Holy cow I love London! I'm sitting in our little room writing. It's almost midnight after our first full day here. The flat we are staying in is wonderful. It's very vintage. We have a little room to ourselves and then a shared kitchen and bathroom with another couple. We haven't met them yet... The bathroom has a pull chain to flush the toilet! So English of it. I've never been so excited to flush a toilet before. Our room has trees painted all over the wall in different shades of green. Everything is wooden or floral and there are many old photographs on the walls. We have one big window over the bed. It's perfect.

Josh and I woke up this morning and had a traditional English breakfast at the restaurant down the street. It was massive! We had an entire plate of toast, bacon, tomatoes, onion rings, hash browns, beans, eggs and sausage along with giant cups of coffee. It was very good and filling. We then walked to the heart of the city and went to the National Art Gallery. A lot of the exhibits were closed so we didn't stay long. Almost all the galleries in the city are free to visit. We then went to the National Portrait Gallery of London. It was amazing! One of the best galleries we have seen this entire trip. The entire bottom floor showed contemporary artists. One of the exhibitions was hosted by PB. It showed a curated group of contemporary, portrait artists's pieces. They were all fabulous. Josh and I fell in love with a few different artists. Michael Gaskell was one of the featured painters that we were very impressed with. We also bought tickets to a special exhibition featuring photos of Audrey Hepburn. I adore her so this was absolutely wonderful for me! She is so classy and the photos of her are all so wonderful and taken by some of the greatest photographers of all time. There were mostly photos of her and then one wall filled with the covers of magazines she has been featured on.

After the portrait gallery, we visited the Courtauld gallery. It featured impressionist painters (Josh's favorite era of painting). The gallery held beautiful Monet, Manet and Van Gogh paintings. There was almost no security in the building. I guess London has so much amazing artwork they just don't worry about losing one or two pieces.... Hahaa... After seeing this gallery, we sat in the large courtyard outside of it and watched children play in the fountain. It was one of those fountains that had tons of holes in the ground that shot water straight up into the sky but you never know when exactly it will shoot up so someone always gets soaked. We then walked to the Covent Garden Market. This area was awesome and filled with people, shops, galleries, restaurants, music, performers and little booths of local artists. We stopped by one gallery that had amazing photographs of white balloons filling spaces. The series was called "Invasion". The photographer has also set up an installation of white balloons in the area to promote his work. It was phenomenal and completely immersive. We bought tea at a little store in the market as well as a handmade cutting board.

Josh had fish and chips for dinner while I had a salmon cake covered in hollandaise sauce. Both were very good. We bought tickets to see The Book Of Mormon at their "Broadway" theatre. The theatre was small enough that every seat had a good view. The front of the stage was covered with stars and blue stained glass. The show was hysterical! Josh and I both had a great time seeing a show. I can't believe we hiked 30 miles of the Swiss Alps last week and tonight we watched a theatre show in London. Wild.

Now it's bedtime.

Toodaloo,

Lilly

"Invasions" installation in the Covent market

Day 30 - London Is My Favorite

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Day 30 - London Is My Favorite