Last Day in London

On our last day in London I fully expected Super Nel to wake up with a headache after the Camden Pub Crawl. However, even though he didn't get into bed until after 3am he was bright eyed and bushy tailed. Super Nel said he met a friend at the first pub who was from Ireland. This man loved that Super Nel went on the Pub Crawl during his honeymoon. The Irishman saying over and over again "she's a keeper!" (Insert Irish accent here).  

The morning of our last London day Super Nel set off with the guys to partake in an East End Street Art Tour. Some people think it's odd that we don't do everything together as a couple. But we both feel it's important to spend time doing things independently. This way we have the chance to miss each other and we look forward to talking about our independent adventures. 

The boys power walk to the tube (subway) to meet up with the East End Tour in Liverpool. 

Some of the street art the boys saw on their tour:

This leads us to my independent adventure of the day. I set off to enjoy the the Tate Modern Museum solo. That's right folks, I spent all day in London by myself and it was absolutely fantastic. 

Maybe it was because I was surrounded by these interesting art peices or maybe I just needed to be alone with my thoughts, but I had the best time. I actually enjoy spending time with just me. I learned years ago that the only way to love other people is to love yourself first. You can only love yourself if you know what it is you do and don't like. The best way to find this out is to do things with just you. I've learned all about me from going to dinner, the movies, hiking all by myself. So the fact that I had an entire day to explore London all alone made me a very happy camper. 

The Tate Modern museum is very big and there's no entrance fee (my favorite price tag). The focus is on modern artworks but they have a little bit of everything. My favorite part of the museum is how it appeals to children even though the material is not necessarily geared towards them. There was empty space where kids are running and exploring the artwork in their own way. I used to work in the arts and I always love discovering different presentations of museums. I love to study the layout and see how it might look from the eyes of a child or someone with a disability. The Tate Modern is perfect for everybody. 

I saw this little boy getting ready to tour the museum. His dad was putting on his Batman costume. Then the little boy shouted "Roar!" The dad told him "Shhh. Use your indoor voice." The little boy replied "I don't have to be quiet. I'm Batman! He's not quiet." To which the dad replied "Yes he is. He's a ninja." I couldn't believe this dialogue was actually happening. 

I couldn't get enough of little Batman. 

The Tate Modern museum has these portable and foldable chairs available for no additional cost. I saw elderly sitting on them near exhibits as well as expecting mothers or parents watching their children. What a brilliant idea!

I really enjoyed the artwork at this musem. Mind you I'm not a modern artwork expert. Every time I would analyze the artwork and think I understood the purpose I'd read the description and realize I wasn't even close. 

This sculpture was made of clay and a few other materials. I liked the concept however, I had trouble looking at this without seeing dog poop. I highly doubt that's what the artist had in mind. Or was it? 

This peice of work stood out because it was a drawing of a house on a wall and then crows were shot with arrows above the house. The picture doesn't do them justice. 

I saw this group of students studying the paintings and later found them in this lobby drawing with chalk. 

This art peice reminded me of a fuzzy monster from the movie Monsters Inc. It was made of beads and wire. 

A robot made of different electronic peices. 

My favorite exhibit consisted of a dark room. You walk inside and occasionally hear ambient noises or muffled voices. Then every few seconds you see an image appear. Sometimes it was a person or an object. The artist used this film project to represent death. What you might experience before passing. I thought it might be similar to going in and out of anesthesia. I loved sitting in this room in different places and watching/listening to the images and sounds. 

After the museum, I went into a pub for some soup and homemade bread. The temperature was dropping and I needed something warm in my belly. I also tried a bitters (recommended by a friend) followed by some cidar. 

I was pretty warm when I left. 

I headed back to the hostel in preperation for an evening departure to Amsterdam.