Trista's Summer in Europe

Yesterday I went into London again to see a few some more of the sights I missed last time and for London Pride! It was a beautifully, sunny day and I started off heading to the Tate Gallery and, like my experience at the Louvre, it was difficult to appreciate a lot of the art because I don't know anything about art... so if I go back to London again before I leave I'll probably try and visit the Tate Modern instead. After that I went to the British Museum, which is really cool. Because the British have a history of going to countries and colonizing them, they often borrow/steal really cool and famous artifacts from those countries and most of them end up in the British Museum, like the Rosetta Stone and lots of Egyptian artifacts. And the amazing thing is that both the Tate and the British Museum are free for everyone (minus a few featured exhibits) so it's really nice (unlike Paris where you can't even see dead people's tombs unless you pay).

Then I walked over to Oxford Street (big mistake) for the Parade. Because it seemed so well organized and because when Bjoern and I went to Berlin Pride there was enough space for everyone, I thought I'd hit Oxford Street right as the parade was coming though...unfortunately not only did about 300 other people think the same thing, Oxford Street is also a big shopping street so there were about 200 more people not there for the parade trying to squeeze through the side walks. This created a big problem. You could not move or walk through for about an eighth of a mile- there was space further down Oxford Street, but it was just one mass of hot, angry, squished people pushing and moving as a herd in both directions on the side walk... anyway I eventually got through and went to the other side of the street and enjoyed the parade. Then I followed the parade down to Trafalgar Square where all the festivities were taking place. There were kiosks with food and drinks all around the square, there was a big stage in the middle, and loads of people- even people sitting and wading through the fountains! There were political talks as well as a bunch of really great music performances. After staying there for a few hours I was completely knackered (British for exhausted) but had booked a late train for myself, so I forced myself to find something else in London to see. So I took the tube to Notting Hill (yes, from the movie). It is a gorgeous little neighborhood with the big marketplace on Portobello Road (also, in the movie). It's obviously a very expensive neighborhood, but there are still the cute colorful houses and apartments along Portobello Road that are very charming.

After a long stroll down Portobello Road and back to the tube, I really was looking forward to my (sitting) train ride home and made it to Paddington even for a slightly earlier train than I had booked so I got home a little earlier than planned.


Today it's another sunny day and I took a walk into town and sat out in the back garden to work on my tan and am just relaxing for the afternoon.
I hope everyone had a happy fourth of July weekend! I miss fried dough!
xoxo