Second

Day 2

Woke up and had a wonderful full English breakfast at a cafe down the road from the hotel called The Muffin Man. From there we ventured to the Tate Britain, a museum that holds numerous art exhibits, with a focus on the Romantics. At first I wasn’t too intrigued seeing as I’m not the biggest fan of the art of the Romantics as I think it’s a step back from Impressionism, however I should’ve known better than to expect a mediocre experience in this city. While strolling through the museum, specifically a William Turner exhibit, I was sitting at a table sketching one of Turner’s line drawings. My mom came up and told me, “Liam, you’ve got to get downstairs, there’s people in costumes and stuff.” Being me, first I was just angry at my mother rudely disturbing my creative state. Alas, as seems to be the case a lot of the time, she was right in interrupting me. I went back down into the main gallery and there were these people in gorgeous costumes and makeup playing ethereal-classical music in the gallery. 

The experience was both surreal and wonderful, as it was unexpected and so different from anything back in the states. Nothing was ever said of its purpose or motive, but it was admired by everyone in the gallery and added a dimension to the usual gallery viewings that can often become stale. The surprises didn’t stop there, though. In another hall there were DJs blasting dance music surrounded by epic paintings detailing the apocalypse.



The entire experience was just so refreshing compared to walking through silent, lifeless halls as people merely stroll form painting to painting. This brought life to both the people in the museum and the art that surrounded them. Accompanying these little performances there were stations where people could create pins using magazine cutouts or boxes that expressed if you felt as if you were a part of Europe or not. It was just wonderful seeing creativity being so readily available and encouraged. Mind you, this was also all FREE.

Afterwards we walked down the street to the Science Museum, one that none of us had ever been to. I saw a poster earlier in the day for one of the exhibits that intrigued me. It was called “Who Am I?” and seemed to be all about discovering yourself and finding out what truly makes people unique. Walking into the museum, I was astounded.



Yet again, the whole thing was FREE, and was full of floors upon floors of fascinating exhibits. One exhibit was about the history of plastic, through which you had to walk into huge sheets of plastic to enter. Exhibits about space, cars, the future, the past. I could’ve spent days in this place. However, we headed straight to the back for the Who Am I? exhibit. Held in a humongous room, the place was filled with interactive features that all led to finding out who you are, how your brain works, why it works like that, and how you’ve become the person you are. The whole thing was very inspiring and awesome to see. Both myself and everyone around me were finding out about themselves in ways they never had before. Again, it was an experience that you can only find in London.



Afterwards we had to take a bit of a long tube ride (45 minutes or so) to Hampstead, one of my and my mother’s favourite parts of the city. While you’re in it, you don’t even feel like you’re in London. It feels more like a small village, with beautiful cottages and homes, gorgeous parks and intimate pubs. It’s where the elite of London live. From Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter, to Judi Dench, to of course, Sean Bean.... ;)

First we went to a pub for a bite to eat and a pint before we went on a pub walk throughout the town. Had a delicious steak sandwich with chips, and headed towards the meeting place for the walk. Every time we go to London, we take at least one of these London Walks. They’re only 7 pounds a person, and include at least a 2 hour walk throughout certain sections of the city with fantastic true British guides. This one was based around the town of Hampstead with a few pub stops along the way. The whole thing was extremely enjoyable, and seeing as the city is a quiet and tranquil escape from the city it was quite relaxing.

After that we made our way back to the hotel, I took a nice bath, and went to sleep. Wonderful.

And that's it for my second day! If you're reading this, please give me feedback. Is this alright? Should there be more pics and less writing? I think I'm going to do some separate posts of just pictures to show some more of what I've been doing but yeah. Let me know. Thanks for reading!!

-Liam