I've Been to London to Visit the Queen!

Well, actually I went to visit my friend. Lloyd and I have been friends since we met at sixth-form college in Exeter, but he's at UCL studying medicine and I'm at Oxford studying history so we don't see each other as often as we used to. This summer especially, since I was overseas for a lot of it, I only saw him once before I went down to visit him in London. I caught a fairly early train on the Friday and he wasn't actually in London at the time, so I went to the British Museum, because it's great and a nice way to spend an afternoon.

I saw the Assyrian palace statues, the Roman mosaics, and took photos of the building outside the museum. I also saw the Japan collection, which was fascinating - it was laid out in such a way that you got taken on a sweeping tour of Japanese history, interspersed with art and ceramics from contemporary Japanese artisans who promote traditional styles and techniques in Japan. I really loved it!

Then it was off to Lloyd's place - he lives in Camden - and after an enormous falafel wrap for dinner, it was time for the party he was hosting to mark the beginning of the year. Most people there were UCL medics whom I didn't know, but it was a fun night regardless, and we went out clubbing which was a good night.

The next day, Lloyd took me to the Natural History Museum, which was, since it was the weekend, horribly crowded and not much fun, but we walked there and it was a really nice walk through Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea via Hyde Park.

Unfortunately (or maybe not!), once Lloyd realised how flattering my camera was, we got caught up in a huge posing session throughout Hyde Park.

Lloyd!

His direction for this was, "Act like Queen Victoria!"

On our way back, we saw a strange structure near the Serpentine, and went over to investigate. It turned out to be some Fortnum & Mason promotion thing - you could take tea inside it - although originally I thought it was some sort of interactive art instalation.

It of course was a great opportunity for more photos.

I also drank tea and took photos of sunsets:

In the evening we went to another party, which I didn't enjoy so much because it was a stand-around-and-chat sort of party and I knew very few people there. But it was still an enjoyable experience. I have to say, though, the highlight of my visit was going to the Globe! I've never been, but Sunday evening we got £5 standing tickets for Richard II, which is one of my favourite Shakespeare plays!

Lloyd with Nicole, his uni friend who also came to see the play.

I look far less excited than I actually was here!

This post is ridiculously long so I won't go into too much detail about the play, but it was a good production and very enjoyable. I worried about my capacity for standing for nearly 3 hours straight, but in the end it wasn't bad at all! As I got more swept into the play I didn't notice so much how aching my feet were, and being so close to the stage made for a more immediate, almost interactive experience.

Then, on the last morning, before I caught my train home, we went to Camden Market.

We tried on hipster sunglasses, heh heh. And we also found a shop chock-full of Turkish lanterns, which are beautiful and if I had the money I would buy tons.

 So beautiful, so unobtainable...

And then it was time for me to catch the 2 o'clock train home. But this weekend away made me realise that I should really go to London more often. I have friends there, there's tons going on, and it's only a 90-minute coach ride from Oxford for a £15 period return. I'll try to do that more this year, despite it being my final year (argh!!!!).