1) It was 4:30 AM, but, having slept 7 hours, I just was not getting back to sleep
2)My legs were in some pretty major pain
Now, number 2 is actually surprising. I walk everywhere, always, and a lot. I can't recall ever having walked enough to put me in the kind of pain I was in in London (eventually I was limping), so I think that's a testament not only to how much I did, but how many things there are to see in London.
Seeing as I wouldn't be getting back to sleep, I decided to head down to watch the sunrise over parliament. The Tube was closed, so I had to take a bus which, to my delight as a law student, turned out to be the Clapham Omnibus! (For those who aren't familiar, the "Man on the Clapham Omnibus"is used often as an example of the "reasonable man" in the law. It's kind of one of those things you have to understand to laugh at). I got off the bus at Westminister Abbey and discovered something pretty amazing-contrary to the massive crowds I had seen a little more than twelve hours prior, there was essentially nobody at the Abbey, Parliament, Big Ben, or on the bridges. I took full advantage, snapping selfies, before walking back up to Trafalgar Square. Given that I was out just when the Saturday night revellers were calling it a day, the streets around Trafalgar Square were a bit of a mess with bottles and trash strewn about-it was quite disappointing, really, to see that some people felt Nelson's Monument an appropriate place to leave their empties. The leg pain kicking back in, I took the bus back to my hostel and rested a few hours.
I stayed back in my room until the time of day when places would start opening, and headed back out to look for a classic "full English breakfast". Although Max had recommended a place the day before, I had some trouble finding it. I eventually opted for a place that, while not the one recommended, looked ok. The Full English, for those who don't know, is a sort of classic breakfast, consisting, depending on where, of ham, beans, mushrooms, tomato, eggs, toast, sausage, and sometimes blood pudding. After leaving breakfast, I of course promptly walked past the place I had been searching for for an hour....
Next on my agenda was to meet Richard at the British Museum. After some confusion as to what "meet out front" means at a place with two entrances, I met up with my Canadian compatriot, and we tackled the massive museum. The British Museum has amazing treasures from all over the world. Unfortunately, to some extent, it becomes almost mundane in its vastness- while trying to find your way around, you're invariably passing hundreds of years worth of invaluable artifacts and fascinating history, without even realizing it. The nice thing about this was that exhibits also featured items and cultures we hear about less. The history of clocks was covered, for example, and I learned a lot about Ancient Cyprus. To me, as someone fascinated by language, the biggest draw in the Museum was the Rosetta Stone-no, not the computer program! The Rosetta Stone was a (large) trilingual carving whose discovery made it possible to begin cracking the code on translating hieroglyphics.
The Museum was, of course, packed, and the Rosetta Stone thronged with people essentially at all times (though it was still awe inspiring). After checking out some of the beautiful large-scale artifacts (all of which satisfied both of my criteria for picture taking-big and old), and ducking into the gift shop (which, amongst other things, sold a variety of rubber duckies dressed in different period gear), we headed out. Originally, we were in search of fish and chips for lunch, but we eventually abandoned that search in favour of chowing down on the goodies I had bought at the supermarket. We then headed to Harrod's, one of the world's most prestigious, and pricey, shops (more on Harrods in London Part III).
At 6:30, we had tickets to see Richard II performed at Shakespeare's Globe, a recreation (as faithfully as possible) of the original theatre in which Shakespeare's plays were performed, near to the original site. We got a little lost on the way, but made it just after the opening. Now, I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting to like this-it seemed like something that would make a good memory, and my friend wanted to go, but I really expected to be miserable. But, aside from standing for 2:40 (since we had standing tickets-sitting ones are sold as well), the play was really quite something (and a lot easier to follow along than expected, something aided quite a bit by a digital display showing the lyrics).
After the play, we had big plans to grab fish and chips, and then go out to a pub. Those plans, however, quickly morphed into getting dinner of the 99P menu at McDonald's and going for a walk through an empty Soho, as we discovered that London is night a late-night-Sunday kind of town.
Westminster Abbey at sunrise
The sunrise over Big Ben
My first "Full English"
The British Museum
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