I become a hermit

So my list of London Tourist Sites:

                                       

Westminster Abbey- definitely a cool place, also freezing... but the Cathedral is underrated. Worth a visit if only to see the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior which is kept always surrounded by red poppies. It is in the front and center of the pathway leading to the altar and not even the Queen is allowed to walk over it, which apparently makes processions difficult. It's funny though, that the warrior was unknown, to the point where the British aren't entirely sure that he was one of their countrymen. It could be an American soldier they are honoring, and his rank is a mystery as well, but he was given the funeral service of a Field Marshal. 

Churchill Museum- I was not crazy about this, the audio guide was very dry. The Museum itself was very interactive though, there is a long touch screen table with files chronicling every month of Churchill's life. One a few of those dates, such huge and important occurrences make the entire screen go a little mad, the date of the Titanic sinking, for example, makes the whole thing ripple. And the date that the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima makes the screen go white, and then bold black lettering appears. It's as if they want us to be able to visualize what such an interruption in daily life would look like.

Tate Modern- not my favorite place in London so far, something about surrealist art bugs me. I met a French artist there who promised to sketch me, and I have to admit is the only foreign friend I have made on this trip! And I of course stood him up (he was about 58). So there you go. There was one exhibit I liked though, it was five video screens in blocks of colors playing scenes from contemporary movies about adolescent girls with supernatural powers, one of the screens showed Matilda making things fly about and another showed a girl starting fires with her mind- it was called Psi Girls.

   I also liked an exhibit of a table with the words written on it (in the artists own language) "the table is empty but it contains itself."

St. James Park- was very pretty, and I especially enjoyed all the ducks.

 Perhaps I'll enjoy it more in warmer weather, though. At any rate, it is the way to approach Buckingham Palace, and that was really cool... it has been the official residence of the British royal family since the 1800's, and has over 700 rooms. I only saw the outside, but it was so nicely situated, overlooking the pond and with lots of statues spitting water and topped with gold, very fitting.