London
London was a rather unique city with its hodgepodge of cultural influences. Some things reminded me of the United States: the diversity of the people there, the spacious and large grocery stores (which overwhelmed me the first time we walked into one, as I was used to shopping at good old Conad), and the food, as it was much more like American food than Italian or French food had been (all things to be expected, but yet they threw me for a loop; reverse culture shock, you could say).There were also plenty of quintessentially British things that I loved: the red double-decker buses and phonebooths, symbols of the monarchy adorning various things like mailboxes, and of course the British English language with its various accents and word differences.
St. Paul's cathedral
Kensington Garden with Katherine (one of my roommates from Siena—we met up for part of the time in London)
Kate Middleton's wedding dress was on display in an exhibit at Buckingham Palace, accompanied by a video of the designer (from the studio of Alexander McQueen) showing the features of the dress! I loved this, as not only was the dress absolutely stunning, but it was the result of thoughtful design and innovation, one example being the various thicknesses of canvas lining the train so that it would lay flat. The lace pattern was symbolic of the nations in the UK and the botanical motifs were taken from six different lace patterns to create a completely unique design.
Buckingham Palace was beautiful and the art gallery in one of the halls there contained works by some well-known artists including Rembrandt! I also loved the portraits of Queen Victoria and her family (I watched "The Young Victoria" the night before going, as I love that movie and it seemed only appropriate, and this made it feel more real).
This construction site was surrounded by a brightly painted fence of whimsical suggestions. Some others were "wave to the car behind" and "eat ice cream."
One thing that really impressed me about London was the active improvement to the tube system going on while I was there; I suppose this is, in part, due to the fact that the city is hosting next summer's Olympic games, but it attests to good city planning that they address problems that arise to make the city a better place.
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