London

mmmk. so following Hannah's lead, I've decided to go more in-depth about each location. This way, I'll remember more about my trip too!

London was in a league of its own because 1. THEY SPEAK ENGLISH 2. The architecture is just so cool 3. it's expensive!

They say silly things like "mind the gap" in the subway station, when they actually mean "stay behind the yellow line," but it's become a hugely commercialized phrase and people have shirts that say it too. I must admit, it's very catchy!

And wow, I just realized I have no visual memroies of my 2-day stay cuz I forgot to get them from Hannah's computer buut the sites seen were

Buckingham Palace - the changing of the guards

Hyde Park - twas beautiful. and cold! but huuuge.

Victoria and Modern Museum - oook.

The National Gallery - GREAT. Favorite painting is below. =) thanks to the National Gallery's website.

Trafalgar's Square - I think I was too distracted by the huge sign that said FREE for the National Gallery, [they're adjacent to each other] and all I remember now are some lions?

The Tower of London - it was closed.. but people actually live inside this place! And, I guess they close it at midnight and NOBODY is allowed in or out until the morning - they even have a doctor inside for emergencies.

Tower Bridge - absolutley beautiful! And, I waved to people on a boat tour of London that happened to be passing under the bridge. Too bad I was just a tourist - they were excited though!

Harrod's - laughably ginormous and extravagent.

Westminster Abbey - GREAT. you can make a peep and it'll echo throughout that entiiire place.

The Boulevard Montmarte at Night, Pissarro, 1897.
I reaally realized how different things can look at different times of the day. I'm sure there's a completely different approach to 'night' versus The Boulevard Montmarte at Sunrise. or Midday. or Evening. And then, it's not even just the lighting that'd be different, but also the action in the painting. What's great though, is that it's all the same boulevard.
[i like to store these kinds of realizations to apply to interpreting piano pieces at some point...=]

ALL OF IT WAS SO COOL! And now that I think back to it, very BIG. But London is not geographically big, so it must be like harry potter where everything seems big but is magically very compact. =)