Poets' Corner and Other Cool Things

I can't tell you how good it is to be back in London. I loved Paris, but I feel much more at home in London, and I missed it in just the few days that we were gone.

This morning we took a guided tour of Westminster Abbey. We met with the rest of our group and dumb me forgot my Oyster Card (the card you need to take the underground and buses around London), so I resigned myself to going back to my flat and finding my way by myself, when my friend said that she forgot hers as well. So our program director kindly walked with us to Westminster. It was quite a beautiful walk, so I was okay that we forgot our cards, but it was still a tad embarrassing.

When we got there, we had a hilarious tour guide who told us tons of cool facts about the Abbey. One of my favorite parts was when he took us to the Poets' Corner, where there were so many burial sites of authors like Chaucer, Charles Dickens (although it was against his wishes), and Rudyard Kipling. It also has memorials for authors such as Jane Austen, Shakespeare, and the Bronte sisters. I had no idea this Poets' Corner existed, so it was a nice little surprise.

After Westminster we headed over to Trafalgar Square, where we took the obligatory picture with the lion.

It was scary getting up there. But it was scarier getting back down.

Sarah photo bombed me, but it ended up being the best picture of the trip thus far.

Then we went into the National Gallery and looked at more impressionist art. I continued on my tour of Van Gogh this summer (I've seen his paintings in D.C., New York City, Paris, and London so far) and saw his Sunflowers. I also loved his Long Grass with Butterflies. I could just stare at his paintings for hours.

But alas, I did not stare at his paintings for hours because, as my friend Sarah puts it, "my dogs were barking", and I was hungry. So we went home for lunch and I just hung around the flat until it was time to go eat dinner in a crypt. That's right, a crypt. We ate dinner while sitting on dead people's tombstones. But you forget about it quickly enough when eating the yummy food.

Our photography assignment today was to take a panoramic picture. I got this one from the steps of the National Gallery looking onto Trafalgar Square.

Tomorrow we will be doing a literary tour, as well as visiting Kensington Palace. It should be a treat!