On Saturday, I spent most of the day on my feet walking around and exploring a part of London I had yet to see. As I’m writing this on Monday night, it’s amazing how much more refreshed I feel after a lovely day away from schoolwork, appreciating art, London and green spaces. I went into a hibernation after my parents left and jumped straight into schoolwork (yay beginning of term essays) so I didn’t get to explore London until after the first week of classes, when I took a street art tour of Camden Town. This past week had me especially bogged down: I had double the reading for one of my classes as we were catching up in class and an essay looming over me, so definitely lots of stress. Spending Saturday out and about reminded me just how important it is to take a break in order to be productive. Plus, it didn’t hurt that the weather was absolutely perfect.
I decided to walk the 2.5 miles over to the Tate Britain to meet some friends so we could catch the last day of the Turner Exhibition. Procrastination at its finest! I have seen some of Turner’s work at the National Gallery and really liked his paintings so I was excited to get the chance to see an entire exhibition dedicated to him! His style varies considerably and it was really interesting to learn more about him and his works.
The rest of the museum was really cool as well. It details British art from the 1500s to modern day, with each room representing a different decade or century. The only thing I didn’t like was a room for the 1800s where the paintings on the walls were stacked next to each other on all four walls. It was quite overwhelming and really hard to appreciate everything. Especially since you couldn’t see all of the paintings towards the tops of the walls. Luckily this was only the case for one room and the rest of the museum was very normally laid out. I saw some great stuff. But then again, I’m a museum nerd so I think pretty much all museums are great!
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| Yes, that’s bread. |
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| Ophelia! |
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| The windows are so pretty |
We then got some lunch at a pub nearby, where I of course had a pie and chips. Then we walked about 40 minutes west to see Battersea Park, one of the parks on my list! I was missing green space and trees so I made it a point to head over there! It was so refreshing. We saw so many cute dogs and cute families and it was great just walking around in nature and not being in a rush. Plus I saw a squirrel! Luckily enough, it was sunny and cloudless all day (even though it was in the low 40s) so it was wonderful to get some Vitamin D not from a tablet and actually feel the heat of the sun! It makes me excited to visit more parks in the spring :)
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| Londoners always on the move |
I didn’t realise how far we had walked, and upon deciding to go back, I realised just how far I had to go. 5-6 miles to be exact. My feet were sore from standing all day so I was in a hurry to get back to my dorm and rest before dinner, but I made sure to take pictures of the glorious sunset on the way back! At least before I had to navigate the ever-crowded Southbank, that is!
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| Battersea Power |
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| So beautiful! |
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| MI6! |
I have some tourist-y plans this week, so keep on the lookout for those. Gotta keep checking things off my list! (it helps with my time management too, so how can I resist?!)
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