Tuesday, January 27, 2009

The Day’s Done at London

I forgot to mention Chinatown in my previous entry.
I apologize! It was decked out for Chinese New Year and was quite splendid to behold. I suppose that a picture is worth a thousand words or so, so I’ll explain that way.

Anyways, to start off where the last entry left off, we needed lunch badly after that much sight seeing. We looked at freshly made pancakes filled with meat on the River Thames. We looked at pubs proudly serving “word famous” fish and chips. We looked at steak houses. We looked at fine Italian dining. We realized that we were poor college students and shuffled into a McDonalds with our heads bent in shame. Don’t tell anyone. After that, we took the Underground to the London Tower Bridge. Wow-ee! It was lovely.

Well, the Underground warrants mention. It is almost too easy to use. I suppose that’s why they have the sometimes quite scary gaps which you have to leap over. People thrive in times of anguish and the Underground, frankly, was simply not traumatizing enough to stimulate character growth.

We effortlessly found the exit for the London Tower Bridge. Well, we saw the London Bridge. Frankly, it was sort of lame. I mean, there’s one in Arizona, so it was nothing new or pretty. It was just a boring bridge. I hope this does not offend any London Bridge aficionados. I envy that you can find beauty in the common! Congrats! (Sure.)

The London Tower Bridge was absolutely wonderful. We saw it behind ultra-modern looking buildings, and the architectures mixed much better than I would have guessed. The sun was setting, which we were actually lucky enough to be able to see. We then walked on the bridge, and I knew I had to take a picture to show the sunset over the River Thames darkening. And now I get to quote Heart of Darkness to describe it. (My lifelong dream! Sort of...)

“Forthwith a change came over the waters, and the serenity became less brilliant but more profound. The old river in its broad reach rested unruffled at the decline of day, after ages of good service done to the race that peopled its banks, spread out in the tranquil dignity of a waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth.”

We enjoyed some caramelized peanuts on the bridge, then had to go back to make the bus back to Essex. It was a great day, and I definitely slept well that night (and the next morning, and part of the afternoon.)

5 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. I'm glad to see that the rumors aren't true and London Bridge is, in fact, still standing.

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  3. My dear lady, as I understnd the lyric, it is still standing, yes, but in a perpetual state of falling down.

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  4. Ooh deep! What with those comments and the Heart of Darkness quote this could be the most philosophical entry to date. Although there's no mention of life's wheel of fortune.

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