"April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull Roots with spring rain."
T.S. Eliot, the Wasteland.
It's spring here in London, and has been for about a month now. April is upon us, which is good and bad. In the two days, I've walked through at least five parks. On Thursday, a few friends and I went to the John Soane museum. If you've never been, make this your first stop on your next trip to London. It is amazing. This man was an architect and built this house to fit his... slightly eclectic tastes. You walk in through a narrow little corridor, and then have the option of branching off to about four different narrow little corridors. And then again. And again. The ceilings are very high and have skylights at the top, so the perspective is very distorted. The best part however, is just the sheer volume of stuff on the walls. Everything you could think of is on these walls. Over 6,000 books, pieces of sculptures from Rome, busts of any one famous, death masks, stained glass, plans for a new Parliament house, etc, etc. Even a skeleton!
This man, it appears, was not on an even keel, to put it mildly.
So we had tons of fun in the morning! I touched Sir Robert Walpole's writing desk. (For those not major history nerds like myself, Walpole was Britain's first Prime Minister, though at the time they didn't call it that.) It was serving as a display table. Just sitting there. So I had to.
Then we had a picnic in Lincoln's Fields, and watched a man do an hour routine of yoga/ti chi/ made up moves. Unfortunately, we had no, ah, pic-a-nic basket.
And then we walked from Leicester Square home. The Tube map is tricky, and makes it seem like this walk is Huge. But! It was only 3 miles. On a beautiful day, going through parks almost the entire length of the walk, it was quite pleasant.
Yesterday, we thought it was such a great idea, we did it again. We spent the afternoon eating cheese and bread, and drinking wine (or cider) in St. James's park, right next to Buckingham Palace. Yeah, that's right. We chilled in the shadow of Buckingham Palace. Then we wandered up to Holland Park, and found the (in)famous Adventure Park! It does really exist! Unfortunately, it was such a nice day, it was fully populated by kids, so we couldn't go in. But now that we know where it is, we will be back.
Today, I'm off to the Portabello Road Market, on a quest for a pocket watch. I'm going to check out the shops here, and then possibly return to the Royal Observatory. But this will be my one memorable souvenir of London. Now I just need to find a vest with pocket for my watch. Keep an eye out, yo.
So this has been spring in London. But now we're close (12 days, scary!) away from finishing, and the most amazing college experience ever will come to an end. That's why April is the cruelest month, for me at least. I really am not ready to leave. I love London, I love the museums, the pubs, the parks, the people watching, the pedestrians...sorry. I was about to add a very, very tasteless joke, but I'll refrain and spare you all.
But Europe is next on the horizon. Hopefully, it will be just as great. I just bought my Eurorail pass. Woo! First stop, though, Ireland. Yay! Ireland! (ha!)
No pictures this time, sorry. I didn't have a camera with me, but I see if I can rustle up a few from other people.
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