Thursday, September 3, 2015

london out and about in december

Traveling by myself in London meant ticking off a lot of famous museums and galleries - either because it was a way to temporarily escape the cold and wind, or my happiness of free things. Free things will never get old. Especially since London was very expensive against the weak Australian dollar. I spent an week internally debating whether I should spend forty dollars to go inside the Tower of London, but decided against it in the end. I'll leave it for the future when the exchange rate is a bit better. (Though this will probably be in the far future. My travel pockets are very saddened.) What I did do was walk along the Thames, cross many bridges, and museum and gallery hopped. Reaching each major attraction felt like I was on a Monopoly board and it made me entirely too happy. See: Trafalgar Square below. I am still in delusion that Trafalgar Square would be greatly improved if it became a glorious crimson.

While I did appreciate the large collection of history London's museums offered, my overall take remains that England really should return everything they stole through the British Empire stage. To start with, I really think Egypt wants the the Rosetta Stone back. And, y'know, I just don't think the physical evidence of colonialism is a good look, UK.



(Photos above: Trafalger Square and the National Gallery, Natural History Museum, Buckingham Palace, Oxford St lit up by Christimas lights, and Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park.)
 

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

stonehenge and bath

This is my slowly crawling through my photos. I'm only about...nine months behind.

I started my eight months in London, which included a day trip to Stonehenge and Bath - as you do when you're caught between your love of history and your vice of romance novels. My heart had palpitations at the thought of being in the setting of many a regency novel. Just take my heart damn it! The English countryside was such a dream.



Despite traveling in a big tour bus (one of those day trip tours) - it was easier in the end - the countryside was so charming. The goal is to drive through it next time.



 
People told me it was just a pile of rocks aside, but hey, it was still nice to see this pile of rocks with my own eyes.





Bath being gorgeous with its Georgian architecture. I really regret not spending longer. We only had time to visit the Roman Baths and the Jane Austen Centre, including a quick scones and tea under the most watchful eye of Mr Darcy.



I did try the sulfur water of the baths, after standing next to it for ten minutes waiting for my friend, and it was...not pleasant.



Oh yes, yes we did. The Jane Austen Centre was worth going to just for this, otherwise unless you're a die hard Jane Austen fan, it's a very small place.

Bath: would go again. It was incredibly beautiful. I'd love to have a nice easy day to stroll around, which wasn't possible with the time constraints of the tour - it was mostly a transport service, the tour guide did minimum.