London Surprises and Delights

For class on Wednesday this week we travelled to downtown London. I'll admit that for some reason that taking that first train ride unnerved me a bit but in the end it was easy and uneventful. Although. I am not completely sure I did the check in and check out correctly....let me explain. To enter the train station or tube you can either buy a ticket, use an Oyster card or credit card which you tap on the contactless scanner and you are in. The train and tube are all accessible within the same stations. On the trip to London I took the train part way and then switched to the tube for the second leg. Since I was in the building and needed to access both I went from one to the other and then just scanned my card again when exiting the station. On the return trip I noticed that there was another check point, somewhat hidden, on the platform for the tube. I am still not sure of the process and even though I asked a couple of attendants for help they were not very helpful. I will figure it out!

As I emerged from the underground tube the first thing I saw was the building that houses the mission offices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was a beautiful sight and since I was early I spent some time there, it was lovely and a blessing to make that connection.

The visit to London included a lengthy visit to the V&A museum and then a walking tour through South Kensington which was delightful. There is a huge variety of building styles and an extensive history of the area. This area incurred extensive damage from the II world war and the remnants can be seen on the exterior walls of the buildings that survived.  We spent the majority of our time at the V&A in the Court Cast room. In this room they have life size reproductions of significant monuments (like Michelangelo's David) and building details of either buildings that have now been demolished or are in danger of deterioration. Super cool!

PICTURES:
First Pics - The underground and first views of South Kensington.
Above - The first two are from the Cast courts and they really do not do justice to the scale. The third picture is one of the mosaic floor details at the V&A which are amazing and were produced by women serving time in prison. 
Below: One view of the V&A, Natural History Museum in 2,4 & 5, I have no idea what the building in the third pic is I just thought it was beautiful, the last pic is classic reflected in modern.

​Cheers!