This is most likely going to be a long post, just a heads up.Well, I made it to London and back in one piece. I'm actually pretty proud of myself. I managed to navigate two different tube lines AND three different stations, make it to two museums, all which culminated in a minor travel crisis. Let me back up.
I caught the 8:30 train from Norwich, which was rather early considering I didn't have to be in London until noon and the ride takes about 2 hours. I was up pretty late the night before, too--it was my flatmate's birthday, so we had a party for her in our kitchen. I may in fact have moonlighted as a one woman Bon Jovi tribute band (my cousins will be proud to hear) but that's a story for another time. The train got into Liverpool Station and I took the Central Line to Holborn. Those of you who know me well know that I am a) not very graceful, b) tremendously accident prone, and c) directionally challenged, so the subway is usually a danger zone for me. My nervousness was not helped when one of my flatmates informed me that, "the tube has only been bombed once, and the IRA has been really inactive recently". The subway cars here are very small, so I ended up standing each way. I got very close to falling over a few times, but through planting my feet and gripping the pole with both hands I made it. How do people read and stand up on the subway?? It never ceases to amaze me.
I eventually found the British Museum after walking for awhile in the wrong direction. The terracotta army of Chinese soldiers is a special exhibition now (I want to go so, so , so bad!!) so there were masses of people there for that. I found my classmates and the professor with no problem. I mentioned before that he is pompous (if you have watched or read All Creatures Great and Small he is uncannily like Siegfried Farnon), but he is also a big deal at the BM. One of the girls in my class told me that he curated there until retiring a few years ago, and now he lives in London but teaches a few classes at UEA too. I went in the gift shop, and every book on African Art in there was written or edited by him. It was kind of surreal. He showed us around the galleries, which is where the picture above is from. It's by an artist from Ghana named El Anatsui. It is a rendering of Kente cloth (one of the main art forms of the Asante, who I'm doing a presentation on for Tuesday), but he did it in metal instead--you could see where he had cut up Coke cans to use in it. It was really cool, especially when you looked at actual Kente cloth that was also in the gallery. I liked how it was suspended and flow-y; really technical art terminology, I know! We then went down into the reserve collections with one of the archivists. I saw the pressure/moisture controlled room where the Ivories are stored, and also some gold weights and disks (again, Asante), and some brass heads. We had to go through a lot of locked gates to get into the rooms.
After that, I literally jogged through the Egyptian and Greek galleries...I'll have to go back there, because it would probably take about 3 days to see it all. My mission, however, was to make it to the National Gallery, which I did, after another tube ride. This one was easier to find...Trafalgar Square is hard to miss! The view from the museum entrance was pretty crazy; that's where I took the picture. I loved it. I kind of like going to museums alone, because if I have limited time I'm picky about what I want to see, and I feel bad dragging people to things they're not interested in. I've also started trying to get my face really close to paintings, so there is always the chance I'll get yelled at for touching things. Another problem is I always have a strong urge to touch the sculptures; I want to feel how they are carved. Minor digression, but if you do go to a museum with me just realize that you are going with a potential delinquent. The National Gallery is awesome. I took a Painting in Venice class last year, and their collection of Venetian art is crazy. It made me really happy. Total nerd, I know.
I left there right before it closed, and walked up to the Trafalgar Square tube station. It is kind of like Times Square, with a lot of theatres and such on the way. I took the "look left" picture near there, they have them on the street, apparently for tourists. I read that an American in Europe is most likely to die by being hit by a car because they looked the wrong way when crossing the street, so I guess they might have a point.
Here is the scariest thing about the train/tube stations to me: the escalators. They are the longest escalators I have every seen, and steep. Escalators make me nervous anyway...I saw some show when I was little about someone getting their leg caught in one, which I realize never happens, but these escalators were pretty intense nevertheless. I also got asked for directions multiple times, which either means that I look like I could live in London, or I just look as clueless as the people who asked me. I'm going to pretend it's the former.
When I got back to Liverpool Street, there were big signs everywhere, saying that services to Norwich were canceled or severely delayed. There had been a truck carrying an explosive cylinder that had caught fire on the highway next to the tracks in between Manningtree and Colchester (they are in between Norwich and London) and that the tracks there had been closed. It was around 6:15 now, and I was supposed to be on the 7 o'clock train. I asked a Rail Employee what I should do (go to Charing Cross? look for a bus? walk?), who told me that the lines were actually reopening, and that there would be a 6:30 train leaving. I told him I would just wait for the 7 o'clock one, which he said was, "very sensible of you, madam". Except it wasn't because the 7 ended up being cancelled. I managed to get on the 7:30, along with all the people who had missed the 7, so people had to sit and stand in the aisles. We were only delayed about a half an hour so it wasn't too bad.
I picked up a copy of The London Paper, which is free and tabloid-y (headline: Wills and Kate Step out Again), and read it on the train. Here was my horoscope: Aries. Be grateful for the obstacles. Show appreciation for the delays. Both are pointing to avenues you would probably not have pursued. You knew something was not going to happen without a struggle. That would be too easy. What you can expect is the thrill and sheer delight associated with having overcome barriers to a cherished goal.
Hmmm. Appropriate, no?
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