London

I fear that I am two weeks, three countries, and roughly 150,000 miles (it may be more akin to 15,000) behind in posting. I was able to spend a few days wandering around the city of London (and even the City, proper) after leaving South Africa, taking in the sites and soaking in the British culture. (I felt Leslie Knope walking around the city: youtube.com/watch?v=Rks-0naOjKk)

London is a beautiful city, full of grand, wonderful, old buildings and neighborhoods and parks. The weather was, shockingly, sunny, breezy, and just the right amount of warm- a drastic change from cold and rain that I had experienced in Cape Town! The chill melted off my bones as I took in the sights and admired the architecture- although the gorgeous weather also had the unfortunate effect of lightening my wallet. What I do want to say about London is that if you were knocked unconscious and fell into a coma for days on end, and someone then took you to London and dropped you into the middle of the city and you finally woke up and wandered (unsupervised and in your hospital gown) onto the street, it wouldn't take you long to figure out where you had been taken. Because there are London-themed shops EVERYWHERE. Now, granted, Chicago has their gift shops and such, but the tourist shops seem to literally be on every street, each filled with the same collection of trinkets and tshirts for tourists to take home (and I admit that I picked up a few things my last day there). When Urbanists write about the consummate "tourist city", this is what I picture. It is not only built on the tourist economy, but the businesses also do what they can to drive and build this aspect of of the economy. We often blame gentrification or urban planning on destroying the culture of a neighborhood, but what about the drive to develop the tourist sector in a city? What impact is that having on neighborhoods and the city, overall?

Okay... no more shop talk. On to some of my photos! Enjoy!

Chim chim chiminey, chim chim cheree! 

Big Ben in the faaaaaaaar distance. 

Beautiful decoration on lamppost. Seriously, so many of the streetlights throughout both London and Paris were amazingly adorned! 

Found at the Palace of Westminster. So regal and grand! 

Big Ben. Truthfully, I had a Ron Swanson moment when I first started walking past (youtube.com/watch?v=MYgCVszCKaQ), but it is pretty cool to see in person. Although, it was crowded... super crowded. 

Hugs! 

Far east end of Hyde Park. I'm assuming this is an homage to The Godfather...?

Water fountain in Hyde Park- how stinkin' cute is this?? On a related note, I loved all of the water fountains throughout London, since I tend to be cheap and only buy bottled water if I'm truly desperate.

Prince Albert memorial in Hyde Park. It is very large- and you know what they say about grandiose memorials to men... they tend to be crowd pleasers. 

Found in the Baker Street Tube station. The only way this could be more adorable would be if those faces were actually photos of Benedict Cumberbatch. 

There is a Sherlock Holmes Museum, but there was quite a queue to get into it and I am not a patient person when it comes to lines for museums. But the area is fun to explore and close to the London Zoo (if you're into that kind of cuteness).

I love this because someone wrote (in pencil) "Lauren (last name forgotten) Sucks". I'm sorry, Lauren, that your name has been sullied. I don't know what you did to incur this kind of wrath, but I hope that you have taken steps to protect yourself from this clearly deranged individual. 

A statue of Newton at the British Library, which is worth checking out. They have displays and exhibits that change every few months (bl.uk). 

There are pithy posters like this all over the Tube. Chicago needs to look into putting these up- especially this one. 

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I, and all around the Tower of London, there is a display of thousands of red poppies to mark the event and honor those who died. 

The outside of a cathedral that has a cafe located inside. This is a very helpful description, I know, but the only thing I can remember about the church is that it was located close to the Tower, off of a main street, and the people there were so kind. You could go in and grab a drink, sit and admire the architecture, and cool off... if I could remember where it was located.