10/9/09

I went to Starbucks and read some more about Italy, it looks like there's a ton to do, I don't know how we'll get it done in just the couple days. I also emailed an American church in Rome to try to get tickets to see the Pope give mass and there aren't any left. It would be tough to make the mass (which I'm not sure what time it is at, although I'd assume it would be at noon), so maybe it's for the best. It looks like it'll rain the entire time in London and Rome, a huge bummer since a ton of it is outside. I always picture Rome as being sunny, so I'm hoping it won't be so bad.

I went down to the Victoria and Albert Museum, which is sort of hard to explain what it is, sort of like a museum of stuff. They have old things like rugs, statues, jewelry, architecture, all sorts of random things. They Cast Court was interesting, a giant room with life-size copies of historic objects. They had Trajan's Column, which we learned a lot about in art history. Since I'll be seeing the real thing in a few days, I didn't want to look too much at it.

The jewelry room was intersting, so was the room with performance costumes and objects, like a Pete Townsend smashed guitar and a Mick Jagger suit. It was interesting, and random.

Finally I went into the Raphael Room, where they have huge cartoons he made for the tapestries of the Raphael Room in the Vatican. I was excited to see these, since I'll see the tapestries soon too.

Next I went to the Royal Albert Hall and tried to take a tour. They didn't have any tours since there was a show going on, I was kinda bummed. At some point I really want to go there, it's one of those super famous places that I've heard about for years.

Finally I went to the Natural History Museum. People were lined up outside the building to get in. All the museums were packed, mostly with families. On top of that, a couple Tube lines are down on basically the busiest weekend in London. Dumb.

I went in a different entrance than last time, coming in by the Earth stuff. I went by some geological things, earthquake and volcano things, mammals and birds, and then came over to the main hall. It was packed. There was a line to see the dinosaurs that said it would take 45 minutes. Instead of seeing that again, I went by the big whale hall, which was alright. I was tired so I left.

I watched some of the Tiger game. got some things together, and made one of the Linda McCartney pies, which was actually really, really good. It looks like I won't have wifi at the hostels, so I won't bring my computer. That will make it difficult to write a sports column, but I can probably find some internet cafes or use the computers they have there that costs money. Hopefully I'll be alright, it'll be interesting.

I ended up going for a walk around Marylebone and by Oxford Street, which was one of the most enjoyable things I've done here. The streets were quiet and dark, a very eerie old Londony feel along the old small brick buildings. South Molton street, just by the Bond Street Tube stop was particularly interesting to me. I've been wanting to do this for a while.