London: One Big Tourist Trap

London:

One Big Tourist Trap

So, the title of this blog entry isn't suggesting that London isn't a nice city, but the whole thing is actually a huge tourist trap. People don't really live in London. Most people commute to the city if they work there because it is so ridiculously expensive. Only the rich people who live there and the tourists pay the outrageous prices. Rich people can afford it and tourists have to deal with it or get the hell out. I feel like a lot of the iconic things that London has to offer are kept up because it attracts tourism, but other than that it is utterly ridiculous. 

On the tour our first stop was Buckingham Palace. Buckingham palace is the official London residence and principal workplace of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality. The actual Palace wasn't actually very impressive looking and wasn't very photo worthy, but I did watch the changing of the guards.

Unfortunately, it is still winter in England and so they were wearing their big grey winter coats and not the iconic red ones that everyone thinks about when they think of Buckingham Palace.

Tower Bridge

Built between 1886-1894. It is a combined bascule and suspension bridge. 

The Lion King on stage!!!

I was so excited to see the Lion King on stage!! It was the most amazing play I have ever seen in my life. I just don't have words to explain how fantastic the play or the experience was. It was basically my childhood wrapped up in one night.


Big Ben and House of Parliament

The two houses of the Parliament are the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The building that holds the house of parliament is called the Palace of Westminster. This is also the building that has the clock tower with Big Ben. Most people think that Big Ben is the whole clock tower or the clock itself, but it is actually just the name of the bell. Elizabeth Tower is the name of the clock tower. 

Westminster Abbey

Built by King Henry III in 1245 it is the coronation church. This site has had a church on it since the 7th century. And has been the coronation church since 1066. It is the burial site of 17 monarchs and has a treasury of painting, stained glass, artifacts, books, and sculptures. I didn't go in the Abbey, but I did bask in the sun outside of it. It is a lovely church. 

British Museum

The motto of the British Museum is "A museum of the world, for the world." But really all this means is that the English stole a whole bunch of the precious artifacts from countries they either use to rule or they won a battle against years ago. And most countries want their precious pieces of history back, but the British think finders keepers. Our guide was so proud of the fact that they had everyone else's history in the museum. They don't see anything wrong with the facades of the Parthenon from Greece being in England and them refusing to give it back to Greece. Anyways, the museum was first established in 1753 and was opened to the public on January 15, 1759.

The Rosetta Stone

Egyptian Statue (hole was bored by French scientists)

 Corner facade from a Greek Temple

Parthenon facade

Egyptian Mummy

Sir Hans Sloane

The man that invented milk chocolate. He added sugar and milk to cocoa to make a queen "better". The queen thought that the chocolate helped her depression. He was the man that left all his basically stolen treasure from different parts of the world to the government for the British Museum when he died. 

St. Paul's Cathedral

The Cathedral was built in the late 17th Century designed by Sir Christopher Wren. The Cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of London. St. Paul's is the 2nd largest church in the UK. The dome is modeled in the United State Capital in Washington DC






Piccadilly Circus

When the tour guide said something about Piccadilly Circus I wondered why anyone would spend their time in London at a Circus. Joke is on me! It's a rode junction and public space. It is pretty much the Time Square of London. It is a nice place to people watch. It springs alive at night. It is surrounded by theaters and clubs. Funny story about how we actually go there. I was with 2 of my friends and we really wanted to go to a drag show, so I saw this drag queen with a huge rainbow afro on and so we took off following her. She was out running us and she had heels on. I was super impressed, but then she was suddenly gone and we were left standing in this huge rode junction with a giant screen playing advertisements that was brighter than the sun. We just stood there for a couple minutes speechless trying to take it all in. It was pretty much sensory overload. 

Natural History Museum

I didn't have time but the best part of the Natural History Museum is the dinosaur exhibit. This is the Diplodocus in the front hall of the museum.

 No pasa nada or anything but here is a giant sloth...

You know some American pride in the museum

This is one of the most famous and biggest natural history museums in the world. The really awesome thing about all British museums are that they are free of charge. 

Random Traditional British things...

 Wade Park

The taxis aren't that nice inside...

The London Eye, Parliament, and Millennium Bridge

 I love this picture. All the dead skateboards and the one color is the board that reads "make tea not war" I don't know what is more British than this. 

Sevilla

Sevilla

When most people think of Spain usually they think of bullfights, flamenco dancing, colorful buildings, and warm weather. What they are thinking about is Andalucia. Andalucia is the province in the south of Spain. Andalucia is where flamenco and bullfighting originated. Sevilla is the capital of Andalucia and I was given the chance by my program to go experience the Spain that everyone thinks they will experience. The only thing that you don't think when you think 

Flamenco Show 

For the first night in the city my program took us to a flamenco show. It was a lot different than I thought it would be. I pictured lots of huge puffy dresses big flowers in the girls' hair, but it wasn't like that. The man and woman were both terrific though. I definitely could never dance like that. The guitarist was very impressive. I couldn't understand the singing though even though it was all in Spanish it was all in Andaluze Spanish...

Reales Alcázares de Sevilla

When we met our tour guide for the day she greeted us in a normal way "Como estaís" except in Andulcia they don't pronounce words fully so what she said was "Como etís". The Spanish is impossible for me to understand. But anyways... the Royal Palace in Sevilla was originally a Moorish fort. It is the oldest palace still in use in Europe today. The palace had a very obvious Islamic style to it. It was absolutely gorgeous with all of the intricate tile decorations and the Moorish style colors and design. I loved the gardens of the palace as well. It would have been awesome to grow up in the palace with those grounds as your playground.

The gardens were truly lovely. I loved all the orange trees everywhere.

Orange trees not only lined walkways in the palace garden, but also they just line all the streets in Sevilla. There are two types of oranges that can be found in Sevilla. One is a normal orange tree that you can find pretty much anywhere.

The other is a tree with leaves like this one. There is a big leaf and then where it is connected there is a tiny extra part to the leaf. These trees produce the most bitter oranges I have ever tasted. I don't think I have ever tasted an orange that terrible. The British use these oranges to make preserves. 

An intricate ceiling in the palace. It is one of the domes of the palace, so even though this picture kind of looks like the dome is coming towards you it is in fact going up away from you.

A quiet little patio. I loved it. It was so quaint in all the hugeness of the palace.

A cute little door. I wondered where it went.

The facade of part of the building.

I loved this doorway. I loved the Moorish style of the palace.

This is a bath room. This is the bath built for one of the king's mistresses. And by bath I mean more of a Jacuzzi. 

This was a little fountain area in the garden I loved the facade of the wall behind the fountain. Oh and it had HUGE coy fish in the water.

Sevilla Cathedral

The Cathedral was built in the 16th Century and is one of the biggest Cathedrals in the world. 

The facade of the front door.

So, this is the "tomb" of Christopher Columbus. Christopher Columbus has 5 graves. This is one of them and it literally has about 2 of his fingers... I wouldn't really call that a grave.

Standard of the Conquest of Sevilla

When King Fernando III the Saint conquered the city of Sevilla from the Moors, he hoisted his standard on 23 November 1248 upon the minaret of the Isbiliya mosque as a sign of their surrender. This is that flag (or so they say...)

Giralda 

Originally a  minaret while under Muslim rule it was converted to a bell tower for the Cathedral. It is 343ft (105m) tall. I was lucky enough to be able to climb up all 23 flights of stairs to the top of the tower.

The Cathedral from above 

The Courtyard of the Cathedral with nice rows of orange trees.

 Exploring Sevilla

This day we had a free day to explore the city a little before heading back up north

It was so nice to see people out and about being active in Sevilla. In Salamanca people aren't out working out and they actually make fun of you for working out. It is really disappointing, but here people were running, biking, even kayaking and rowing on the river.

Puente de Isabel II (Triana Bridge)

This bridge was built in 1852. Although it is not the oldest or the most famous bridge in Sevilla I liked it the most.

Torre del Oro (Tower of Gold)

This watch tower was built in the 13th Century and in Middle Ages it was used as a prison. It gets its name because it casts a golden shine onto the rive next to it because it was made of pressed hay, mortar and lime.

Plaza España

The Plaza was built in 1928. It is absolutely gorgeous and of course colorful. 

Now, the Plaza houses the government buildings for Sevilla.

Every Province in Spain has an alcove decorated in the Plaza. This is Salamanca's alcove.

Plaza de Toros

Bullfighting originated in the South of Spain and this Plaza de Toros is now a museum. I didn't have time however to go into the museum or the Plaza itself.