March 18 & 19: Whales dinosaurs and A Pilgrimage to Northern Norway ~ Halo Trip

Hello friends |

Lena , who is allowing us to slumber inward her Fulham storey , is a beautiful as well as extremely talkative High German missy who late moved to London as well as speaks alongside a potent American accent. She's preparing an interview as well as thus she tin ship away report musical theatre. She's vegan , every bit good , as well as describes cooking every bit her shape of therapy. Her entire studio storey is decked out inward pastel furnishings , she wears a wardrobe of strictly pastel have on as well as her pilus is pink. She's a walking , talking , singing , dancing fairyfloss.

The walk to Lena's house

Our showtime proper repast inward London was a vegan buffet , where nosotros ate agency every bit good much 'cheesy' broccoli as well as garlic mashed potatoes. We jumped onto a double decker autobus (!!!) as well as rode to the Natural History to scrap impending jetlag alongside the utter radness of a bluish whale skeleton as well as the most consummate stegosaurus inward the whole world. Maybe because it was nearing bedtime inward Commonwealth of Australia as well as perhaps because it was 25m long , I sat on a platform feeling completely overwhelmed staring at a bluish whale for unopen to one-half an hour. A lady as well as her missy came as well as sat side past times side to me.

"Where is the data on the bluish whale?" the woman nurture asked.

"There is none. Just that plaque that says Balaenoptera Musculus ," the missy replied.

"That's stupid. We don't know anything most them. Are they genuinely that big?"

"They can't be. That's every bit good large to move."

Wrong. This specimen is indicative of the average size , only they grow to 30m. I had read this before on a plaque.

"How many produce yous intend at that spot are?"

"There can't hold upwardly a million. Then there'd hold upwardly no room for me to swim inward the ocean."

Due to whaling inward the early on 20th century , numbers diminished dramatically until at that spot were approximately grand bluish whales living inward the ocean.

Then they got upwardly as well as left inward a huff.

Modern dinosaur (blue whale)

Triassic dinosaur

Stone animals trouble the windows

Everybody else took a selfie hither , as well as thus nosotros did too.

Nick's Scottish childhood friend from Mackay met upwardly alongside us as well as nosotros scoped out the dinosaurs. Apparently at that spot is commonly a trouble to larn into the dinosaur exhibit , only because it was an hr until closing , nosotros were inward the clear. The lighting was genuinely dramatic as well as cast eerie shadows all over the wall , giving it a Jurassic Park vibe.

Did yous know that for a working professional person to alive inside thirty minutes commute of London CBD , they're looking at paying approximately 1300 pounds? For a room inward a shared house. With other immature professionals. London is ridiculous.

The side past times side solar daytime nosotros decided to larn the subway scheme (Mind The Gap) to Westminster to own got a piffling await at Big Ben as well as the span , before heading to the National Gallery. At Big Ben , Nicholas offered to accept a film of some tourists (his film was pristine , centred , colour balanced , straight) as well as they returned the favour (it was terrible). We decided to walk the scenic road to the gallery. Typically , nosotros went the incorrect scenic road , ended upwardly the the incorrect gallery as well as thus nosotros got inward a less scenic autobus trip at ane time to Trafalgar Square.

Worst. Tourist. Photo. Ever.

One of my favourite things most London is Marks as well as Spencer's who sell gelatine-free versions of all their candy. This is us waiting for the autobus when nosotros got lost.

The showtime one-half of the National Gallery was beautiful. They had a Peter Balke retrospective on inward their temporary space. I had seen ane of his paintings during a lecture inward my Politics of Art as well as the Environment class inward 3rd twelvemonth academy , only this fourth dimension they were as well as thus dissimilar as well as the lite was as well as thus beautiful as well as all the crashing oceans made me as well as thus excited to larn upwardly to the Arctic Circle. He had done a pilgrimage upwardly to the N of Kingdom of Norway , close Russian Federation , as well as done hundreds of landscape paintings that basically informed the ease of his fine art career. Nick as well as I added a twosome of places to our To Visit In Kingdom of Norway list.

Technically no photographs inward the Peter Balke exhibition... Oops.

Commemorate your trip to the National Gallery alongside a Giant Rembrandt Chocolate Coin

The wallpaper was genuinely fabric

Nick especially enjoys Impressionism because he showtime saw Impressionist paintings before he got his spectacles , as well as thus he 'saw' them properly.

The National Gallery

By mid-afternoon , nosotros were completely delirious alongside exhaustion (it would hold upwardly nearing 2am inward Melbourne) as well as had flora ourselves surrounded past times Renaissance paintings of leering babe Jesus' as well as bizarrely proportioned men. I was giggling as well as thus difficult I was nearly crying as well as worried I was going to hold upwardly kicked out of the gallery.

Nick lusting later this sexy Duchess

??????

Double pipes?

Double pipes were land a thing.

We had a few hours until sunset as well as idea the "brisk" atmospheric condition would wake us upwardly , as well as thus nosotros wandered through St James Park , past times geese , goslings as well as the aptly named Duck Island to Buckingham Palace. Queue selfie sticks as well as teenage girls as well as anglophiles as well as Nicholas insisting nosotros accept photographs on things that nosotros could run across on a 10p postcard.