London... oh boy

Hello again.
So I decided yesterday that I wanted to go into London... I haven't been in awhile, and Amaya and Kathleen were quick to jump on my little trip. Sweet! I love going places with them. So we thought, okay where to go?
We've been a lot of places, but then not. London is big, and there is still so much I have to see, but I have many more months to do it! So we decided to go to the Imperial War Museum, where they have a Holocaust Exhibit. Kathleen takes a class on the Holocaust, and of course it's history so I'm in, and Amaya thought it would be interesting. So of course we got to London and it's down pouring! Waterloo needs to replace the roof where the trains are because oh we got wet walking from the trains to where the shops are. Not cool. But we went to the exit, and it is raining soo hard, and I turned around and said, "Waterloo is a beautiful place, let's stay." While we waited for the rain to stop, Amaya bought an umbrella, and then we figured, okay if it's still down pouring, maybe there is an Underground station near, or we can forget it for today. But we got to the exit and the rain had stopped. So we followed the signs to the Imperial War Museum.

It wasn't a long walk at all, and it's cool. There are two cannons in the front of the building, and it reminds me a little of the British Museum. The outside looks the same. So we go in, it's free... sweet. The Holocaust Exhibit... um well depressing is the first word that comes to mind, but of course we knew that. It's interesting, it starts with the rise of the Nazi party, and Hitler, there is a copy of his book, and videos. Omg, one heart wrenching part of the exhibit is all the little stories of people who died... omg. Of course I read every one, and it's so sad. I'm actually amazed that they knew what happened to these people. So the first rooms were before the war, and Jewish people all happy, portraits of some of them, videos of them at parties, and then Hitler comes to power. It explains all of that, the effects of WWI... everything. There is a video of Hitler making a speech, and all I can think as I'm watching him is, "Carter really does pull off a good Hitler." Of course I'm obsessed with Hogan's Heroes.
There was also SS uniforms and SA uniforms, and all this info about the big three, and then it got into the ghettos, and the real Holocaust stuff. I got separated from Amaya and Kathleen five seconds into it, I stopped and read everything. I watched every video... so it took me awhile to go through.

We were there an hour, and just a tough hour, we knew this though. But we wanted to go through it, and Kathleen did say she liked the one in DC better, though this one has more survivors telling their stories, and accounts of people who died. There was some stuff about Anne Frank, the guy who wrote Night (love that book), and Schindler. One of the toughest parts of the whole thing was the end, when there was a video from a survivor, and he was talking about how the Americans saved them, brought them to a hospital, gave them food, and their bodies couldn't handle the food and they died. WHAT! This survivor said, "I couldn't even look at the food, and it saved my life." That stinks! You survive a concentration camp, and die when you get saved? That's just brutal.

So after that, we left, the museum is free, so we will be back. There is an exhibit about the Blitz, WWI and II, and other stuff. Omg, it was so sad. We walk in, and there is a dog strapped to a parachute... poor little puppy! Okay so it was a statue or whatever, but STILL! They used puppies?

So um then we decided to go to Kensington Gardens. My pictures of the Peter Pan statue are horrible, and we thought we would see the Palace there. First we got a bite to eat, and it was gross. I got pasta and meatballs, and Amaya tried some, and the look on her face. Priceless. The sauce was like tomato juice, but it was food, I was hungry, and I ate it. Amaya got a mixed grill thing, there was chicken, peas, mushrooms, and fries. Well she ate the fries. Kathleen had lasagna, and she said it was okay. It was a weird place we went to... never again. So onto Kensington. We got off at High Street in Kensington, we should have gotten off at Lancaster Gate, or Marble Arch, but Amaya suggested High Street, and I figured, well London is good with signs. Um no, we got so lost. My trips to Oxford saved us though, I know Kensington because we go through it on the way to Oxford. I did find Holland Park Road or whatever, and that's the road we go on to and from Oxford, and Lancaster Gate and Nottingham Gate are both on that road... of course the walk is long. By the time we got to Nottingham, it was dark, and we said okay forget this. We got on the Underground and went to Kings Cross. Kathleen and Amaya wanted to see Platform 9 3/4, so I went with them. They had no shame having their pictures taken, I was a little more reserved, which is weird cause I'm the biggest HP fan out of the three of us. But it was cool, love Kings Cross.

We actually went home after that because we were cold. We had plans to see the Tower Bridge at night, but really it's not going anywhere. So til next time for that.

We had some very interesting conversations on the train... Kathleen grew up on SING ALONGS! ME TOO! So we sang a few songs... it was just awesome. Amaya and Kathleen also did a circuit training yesterday and they were hurting today. The quote of the day: I thought I was just sweating, that my heart beat was just up, but today I realize that I was working my muscles too.
OH KATHLEEN! What am I going to do with you? Amaya and I just stared at her before breaking out laughing, and she kept trying to explain herself, and finally I asked if she needed a new shovel.

And the two of them also have a fear of being killed on the Underground because of a movie they saw in Prague? Oh boy, I guess the train suddenly stops and someone comes on board... so of course the train stopped um 5 times. I was laughing so hard.

So that's it for London. It was a fun day, love getting lost. I told Amaya and Kathleen that I always find my way, so not to worry. And I did. And it was still light, it got dark as soon as I knew where we were... so it's all good.

And I will sign off now, it's like 1:30, and I should go to bed before I think, 'hey I can stay up to 3am to listen to the Avalanche'.