England

London was craaaaaaazy. The hustle and bustle of the city and all of the history and the incredible buildings and the Paralympics were just a bit overwhelming. I had an excellent time and will definitely make my way back there in the future. (When I have a great job that pays well.) ;)

The first day I had a field lab for my beginning drawing class. It was the best field lab I could have asked for. We went to the Queen’s Gallery behind Buckingham Palace to see Da Vinci’s works as an anatomist. It was so interesting and so amazing. Da Vinci was making presumptions about human anatomy and physiology centuries before anyone else.  We then made our way to the National Gallery where we had to practice our sketching.

That night I met up with some friends, and we set out the next morning for a day of London exploration. We did the hop on-hop off bus tours pretty much all day. We visited the National History and Victoria Albert museums, Harrod’s department store, hopped on a river cruise, and the London Eye at sunset. It was a fantastic day. I definitely got to see a lot, and it was all so so beautiful.

The next day we headed to Stonehenge. I had heard of it but knew very little about it and had never expected something so amazing. The English countryside is just incredible, and the history behind the monument is dumbfounding. No one knows its actual purpose, but there are a bajillion theories and myths. It just amazes me that something resurrected in 3,000 B.C. is still around.

Our last day was spent wandering/relaxing around Southampton. There wasn’t a whole lot to see there, but we filled our day with food, drinks, and sunshine. We were incredibly fortunate to have the weather we had in London, and I couldn’t be more thankful. We were back on the ship in plenty of time to begin our travels to Belgium.