Today I discovered that Sunday is a great day to be out and about in London! (If one chooses wisely.)
Since I'm staying at Kelaine and Richard's, I merely had to get myself to Wimbledon Station (via bus) and then onto the correct District Line Tube train (which was empty except for me), transfer once (OMG) at Earl's Court, get off at the correct stop, South Kensington, walk through a long subway (which means pedestrian underpass here - also nearly empty at 10:00 a.m.), follow the signs, and emerge (amazingly, victoriously) at the Victoria & Albert Museum!
The V&A is quite the happy place with an eclectic collection of period clothing, furniture, design artifacts, paintings, stained glass, sculpture - and where even the cafeteria trays are delightfully decorative!
Could've stayed there all day, but today is my last full day in London, so where did I head next? Well, out to Olympic Park of course! I wanted to see what I could see since today is also the last day of the Para Olympics.
Perhaps not my very best idea of this trip! Laugh with me here!
With advice from one of the numerous guides in pink (appears to be the London 2012 Olympic official color) and a map, I managed to ride two Tube lines involving a transfer from Piccadilly Line to Central Line all the way out to East London. Upon alighting at the Stratford stop I realized where all the people in London were - here!!!
And not only that, but a person such as me couldn't even get near the park without a ticket which in today's case would have meant for the closing ceremonies!
So I walked and walked and walked with the crowds (driving is one thing, but are you supposed to walk on the right or the left?) through a shopping mall (of all things) into a department store that had created an indoors observation deck for the multitudes. And, well, that's the sum exciting total of my trip to Olympic Park.
Well, except for the Tube ride back that took over an hour and involved two more transfers and 27 stops - I counted them!
Home sweet home tomorrow!
Since I'm staying at Kelaine and Richard's, I merely had to get myself to Wimbledon Station (via bus) and then onto the correct District Line Tube train (which was empty except for me), transfer once (OMG) at Earl's Court, get off at the correct stop, South Kensington, walk through a long subway (which means pedestrian underpass here - also nearly empty at 10:00 a.m.), follow the signs, and emerge (amazingly, victoriously) at the Victoria & Albert Museum!
The V&A is quite the happy place with an eclectic collection of period clothing, furniture, design artifacts, paintings, stained glass, sculpture - and where even the cafeteria trays are delightfully decorative!
Could've stayed there all day, but today is my last full day in London, so where did I head next? Well, out to Olympic Park of course! I wanted to see what I could see since today is also the last day of the Para Olympics.
Perhaps not my very best idea of this trip! Laugh with me here!
With advice from one of the numerous guides in pink (appears to be the London 2012 Olympic official color) and a map, I managed to ride two Tube lines involving a transfer from Piccadilly Line to Central Line all the way out to East London. Upon alighting at the Stratford stop I realized where all the people in London were - here!!!
And not only that, but a person such as me couldn't even get near the park without a ticket which in today's case would have meant for the closing ceremonies!
So I walked and walked and walked with the crowds (driving is one thing, but are you supposed to walk on the right or the left?) through a shopping mall (of all things) into a department store that had created an indoors observation deck for the multitudes. And, well, that's the sum exciting total of my trip to Olympic Park.
Well, except for the Tube ride back that took over an hour and involved two more transfers and 27 stops - I counted them!
Home sweet home tomorrow!
