Intellectual day.

So today was my day for seeing intellectual sorts of things.  I didn't exactly mean to put them all on the same day, but it happened.  I feel very smart as a result...haha no, but really.

I started out at the National Gallery, which is just a huge museum of famous paintings.  It's right on Trafalgar square so the building is obviously beautiful, but the paintings are, as well.  Honestly, I didn't realize it would be only art.  But I am happy, it was really neat to see originals of so many paintings. 

Then, I went to the Natural History Museum.  It was really neat, but I could see the museum being in Chicago and it being the same.  Although, there were differences.  Everyone that spoke (like on machines and displays) had an accent.  Also, the little kids from their schools were running around in their uniforms and it was so cute.  Also, the displays were a bit more...explicit, I might say.  There was an exhibit on human development and things, and it very clearly when through not only how humans are created, but the process in which 2 people undergo in order to begin that process.  Also, there were models of humans doing this.  I was very shocked.  But, other than that, and the spellings of things (-ize to -ise or -er to -re), everything was that same as one might see in the States.

My favorite part of the day, though, was the British library.  They have some very rare collections, and I loved them.  I saw original manuscripts by Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, Lewis Caroll, William Wordsworth, and some others.  I also saw the original writing of Beowulf.  Honestly, I just stared at it to engrave it into my memory.  I couldn't take a picture.  I loved it, though. There were also some original writings of the New and Old testament.  I saw some originals of The Beatles' and their songs, some lyrics on an envelope and others written in a basement and signed by the writers (I can't remember which members wrote it).  Lastly, I saw the Magna Carta.  It had its own room and everything, but that wasn't my favorite.

It's funny - I think people don't realize I am American until I talk.  This one guy at the art museum started talking to me then I said something and right away, he goes, "Oh! Are you American?" It was funny.  I don't think they dislike Americans, they are just interested maybe.  Anyway, I told that same guy I am from Chicago and he goes, "My friends and I were just speaking about Chicago and how many Irish there are there." I guess?  I never really thought about it.

 Funny story - a guy from Germany next to me just looked over and said "What are you writing? A roman?" Well, that was in German.  So I didn't know what it meant, and he didn't know how to describe it in English.  I looked it up and it means novel.  Maybe I have been writing too much.