Day Off

Emma and I decided today instead of eating in the hostel, we were going to walk over to Patisserie Valerie and get brunch. We both got the buttermilk pancakes, which were served with honey instead of maple syrup. At first, I thought this was a very interesting substitution, but once I tried it, it was very delicious.

Once we had eaten, the two of us departed for the National Gallery/Trafalgar Square area. We spent a large portion of our time looking at all of the chalk drawings, many of which I personally found more interesting than the art inside the actual museum. Several artists had created large spaces, featuring many flags from around the world. While most just walked by, some left money on the flag of their country.

Inside the museum, I discovered that there were many rooms of different artist's renditions of the same subject: church art. My favorite piece of this section was a gorgeous painting of Mary Magdelene, which featured so many small details. It was almost as though you could see each and every fiber on the shawl she was wearing.

As soon as we found the more well-known artists, the museum became a little more interesting.

There were one or two paintings by Degas of the ballerinas, which is what he is probably most known for.

Although there was still much to see, eventually we both became tired of seeing the same thing repeatedly. We began to head back to the hostel, where we made a pit stop in the bookstore, "Gay Is the Word". I was very impressed by their large collection. I found it to be very cool that they had a whole bookshop dedicated to those in the LGBTQIA+ community.

Dinner this evening consisted of two courses: souffle pancakes from Fuwa Fuwa Cafe, and then my first time eating authentic Indian food which I actually enjoyed.

Despite the fact that everything we've done so far has been new and exciting, it was nice for once to just have a day to not have anything planned. But tomorrow is another busy day!