<p>Jan 11: so the next morning I woke up bright and early. I got chatting to the lady in my room, she was having work done on her apt so she was staying in the hostel till it was done. She told me that last summer London was absolutely packed out with people. There was no accommodation left for tourists so the council opened up the underground stations and let them sleep in there! So I was sure glad to be visiting in January, god knows what its going to be like next summer when the olympics are there! So I went straight to the natural history museum. The first thing I saw was the wildlife photographer of the year exhibit, which consisted of all the same photos and captions in the book I bought Michael but the pics looks a lot better blown up and illuminated. The last section had a photo/video screen of what I assumed were some reject entries to the competition. They were pretty good as well. Then there were computers where you scan your ticket and choose which photos you wanted to view at home from the website. So I chose a bunch I liked (humpback whale in aussie, milky way in Switzerland, Aurora borealis etc) and they also had comments on the photos from the judges and the museum curator, as well as the public, so that was cool. I didn't leave a comment though. So after that I went to the marine reptile hall and saw lots of iythasaurs and pleisosaurs, some even pregnant. They had a vast collection, and mostly all excavated by one lady in the 1800s! Quite a feat esp without all the advanced technology the paleontologists use today. When I finished that I went to the dinosaurs exhibit, which was full of kids!! I had done a good job avoiding the school groups that went around the museum, but here it was very crowded, and lots of parents taking their children. And maybe this is just me being naive but a lot of their displays were casts! And half of them said original in the American museum of natural history!! Makes me wonder why I even bothered to go to the British one in the first place! But even so I enjoyed the exhibit. They had a life size animatronic t rex which scared some kids lol. So after the exhibit I saw a small recent discovery exhibit that a new sp of human ancestor was discovered in south Africa, by a 13 yr old boy! So that was exciting. But then it was time to leave the museum. I had tickets to the wizard of oz at the palladium theatre at 730 pm so I had 1 1/2 hours to wait so I sent to a sainsburys across from harrods and bought a few sandwiches and ate them then left at like 7. Just as I was about to enter the street, 2 police officers stop me cause I didn't have my headlight on. They said if you don't put it on, you can't ride! So I said I do have it, its just broken so I hold it in my hand. And he said to find a way to attach it to the handlebars, so I said i would use a rubber band. When they left I literally looked down onto the road and saw a rubber band! It was like a miracle! So I had that hold my light, which worked well. So The west end wasn't that far from there but I got a bit confused cause I wasn't similar with the street names yet. Google maps told me to turn down some small st called air st, so I did and that took me to regent st and I kinda wasn't paying attention as I was waiting for people to walk on by and I ended up hitting someone with lance! I said sorry and luckily he didn't even say anything, just kept walking. It wasnt like I was riding and ran him over anyway, so no damage was done. But I ended up going in the wrong direction so I ended up going from having plenty of time to spare, to having 5 minutes to spare. Which would have been plenty of time cause I was just around the corner from the theatre but there are too many freaking people in London!! So walking with lance thru the crowd was quite a difficult task! But I found the theater with a few minutes to spare and I found somewhere to park lance, and in my frustration I ripped the front light off and put it in my pocket, but lost the rubber band in the process. So I picked up my ticket and went to my seat just in time. I was in the balcony on the side, but the place was pretty empty so I moved to the first row in the middle. the wizard of oz was real good, the scarecrow was funny. Dorothy didn't have as great a voice as Judy garland, but not many people do. Uncle Henry did not pull off a southern US accent at all, but Dorothy did. And they had a real dog (a westie!) Playing toto! So that was cute, alto not something I approve of, but it was real well trained, barking and growling when it was supposed to, and chasing after the wicked witch. After the show I was tired so I rode back and went to sleep, after a quick chat with a Spanish lady in my room. Thursday Jan 12: so another early wake up, the room was more full now and I had a nice French lady on the bunk above me and from then on I didn't get as good a night sleep cause the beds creaked sooo much whenever she rolled over! So I got up and went to the box office for a ghost the musical ticket. Got a little lost in the west end, but at least I didn't get lost on my way there. I ended up getting a restricted view ticket for £25 but in the orchestra, so that was quite good. Then I went to the science museum and learnt all about the history of engineering in the UK! Fascinating stuff! And the kiddies bypassed that section so I didn't have to worry about them either :-) then I went to another section on old scientific instruments, that belonged to some king who collected them. That was real neat, saw gold decorated microscopes and old globes and other geeky stuff. But then it was time to go unfortunately, so I left, picked up another sandwich from sainsburys and ate outside it, then left (with my headlight on) to the palace theater. I picked up the ticket from will call and Hung around in picadilly circus till it was time for the show. Mylanta there were a lot of people there! And street performers trying to entertain the crowd, even at 7 pm at night. So then I went to the show, I was 4th row from the stage but all the way to the left so I did have some issues seeing some things, but it definitely didn't take away from the play. The American accents were real good, no new York twang though, but I don't think they have it in the movie either. The woman who played the psychic was real funny. The guy who played Sam had a killer body!! The guy who played the scumbag had a decent face but hairy body. And whenever someone died their body would be on the floor (a dummy) and they would be a ghost, but it was amazing how quick the stagehands got those dummies out in the middle of the stage, and I didn't see them once! So that was a real good show. I was once again exhausted after it but I wanted to shower so I did when I got back. The shower was a small cubicle that clogged. So the water built up very quickly and I was standing in my own filth and hair for the entire duration. And one minute more in that shower and I would have overflowed it onto the bathroom floor, and into the other showers. after the shower I went into the lounge to mingle but people were in their cliques and drinking and playing card games so I didn't end up talking to anyone so I went to bed soon after. Friday Jan 13!!: sorry to disappoint but I survived the evil day! I woke up early cause there was lots of movement in my room, and I went back to sleep but not fully. So in my half asleep state I overheard that lady who is getting work done on her place tell another girl in the room to check out portobello rd for antiques, its real famous for them. When I woke up completely I was debating whether that was actually a dream or not, cause the name portobello just sounded too weird, maybe subconsciously I was hungry for a veggie burger or something. But I looked it up and it really is the antique capital of London. But I didnt end up going there anyhow. So yeah that morning I went to Charles Dickens house which was a museum. It was in a diff part of town to me, although not far from the west end so I got lost through there but made it in the end, at exactly 10 am when it opened. The lady wasn't even fully ready to receive visitors yet so I had to wait in the cafe for a few minutes. Then I watched a short film on his life then explored the rooms, that had old paintings of people he knew, and his old desk and some posters such as advertizements to his readings. The drawing room was closed cause they had decorated it for Christmas so they were in the process of removing the decorations, but I didn't want to go without seeing the drawing room since it would be the most extravagant in the house, so I tried the door and it was unlocked so I just walked in. Then other people started following me! I felt like I was leading a revolution!! Ok maybe not quite so dramatic. But a staff person said ok well everyone can have a quick look around but this room is temporarily closed. But I felt satisfied after that peek :-) so I had lunch in the garden area, then left the museum and went to the British museum which was close by. Talk about an intimidating building!! The place was a labyrinth with thousands of rooms full of crap!! And I mean that respectfully. I first saw a small section on the Olympic medals. The metal is excavated mostly from utah!! I guess theyve run out in England! And my god it was several thousand lbs worth. Made me feel guilty about going to the games. Here we are destroying the planet, breaking through the crust and extracting natural resources, and for what? So people can compete in some games that in no way dictates their survival? But such is the selfish human race. But regardless, the design for the Olympic medal was neat, the designer used the river Thames as the ribbon on the back. And the front is supposed to represent the Olympic park and modern buildings. The paralympic medal I didn't like the design of. It looks like just wavey lines but it actually is from the robe of the goddess....oh I forgot who.now. Will have to check my photos and fill that in. But after that section I went to a small exhibit that compared the life of a modern day brit with those of the Roman British era. I saw a one pound note! I didn't even know there was such a thing once upon a time! And well the exhibit talked about soldiers wages and compared them to the soldiers wages of today. Then I just had a mosey around. The exhibit I wanted to see was closed and the main temporary one you had to pay for so I just went to the ancient Egypt section. I saw the rosetta stone, with about 2632269 tourists next to me. There really was just not a quiet corner in that museum. Nevermind the school groups, there were just sooooooo many tourists, especially Japanese!! I'm scared to think what summer weekends are like in that place! So the Egypt section had some real amazing stuff but I left at 5ish to go to the VNA cause it closed at 10 on Fridays. The new exhibit must have just opened cause there was a reception and a long line for tickets. But I was more interested in the old Italian sculptures anyway. So I saw those and some church relics and then it was time to go (even tho it was 9:45!) So I went back to the hostel and went right to bed. The girls in my room were all in convo but I arrived just as they were finishing. What a pity! Ok so the continuation will be posted in a few days!
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