London!

I had my first Biochemistry tutorial Friday evening. Dr. Gilbert has a huge office consisting of a few different rooms. It's creepily at the top of one of the staircases in the college, and I had to wait outside his office on the steps because he doesn't have a chair out there. That was awkward. Anyway, I went into his office and sat in this big, comfy armchair and he made tea for the two of us. Then we talked about my paper and expanded on the topics while he drew on the white board in his office. I actually gave correct answers to a lot of the questions he was asking me, so hooray for being smart at Oxford. I think this tutorial is going to go really well, and I'm very excited to learn Biochem in a one-on-one setting. I think that it will help a lot.

Then Amanda and I went to Hall for dinner. We got really disgusting quiche. All right! Then home to watch Pride and Prejudice. Love it.

Yesterday a group of students in the program went to London. We went on a walking tour of Westminster where we saw the Abbey, Houses of Parliament, and White Hall.

Westminster Abbey

Again.

The gate to the Abbey. Those statues were added only about a decade ago- after the smog-dirtied Abbey was cleaned. They represent modern martyrs from all over the world. I think it's really great that they still work on it. Additions from many generations give a lot more history and meaning to it.

Rev. Martin L. King Jr.

Entrance to the Abbey courtyard, where the monks kept their livestock.

Headquarters of the Church of England.

Victoria Tower.

Modern House of Lords

What is left of the old Parliament building.


There he is. The House of Commons and Big Ben.

Better.

Oliver Cromwell. I guess the photo didn't take, but there is a bust of Charles I mounted on the back of the Abbey right across the street. The two of them will stare at each other for eternity. I love that.

White Hall

White Hall

Two o'clock, the time Charles I was executed, is blacked out.

Being Touristy

Our tour guide was pretty good. He told us a lot of historical anecdotes. I really wish we had been able to go inside the buildings, but I guess that will be for another trip. Who goes to look at Westminster Abbey without going inside though? The tour was only about two hours, so we could have gone inside some of the buildings, but it also allowed us some free time for lunch and other activities. I went with a group to the Crypt, which is a cafeteria inside the crypt underneath the Church of St. Martin.

Crypt Cafe

Creepy

The church is on Trafalgar Square, so we went into the National Gallery afterward. It was a shame that we only had about two hours in there, because you could spend days looking at all those paintings. Now the Currier has some great pieces of art, but being able to see works by Rembrandt, Monet, Van Gogh, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Seurat within twenty minutes was pretty awe inspiring. (Dear immediate family, I kept recognizing paintings from the Philanthropist game, and it was awesome. We saw the spot for the Ugly Duchess one, but it had been moved, and I couldn't find it. That was disappointing because that lady is hilarious).

A distant view of the National Gallery

Trafalgar Square, from the steps to the National Gallery.


After the gallery, we took a tour of the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum. That was really neat. No one ever knew they were there, which is pretty impressive.

The Cabinet War Room, where official business took place.

Broom closet turned phone cubby for Churchill to chat secretly with FDR.

It was made to look like a lavatory...

Inside the cubby.

Conference room.

Hitler drawn on one of the maps. Hmm... That wasn't explained, just noted.

Communications and Maps room.

We had about an hour left in London after that tour, so of course we went to see Buckingham Palace.

Closeup of the Palace from the bridge to it.

The City from the bridge.


Tourists.


On the way back over the bridge.
Then we raced over to The Bridge in order to see Big Ben from a different angle.




The Eye of London (reminds me of the eye of Sauron) where you can pay about 20 pound to see great sites.. Apparently the view is about as nice if you just climb up St. Paul's. We didn't get a chance go to it, so that will have to be on the next trip's agenda.

A quiet bus ride home for the exhausted tourists.

I just got back from the Wesley Memorial Methodist Church. Mildly contemporary service in a pretty new sanctuary. It wasn't what I was expecting, but nice nonetheless.