June 18, 2014
London
My overnight flight to London went relatively uneventfully. In addition to this, I was able to make it through security, customs, etc. without delay. Rode the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station to catch the Bakerloo line to Willisden Green where I was going to stay. Took a taxi the rest of the way, because my luggage was heavy and no one seemed to take Galatians 6:2 very seriously. It had nothing to do with wanting to ride an iconic black London cab. Obviously.
I arrived at my hostel around 2 PM with a few hours left before check-in. They did have a locker for luggage that I could use, and so it was there in the basement of Palmers Lodge Hillspring that my burden fell from my back Pilgrim's Progress style.
With some time to kill and a freshly loaded Oyster card in my pocket, I went to Trafalgar square. It was packed with lively and varied people and the sun shone upon us all in rare form.
The featured building in this photo is the National Gallery. The collection is massive and dazzling and I didn't want to leave. Of course all of the premier British painters are well represented and I breathed in Constable, Turner, Reynolds, Hogarth, and many others. I also got to see the Arnolfini Portrait (and listen to a tour guide talk about it in Chinese) and the Man in the Red Turban.
I stayed in the National Gallery for the rest of the day, by the time they chased me out with broomsticks I was ready to kip down. I returned to the hostel and did just that.
It might seem like I didn't go anywhere on my first day stopping only at the National Gallery, but on the contrary I got to stop at a myriad of places. Constable's countryside, Hogarth's dramatic parlors, and Turner's shimmering seascapes. That's part of the beauty of an art gallery.
