On the way to Prague the AIFS program has a two day stopover in London. I was always looking forward to this wee detour, but never thought it would turn out as well as it did. We arrived, extremely jet lagged, and were taken to our hotel. The hotel was at the base of Tower Bridge with an amazing view. So after getting our room assignments (my roommate brought a Jesus costume and wore it already, he is a really nice kid but that was a bit off) we went to get food in the financial district, which was a bit spendy for what we got but hey, its London. We also learned that in the financial district last year people were paid 60 billion pounds in Christmas bonuses alone, yikes. Then we saw that egg shaped building and walked back to the Tower of London, which was also right next to the hotel. Entrance was extremely pricey but the crown jewels were unbelievable, to repeat unbelievable. The second day in London consisted of a bus
tour of all the major attractions of London: St. Peter's Cathedral, The Eye, Big Ben and Parliament, Westminster Abby, Buckingham Palace and all those lovely places. But then we got dropped off near the British Museum and walked through London a bit. The Museum was far more amazing than I had hoped, not only did we see so many relics and priceless pieces of history but we saw several monumental world treasures. Fist off, the reason that I wanted to go to that Museum in particular was the Elgin Marbles, as I have always had an intense fascination with the Parthenon. I still cant believe that these sculptures are not in Athens.
The Museum however did make the prefect display for these sculptures and gave them just respect in their care. In my excitement to see them though, I walked right past the Rosetta Stone without even giving it a glance. So then I camped out in front of it for a while, wondering how I could have missed something so monumental and only finally glimpsed it out of the corner of my eye. I felt OK about that after I realized the stone had been passed up for thousands of years by more dedicated people than myself until its chance discovery. Another amazing thing about the Museum was the exhibit of the terracotta warriors! Some of them were on loan and out of China for the first time ever. In a round about way we got to see them for free (Museum entrance is free but the price for the terracotta warriors exhibit was 16 pounds). The exhibit was a bit overdone, but the seven or eight warriors they had were amazing. After the Museum we walked back though the neighborhoods, and along the Thames. We stopped for Greek food along the water and it was delicious. Overall London was very cool but very expensive. It was great to be there but I'm glad to be studying in Prague. I was more afraid of running out of money in London in two days that I am in Prague for the whole semester.
