I'm almost done with all my work. All I have left is a test for my online marketing class, and I'm free to enjoy London, clean our flat and pack everything for my trip home next Monday!
Last Wednesday was my last day at my internship. It was quite saddening; going to the office up in West Hampstead had become such a regular part of my life here. And also, because that ended, I know that everything else is going to end here, too.
On Friday Chris M. and I planned to go to the British Museum. However, the weather was just too amazing for a museum, so we did a nice long walk around Regent's Park.
Regent's Park is in a very nice area in northern London. The grounds are a little more open to the air than Hyde Park. It's bordered by Regent's Canal, which is supposed to resemble Venice in a way.
Regent's Park is also home to the London Zoo, although we didn't go in; we just walked along its perimeter.
On Saturday the weather wasn't quite so nice, so I decided to hit up the South Kensington museum trio. They're only a few blocks away from the IC London Centre, and yet in these past four months I'd only cut through the Natural History Museum and spent all of 20 minutes in the Science Museum.
I first stopped at the Victoria & Albert Museum, which is a museum for the "decorative arts." It's quite huge; it not only houses British decors, it also is home to many European and Asian arts as well. There was everything from fashion to sculptures to tomb monuments to pottery to jewelry and everything in between.
My favorite exhibit definitely had to be the Theatre and Peformance section. It had everything from concert memorabilia to costumes worn by musicians (such as Mick Jagger and Elton John) and actors. It also had scenery, puppetry, a replica of Kylie Minogue's 2002 tour dressing room and clips of some of Britain's most memorable stage productions in the last decade.
I next visited the Natural History Museum.
I'd passed through once when the London Fashion Weekend was located on its grounds. For those of you who have been to the Museum of the Earth in Ithaca, thte Natural History Museum here kicks its butt! There's a HUGE dinosaur exhibit, complete with a life-size animatronic T-Rex.
The entrance to the Earth exhibit is quite impressive as well.
There are many other exhibits as well, including ones about the environment, human biology and the animal kingdom, just to name a few.
Afterwards I stopped at the Science Museum. It's really great; it really covers all aspects of science. I particularly like the air and space, mathematics and marine vessels exhibits. The special exhibit in the museum at the moment is a Wallace & Grommit-themed exhibit about inventions. Quite cool.
This morning (Tuesday) I finally made it to Westminster Abbey! It was an especially great time to go, since they were decorating all the tombs and altars with garlands of flowers for this annual celebration they have there every May. I loved seeing the tombs of the likes of Queen Elizabeth I, St. Edward the Confessor, Henry VII and the Unknown British Soldier. I also loved Poets' Corner, which is filled with monuments to tribute many of Britain's finest artistes, such as Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare and G. F. Handel (although Handel was German; he just spent quite a bit of his life in England). All of the tombs and monuments are very beautifully carved and crafted.
The rest of my week appears to be quite filled so expect a nice long entry next time (which will also sadly be my last blog post...).
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