotheosis of james 1 and other studies" this is another painting that has that cool 3D effect, and to think this was just practice.

Tacita Dean's display: wow, that is very cool. The negative and blankness, mixed with the vaguely technical, it just works for me.

David Shrigley's "light switch" haha, I bet Devon would get a kick out of this. It is kind of distracting while I'm trying to write.

Time to go.

London: Day 5

This morning I had maintenance to do. I ran laundry, checked email, went to the post office, and checked out of the Badden-Powell. I checked my big bag in the storage room, and then set off.
As I walked down the street, only a block from where I had been staying, I discovered the Brittish Museum of Science. I had planned to go to the Tate and Brittish National Gallery, but I do enjoy a good science museum, so I went in. I was well rewarded by a very impressive exhibit on steam engines and their development. They also had a space/ rocketry exhibit, which is not as good as some I have seen, but it had a great display focused on the German V-2 program. There was also an exhibit on the history, development, and future prospects of plastic. It was a decent display but I walked through it in the wrong direction and that made it odd.
After I had spent the time I had at the science I got on the train and FINALLY made it to the Tate brittian. As I entered the first gallery room there on the wall, as soon as you enter, is John Singer Sargent's Carnation Lily Lily Rose. It is magnificent, well worth traveling half way around the world to see. I had been planning to just wander and look, but I ended up doing another impressions journal. It was neat to see so many of the works I had been introduced to at school hanging on the wall in full size only inches away. I also discovered the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a group dedicated to the style of painting from before the renaissance. The most well know seems to be Rossetti and his works are amazing. In the contemporary art wing I saw some very cool works done with white chalk on large black canvases by an artist whose name I don't remember but I wrote in the journal.
After a mere three and a half hours I left the Tate and joined the walking tour of old London. This tour goes to or past; Tower of London, Tower Bridge, London Bridge, the monument to the great fire of London, Bank of London (which is the Brittish version of Ft. Knox.), St. Paul's Cathedral, Fleet St. And the memorial to the Blitz. It was a good tour and the guide was great, (she reminded me of Leslie Anglese) but I think the royal tour is slightly better.
After the tour I wandered more around the city, coventon gardens and trafalger sq. Then I went hunting for somewhere to sleep. I found that the backpacker's inn just north of Hyde park had room and was £10 a night cheaper than where I had been. I walked across the park and the five blocks back to get my luggage. I took final advantage of their free wifi and then strapped on my pack and headed to the tube. This, in retrospect, was a mistake. The train I needed was packed with drunken, wild youths, who were banging on the windows and spraying beer everywhere. Then a train pulled in going the otherway so I switched over to it. With all the rowdiness the line I had started on was completely shut down in both directions and I needed to take two transfers to go just over a mile, but in the end I got back to my hostel and headed to bed.