Day 14 VCUK- 22 June 2019

Today I woke up early and got ready and everything and put my clothes in the laundry.

Then I went to Portobello Market early. It was sooo cool and very overwhelming. There's so much stuff everywhere and it seems never ending. There's a bunch of vintage clothes, and food, and antiques, and all sorts of bits and bops. I went from end to end of every street.

I found my Harry Potter book! I've been looking for the first edition cover of Philosopher's stone here but can't find it and I found a shop that had all the old covers of HP! He had a couple of Philosopher's stone that were all the original cover but not original print so they weren't a bajillion dollars. It was exactly what I was looking for. He had 4 copies. One had a long inscription inside it to a coworker who they said was lovely to work with and hoped he read this book often. Clearly he did not. I almost bought that one cause that's such an interesting thought. There was another one with a birthday inscription from 2004. Then there was a blank one (i ended up getting this one). And then there was one that was actually published in 1997 (the original publishing year) but wasn't part of the original set so it's not worth anything.

I almost got these yellow flowy overall thingies too but they were 20p and they were a bit long.

Then I took the tube to Kensington palace. I had to walk through Hyde Park to get there which was lovely. I ate my nutella sandwich there for lunch and then went to the palace. It was nice. Not as grand as the others and quite small actually but it was interesting. This is the only one I've been able to take pictures in so I was excited. It had beautiful murals and ceilings but everything else in it was eh. It had the King's (maybe george i dont remember) rooms and then the Queen's (victoria). It also had a lot of information about Victoria which was nice cause I don't know much about her. Her father died abruptly when they were on holiday and then her mother and her moved into the palace for the rest of her childhood. She was on the throne very young. She had a power struggle between herself and her mother and she won and then didn't trust her mother. The room she was born in was actually a dining room but they converted it when her mother moved in cause they knew it'd be perfect to give birth in since it was near the kitchens and hot water. She was actually delivered by a female gynecologist which is rare for that time. Her husband died and then she was in morning for the rest of her life and barely went out. She eventually moved to Scotland and lived there for the rest of her life. By the end of her life photography was becoming a thing. The other king that lived in the palace before moved there and converted a lot of the rooms and built the garden but were only there for 4 years before the wife Charlotte died and he went into grieving for awhile. Both regents who lived there were very in love with their partners and I think that's really cute.

After I went through the garden which was really lovely. There was also an exhibit about Victoria's clothes and had some of her jewels in it which was cool. There was also info about Diana cause apparently she lived there?

After I walked to the Natural History Museum. It was GIANT and so overwhelming. I spent a lot of time wandering. They have everything there. The architecture was gorgeous and had roman arches and painted ceilings and carved columnettes and lots of marble. There was a giant whale full skeleton hanging in the entry hall. There was a rock . hall full of every single rock type and every rock ever. It was stunning. There were some huge cut crystals and rocks. There was a whole dino exhibit with some animatronic dinosaurs. There was a whole volcano and earth exhibit with a room that stimulated an earthquake. It was super cool. They have such an expansive collection of taxidermied animals, full sketetons, and full size model animals it's very impressive. And it's completely free. It was way large than the NYC or DC one and I felt like I could never escape.

All this time walking from place to place I had stopped in every cafe I passed and asked if they did Iced Tea and they all said no and it was tragic. I never got my ice tea. Who knew that was an american thing. It would've been nice today cause it was so hot.

I took the tube home and then facetimed mom and hung up my laundry. I'm bummed no ones coming to Dover with me tomorrow or Dublin next weekend. They all waited to long to book anything so now it's all expensive and all their plans fell through too. A lot of them just take naps and watch love island all the time honestly. That's fine cause I bet they're having a great time but that's not my cup of tea an I wish there was someone here like me. I hope I make some british/foreign likeminded friends to hang out with before this ends.

Then I watched "What A Girl Wants" which is an Amanda Bynes movie set in London which was cute. Also it had Colin Firth in it which I was sorta surprised about.

Then I blogged and made ravioli for dinner. Our stove is really concerning and excessively smells like gas whenever you use it.

I decided to not go out tonight since I have to wake up really early tomorrow and I'm feeling not very social and a bit bummed today. But then everyone went out so I had to.

Radish went on another date and it went really well so she told me all about it. Then I changed and we all took the tube. We were supposed to go to this bar that's all pink and has cute themed cocktails but when we got there they weren't letting anymore people in and the staff were freaking out about it being over capacity and a bunch of girls kept coming out in a huff telling us how there was a man in there that judges your dancing and if you don't kiss him or dance sexually enough he kicks you out. How great that even London has the grotesque male patriarchy strong and alive. It feels a bit more here probably because of the monarchy. I hope the world changes soon so I can have more fun.

We walked to this outside bar in Southbank that was cute. I got Pimm's and we sat on the turf. Then after that we crossed this cool bridge and went to this club called Zoo Club. But when we got there Radish and I weren't feeling it and when we got to the door they changed the cover charge for us so I got annoyed and left with Radish and Salsa. We took the tube back and giggled drunknly the whole way back. I successfully got us back (as always).

I took a shower and packed for tomorrow and went to bed.

Tomorrow I go to Dover!