London, Days 1 & 2

First, I need to assure my mother that London is so big and sprawling that I feel perfectly okay in revealing that's where we are.

Yep, Darryl and I are in London.  We left Friday evening and arrived in London late Saturday morning. 

Saturday-- When we arrived in London and got to our hotel and showered (because we felt nasty, y'all), we went to the Tate Modern museum, which features modern art pieces.  Darryl and I aren't necessarily art buffs, but we'd heard the museum was cool from a couple of people, and we wanted to do something that was interesting but not necessarily on the top of our list--we wanted to be more awake and enthusiastic for our "must see" attractions.  Anyway, I have to hand it to Dr. Hockett (or Hackett?), my one and only art history teacher, who taught me enough so that I don't feel like a complete moron in an art gallery.  We saw some Picassos, some Matisses, Rodin's The Kiss, as well as some images that were a little, for lack of a better word, disturbing.  There was also a room that reminded me of the episode of Designing Women when Charlene tries to make a phone call on a pay phone and is asked to hang up because the phone is actually an art piece.  (Seriously...a string of bars of soap...that's art?)

We also walked a lot around that area of London, primarily because certain lines of the Tube (subway) were closed, and here is where I'd like to add this request:

Dear London,

If a portion of the Tube line is closed, could you please post a sign at the bottom of the stairs instead of the top so maybe we could see it BEFORE we climb all the stairs instead of AFTER?  My quads are killing me!

Sincerely,

Amy, an American Tourist

Sunday--Today we did quite a few things.  We started out at the National Portrait Gallery, which contains painted portraits and some photographs of everyone important to British history, beginning with the Tudors.  Darryl was thoroughly bored with this (which surprised me, as he is such a history buff), but I enjoyed it.  (In his defense, I probably would have been bored, too, if I didn't teach a good bit of British history and literature.)  I particularly enjoyed looking at the portraits of the writers like Jane Austen (whose drawing is a small sketch done by...oops, I forgot...her sister? her niece?), the Brontes, John Donne, and such.

Afterward, we went to the Covent Garden Market area, which is basically a bunch of shops, street vendors, and a collection of various entertainers like magicians, living statues, and such.  After a leisurely lunch at a French cafe there, we headed to Kensington Palace and Gardens.  The coolest part of that, to me, was the exhibit of some of Diana's dresses.  At some point in my commentary on this London trip, I'll probably get into the mild obsession I had with Diana off and on over the years, but it was cool to see some of the dresses I recognized from over the years, like the black dress she is wearing in all the pics of her dancing with John Travolta when she came to the U.S.  She was obviously very tall and thin.

We also went into Hyde Park and saw the fountain that was built to memorialize Diana.  (Had we realized how far the walk was from the palace to the fountain, we probably wouldn't have gone.  I've noticed some of the London signs can be very misleading for how near or far something is.)

We stopped at a French pastry shop and I had a delicious espresso chocolate tart that was to die for.  We're walking so much that I feel absolutely zero guilt for anything I'm eating.

I know I should probably post pictures and links, but that takes more time, and I'm very tired.  Maybe later this week...