Second Star to the Right

First of all, I wanted to thank Shel for the sweetest post ever! (See below this post) I just adore my sister and I’m so glad she found hot Cheetos in the vending machine.

Anyway, here I am into week two of London, and it’s amazing! A few days ago, I went exploring around Hyde Park. I was on a quest to find the Peter Pan statue.

I got a tad distracted with cool architecture.

And incredible swans.  Fun fact of the day! All swans in England belong to the queen. No exceptions. So if you own a swan, don’t bring it here or else it won’t belong to you anymore. Unless that was your plan all along. You swan ditcher, you.

I finally found the statue!

Another fun fact! My mom named me Wendy after the character from Peter Pan. Hence my need to see the statue in person!

My trip to Hyde Park wouldn’t have been complete without an ice cream cone. Yum!

Then I got to visit the National Gallery. Third fun fact! I LOVE art. And it isn’t just because my dad is an artist (and my favorite artist at that. Love you daddy!) I’ve taken a few humanities/art history classes and it’s a true passion of mine.

 

I got to see a da Vinci UP CLOSE! I almost died of happiness. The security guard was laughing at me because I let out an audible squeal when I saw it.

Another favorite was Botticelli’s Venus and Mars. It’s hard to describe the beauty of the painting. I sat in awe for probably half an hour.

Lastly, I saw Holbein’s “The Ambassadors.” This happens to be one of the coolest paintings ever and I had no clue it was in this museum! The gray and black splotch actually looks like a skull if you look at it from the side. I remembered learning about it, but it’s a different experience seeing it in person.

I think that’s about it. Oh, except for the one-footed pigeon I felt so bad for.

That’s when I realized pigeons don’t actually need feet because they have wings. I think that’s how I am sometimes in my life. I stress out over tiny things until I realize I’ve been given wings to fly. So thank you, dear single-ped feathered friend, for teaching me on the steps of the National Gallery.

Until next time (when I’ll have pictures from my upcoming Paris trip!),

Wendy