Friday 20 January -- Old Stuff in London

"Today, I walked by St Paul's Cathedral, took pictures of the Old Bailey, saw some cool stuff in the British Museum, first-bumped an ancient egyptian statue, walked through the Tower of London and went to evensong at Westminster Abbey."


I have pictures of these on my computer now. Here they come!

This was on Great Ormond Street. I'm not sure what it's for, and I've seen similar enclosures elsewhere in London.

This was in front of the "Ladies" whatsit.

This is a London dragon. Later in the week, I got a picture of the big one on Fleet Street/The Strand, but these little guys mark the main streets in and out of the City of London proper, or it might be called the Borough of London. I forget.

This is the Old Bailey. I read a lot about it in English Lit 1700-1789 and more practical documents from its records in English Social History 1500-1750. 

The statue on top is so ominous.

It's still the central criminal court. There were lots of people lined/queued up outside, but I didn't think it would be appropriate to take their pictures.

Justice with her sword and scales on top of the Old Bailey.

This is St Paul's Cathedral. Very big, imposing, and has a big dome. I poked my head in, but it was ridiculously expensive for a tour.

 This was all seen before 11. I developed a pattern in the hostel of falling asleep around 21:00 and waking up between 5 and 7 AM which haunts me still. Actually, I wake up a lot during the night; I'm not sure why that persists as no one comes in and talks loudly in french right by my bed between midnight and 3 AM.
At 11, I went to the British Museum to meet up with the Whitworth group again. I hit up the tourist store outside for something for Andrew and found him a "My sister when to London and all I got was this lousy shirt" shirt with a british flag on it for authenticity. Then we went through Egypt, China, a little bit of India, and Japan.
I fist-bumped a statue in the Egypt section. You'll see why it was so appealing:

He was clearly waiting for a reciprocating fist bump.

This is my favourite painting. I mostly like it for the wave, as I'd never really noticed the mountain lurking  in there. It's a very famous Japanese print, and I'm not sure if this is the original, and if it is, how the British Museum got their hands on it.

The Tower of London. I think the whole thing is the Tower, since there are several towers inside the walls.
It was expensive to get in, but so worth it. I saw the crown jewels and also the place where lots of people were beheaded. 

The Tower Bridge! Not London bridge, as many are wont to assume.

I would have taken a million more pictures, but my camera was full. It was a good day. After the Tower, we went to Westminster Abbey for evensong, which was okay. The choir was good, but I prefer men's choirs to consist mainly of men's voices. All I could hear of this one was the kids, who sound oddly feminine. I believe that this was also the day that I tried "apple and beetroot juice" (beetroot being the british word for beet), and it was pretty good. I was mostly intrigued by the pink and the oddity of seeing what is generally a vegetable reserved for the table (unlike carrots, which go well in juices) in juice.