London - Day One

Today started in Leicester Square, no real plans for where I was going to go or do, well the theme for the day was 'Free stuff to do in London', so I picked a direction and started walking, raining and freezing cold wind accompanied me on my way

Arrived at Trafalgar Square and went to the National Gallery while there, as I am not an arty person to start with I didn't really appreciate the works I was looking at and instead was more impressed with the architecture of the beautiful building. 
After a while though I came across some painting that caught my attention for some reason or another, including one by Corenlius van Haarlem called 'Two followers of Cadmus devoured by a dragon', plus I got to see works by Raphael, Michelangelo, Monet & Renoir, not to mention the Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh among other works of his, so ended up spending ages in there and loved it!

Saw Big Ben in the background, so headed in that direction next, going passed Downing St on the way, had seen them before but not up close or bothered to really look when I used to live here. Interesting that obnoxious German teenagers not only swamp Motueka they are here in London too, everywhere!

 Saw a sign showing the way to Buckingham Palace so that's where I ended up next, 

 continued on through St James park then walked the length of Hyde Park, had to take a photo of a more geekier tourist than me, I know I'm not the most stylish traveler but this guy had a union jack umbrella hat, didn't even know they still made those let alone people wearing them seriously! 
 
 Checked out the NZ war memorial that I didn't know was there, nice surprise.

 



Strolled past Royal Albert Hall and towards the museums,Natural History Museum was one of the things on the top of my list to do in London and it did not disappoint at all, again the building itself was magnificent and from the giant skeletons of dinosaurs to a collection of diamonds each a different colour there was so much to see.

Next door is the Victoria & Albert Museum, and as the name suggests, I wasn't sure what kind of museum it was, so thought I had better go inside to find out. I was wrecked by this point so didn't really give it the justice it deserves, but from what I saw it's a museum with a range of old stuff from all different periods in time. Funny the things that grab your attention, like there was a room full of wrought iron pieces, balustrades and gates etc and I really loved them, also there was a room full of old keys to different churches and cathedrals and they were just beautiful.
Tired and on the verge of hypoglycemia, I caught the tube to Piccadilly Circus for a brief visit, then back home.