London: day eighteen

This morning, the first thing I did was take myself back to City University and finalize the mission that I should have completed yesterday: getting my student ID card. With this completed, I made my way back to NIDO and met up with Hannah in the lobby. While we were waiting for Abi to join us, we entertained ourselves with a game of foosball (which I lost terribly) and a game of pool (which we essentially tied). When Abi joined us we made our way via Tube to the area of town known as Kensington; a rather ritzy part of town off the west end of Hyde Park. We explored the streets for a while and marveled at the spendy stores and the well-dressed people who shopped around there. The street eventually led us to where the gardens of Kensington Palace meet Hyde Park, so we walked around the Palace, looking at the exterior which was fairly plain for a palace. Though we did not go in, it was interesting to learn that this was the place the Prince William and Catherine Middleton live with their newborn. Instead of paying to go in, we simply walked through the gardens and took pictures of some of the nearby statues and such. Granted, the gardens were fairly brown – it being winter and all – but we met some pretty friendly squirrels while walking there. In fact, they were actually a little too friendly – daring enough to come within a foot and easily within reach, they acted as though they would not hesitate to run straight up to you or even jump onto you. They were so close that I ended up petting one’s tail before it scampered off, and we got some rather adorable pictures.

Following this, we took a short cut through Hyde Park and brought ourselves out near the Price Albert Monument. We followed the next street down and ended up in the Museum district (between the Science Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Natural History Museum). This last museum we decided to spend some time in, and spent a great deal of time going through the wing which contained the dinosaur skeletons, as well as some following exhibits on mammals, one room which displayed the skeleton of a Blue Whale over top of a full scale model of one of these huge creatures, a room devoted to sea creatures, and a small room dedicated to amphibians and reptiles. By far, the dinosaurs were the most interesting part, however, it was also fun to go through and look at all the different types of animals; some of which were entirely new to me. Most notably, I was surprised to learn that there is a type of small deer, no bigger than a large dog, which has fangs instead of antlers; yeah, actual fangs, like a saber tooth tiger. That was a new one to me for sure.

After the museum, we actually took the Tube back over to Kensington again because we wanted to stop at the Whole Foods store we had walked by earlier in the day. This was where we had dinner, and afterwards, from there we took the Tube back to King’s Cross. Now, earlier, while walking, someone was handing out pamphlets on the street for a comedy club, in which contained a voucher for free student admission. Discovering that the club was no more than a block away from NIDO, we made plans to go ahead and check it out that evening.

The place was surprisingly small, seating no more than sixty or so people, and at first we were worried that the whole thing would be a bust as we were one of the first ones there (granted, we were quite early). Eventually though, the place filled up until people were standing in the back, and our worries were eased. This particular night, the comedians had been arranged in a “circus” of sorts; various acts coming on and doing their thing, each pretending to be a certain act in a circus – ringmaster, clowns, magician, jugglers, bearded-lady, and so on. Each had their very own style and most were actually quite hilarious. My favorites though turned out to be the magician and the jugglers, mostly because they were lighthearted, but they were also quite talented. The two jugglers were, by the end of their act, throwing six pins back and forth, and the magician did a series of card tricks, meanwhile explaining a little bit about his technique for remembering the particular cards and sequence of the deck – a technique called the Method of Loci, which I actually happened to be quite familiar with as it is something I heard of years ago and messed around with for a bit, but then stopped. However, coincidentally, I have within the past few weeks been reading up on it again – being reminded about it after hearing it mentioned again in a TV show. It is an interesting method, and generally a highly useful one. I had recently begun trying to pick up where I left off years ago, so it was funny to hear it mentioned by name in public for the first time within the same exact week. The show lasted for about two hours and was pretty good, we definitely did get a good laugh in. Afterward, we made our way back to NIDO, and as per the norm, I have since been bumming around online as well as writing.

Tomorrow, really bright and early, I’ll be heading off on a day trip to Cambridge – so keep an eye out for lots of pictures!