British Museum

For my second class, Environmental Economics and Sustainable Development, my lecture is from 10am to 1pm and my section is from 4pm to 5pm. Thus, I have a 3 hours long gap. What did I do today during that time? Visit the British Museum!! The museum had a whole lot of artifacts from Europe, Egypt, Asia, and other places from the world. And they all ended up in London...

Parts of an Egyption wall mural

The Nereid Monument, a Lykian tomb found at Xanthos. 

Sculptures from the Parthenon

Ancient Egyption burial

Another burial. The sand preserved the body!

Rosetta Stone. Trying to get a photo of this stone was very difficult...so many Asian tourists who are used to fighting their way in and not queuing in line (see my use of British vocab?! :] )

Model of an ancient chinese house

Happy buddha

I stumbled upon a Chinese tour guide and his group. Apparently, these two vases and the two tea cups (on the raised surface) below are the most valuable Chinese ceramics in the British Museum.

Bought from an auction in Hong Kong for an enormous amount of money. 

GoldenTours - Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, Oxford (Part II)

After Windsor Castle, our next stop was Stonehenge...and Parks and Recreation (the TV show)! I actually don't follow that show and wouldn't have recognized the actors. But I was with my suitemate who loves that show, so I just had to snap a few pictures of the filming of Parks and Recreation at Stonehenge. Guess I'll be watching that episode!!

Many birds seem to live on the stones.

Chris Pratt/Andy Dwyer 

Nick Offerman/Ron Swanson

Finally, we stopped by Oxford. Maybe it was because I was tired, but I didn't enjoy Oxford as much as I had imagined. It was a very pretty town.

Oxford Martyrs Memorial

JK Rowling's inspiration for Nearly Headless Nick (in the Bodleian library)

Bodleian library

Inspiration for Harry's scar

Einstein's original handwriting and chalkboard

 I don't understand the names of some English pubs...

Side note: walking home from the Tube station was the first time I've used my umbrella since coming here. That's a whole three weeks of barely any rain (except for one storm that I slept through). Crazy, RIGHT?!!

GoldenTours - Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, Oxford (Part I)

I just finished my first class of the summer! So glad to be done :) Of course I wanted to see Stonehenge before leaving the UK, but figuring out transportation was getting tedious so I decided to go with a touring company! That was a great decision. I got a see 3 places (surprisingly, I didn't feel rushed at all!) for just £64. 

I celebrated finishing my first class with my first Fish and Chips!!! 

Windsor Castle was only ~20 minutes outside of London. No wonder Queen Elizabeth II comes to visit almost every weekend! It's a pretty neat castle that's more of a fortified town because it's made up of many different buildings. It's the oldest working castle with 150 permanent residents. I got to see Queen Mary's Dolls House (a dolls house that had working plumbing/electricity... I really wanted to play with it), the State Apartments and St. George's Chapel (many, many royals were interred here). 

View of the town from the castle

Where Queen Elizabeth II lives when she visits!

St. George's Chapel

I was surprised by how the castle was smack in the center of the town. Our tour guide used this phone booth painted with Prince Harry as a marker for getting back to our coach bus.

Victoria and Albert Museum, Oxford Street

A friend of mine from school visited from Cambridge today. We spent a few hours at the Victoria & Albert Museum. I really enjoyed the section on contemporary art (as you can see from all my photos) and it kept making me want to be an interior designer. Afterwards, we spent a few hours walking down Oxford Street and basically stopped at every store that was having a sale. The final stop was Primark, a huge store with very cheap clothes. All I can say about Primark is that it reminded me of a grocery store that sold only clothes. Very, very crazy store filled with people. I couldn't walk without bumping into others. The line to the dressing room was so long that I ended up trying on my dress in a corner of the store. Killed me feet, but had a great day! Also, notice the clouds in my pictures? Today was the first cloudy day I've experienced since coming to London. Crazy!

Victoria & Albert Museum

Victoria & Albert Museum 

Victoria & Albert Museum

Victoria & Albert Museum

Victoria & Albert Museum

Victoria & Albert Museum

3D printed resin table at the Victoria & Albert Museum!

I was super excited to see this Chinese store in London! I bought all of my winter coats here!! This store is all male apparel though. 

St. Paul's Cathedral, Tate Modern, Tower Bridge

Lecture was terribly boring today. But I had a great time exploring the eastern side of London! I walked by St. Paul's Cathedral, crossed the Millenium Bridge, explored Tate Modern Museum, walked through Borough Market, and ended at the Tower Bridge. Getting to the Tower Bridge was painful, but the view was worth it!! I spent a good four hours in the sun after class, but there's still the Museum of London and Tower of London to see. There's just never enough time!

St. Paul's Cathedral

St. Paul's Cathedral

View from Tate Modern Museum

Tate Modern Museum

Tate Modern Museum

Globe Theater

Tower Bridge. We saw the bridge lift to let a boat go through!

City of Westminster - Big Ben, House of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace

I had a midterm yesterday (celebration at a pub! surprised at how good sex on the beach was) and a paper due on Monday, so I wasn't able to sightsee for a while. Today, I definitely took the opportunity after class to walk around the City of Westminster. That side of the city was gorgeous! I've never considered myself to be a fan of architecture, but I was just in awe of the buildings around here. It's a shame that pictures can't capture just how beautiful they were. Many museums and attractions close here at an early time, so I'll absolutely come again to go inside Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and the Churchill War Rooms!

Guard at the Household Cavalry Museum. 

Household Cavalry Museum! It was so much more beautiful in real life. 

Duck Island Cottage in St. James Park

Churchill War Rooms

Big Ben

House of Parliament. The architecture is amazing! So intricate. 

House of Parliament

Westminster Abbey

Buckingham Palace. I was surprised at just how close the gates were to the palace.

Buckingham Palace