So I rolled out of the hostel at one-ish, with the vague idea I'd go take a look at Big Ben. Figured it was something I should do. So I hopped the tube and went down to the area, which was conveniently near the bookstores I saw yesterday.
Oh, and hey! The National Portrait Gallery! I like portraits, specifically Victorian and Edwardian ones, so I figured it would be a lark.
Not a lot of portraits, I gotta say.
SHITLOAD OF PICASSOS, THOUGH.
How come you can't move an inch in this country without running into a Picasso, Cezanne, Degas, Renoir, Monet, Manet, Rodin? I really liked the Cezanne's they had. Very nice. I like his style. I also like Rodin a lot. Picasso I can take or leave. Rembrant has some good shit. The one Vermeer they had was not one of my favorites, but it was nice to see an original. They also had a good exhibit on fakes and forgeries. They had some really excellent forgeries on display for it.
I DIDN'T BUY A BOOK IN THE GIFT SHOP YOU CAN'T PROVE ANYTHING I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT STOP LYINGGGG!!!1!!1!111!!
(It's a book on manuscript creation, from untanned animal hide out. It also has a study on variations of various gothic hands. It's really big and heavy and was really expensive, but I couldn't help myself. I'm an addict. DON'T JUDGE ME.)
Then I wandered out, took a look at Trafalgar Square, was suitably inpressed with its giant erection, and tottered off to find a real bookstore. I bought a trashy Harlequin called 'The Billionaire and his Virgin Mistress'. I mean, how can you resist a book like that?
Then I ate yogurt in Trafalgar Square with my terrible book.
Somewhere along the way I passed a cheap ticket booth, so I stopped.
"What tickets you got?"
"What do you wanna see?"
"Avenue Q?"
"For tonight?"
"Sure, what the hell."
"Thirty pounds."
It was significantly less than I was expecting her to say, so I said yes, bought the ticket, and dicked around Big Ben and the Parliment buildings until showtime. There's a nice little park behind the Parliment Building with, oh my god! A RODIN IN IT! Big surprise (not).
The show was good. I liked it. I found it technically less impressive than Prescilla, and I was already very familiar with the score, so the music didn't draw a lot of laughs from me, but it was nice to be in an unsuspecting audience, and the theatre was beautiful. I was amused to see that some of their lighting instruments were of the older variety, and yet, they were still in use.
It's funny. I'm used to budgeting myself pretty tightly. I have to keep reminding myself that I HAVE the money, and I kept the money precisely for this specific trip. That being said, I'm still eating grocery store sandwiches and filling my water bottle from the tap. I think the only sit down meal I've had on this trip so far is the one I had with Amber at the pub. Maybe I'll have another one next week.
Anyway, I just booked myself a hostel for tomorrow night. I'm moving to a quieter area. This hostel, though cheap, is noisy and hot and there's a Douche With a Guitar playing in the other room.
How come no matter how far you travel, there's always a Douche With a Guitar?
Anyway, I better go to bed. I have to get up early and get the hell out of this dump. My next hostel, I'm paying a few dollars more for a night, but it's an all-female dorm of ten, I believe (I'm in a six at the moment), and we've got our own bathroom.
Tomorrow, tomorrow I promise I'll slow down and maybe find a park to do some writing in.
Rock on.
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