It is SO cold in London

This is actually the coldest I've been on any of my European trips thus far. For whatever reason, today was the coldest March day in London in more than two decades - and boy was it cold. It never got above freezing and the windchill made it feel like it was 16. It snowed this morning and then the wind just wouldn't stop, so it was a bit of a brutal day. I'm really hoping it warms up a little over the rest of the week! Tomorrow it's supposed to be up to 37, but with gusts of wind up to 40 mph, so I'm not too optimistic.

Me in Hyde Park getting buffeted/frozen/destroyed by the wind.

The first thing we did today was go to inside tourist sites. Michelle and I went to the Natural History Museum (I love all museums with dinosaurs!) and then to the Victoria and Albert Museum, though we didn't see much of the second because we were on our way to get lunch with her friend afterward. The Natural History Museum was very nicely done and, as any natural history museum, was packed to the brim with both tourists and small children on field trips. But there were some good exhibits on dinosaurs, mammals, fossils, etc.

Natural History Museum - pretty impressive building, right?

Monkey carved into one of the columns inside the museum. 

Main entrance hall of the museum (with their dinosaur named Dippy - whose head I didn't get into the picture). It was a really gorgeous museum.

The V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum) is right next door and we stopped in their quickly as well though we only had time to go through an exhibit on fashion (which I liked very much!) and see a room full of giant Raphael paintings. It wasn't a big deal that we couldn't go for too long though because the museums, as many are in London, are free to enter. It's another way that the city reminds me a bit of D.C. Not starkly, but there are certain things that are similar to D.C. (lack of tons of tall buildings, light colors of buildings, government buildings, etc. Also, the English language.)

The V&A. Another pretty building.

The entry right as you walk into the V&A Museum. I loved the chandelier.

We got lunch with Michelle's friend, Emily, on Oxford Street which is one of the major shopping streets in London. Appropriately, I bought a dress at TopShop, a British store, so my British shopping quota has been met. We went in and out of a bunch of shops up and down the street and eventually went into Selfridge's which is one of their big expensive department stores. Get this: they were advertising a "shoe carnival" which was basically just a massive display of all the shoes that are just coming out for the season so there were thousands of pairs of shoes to look at. Heaven. I also made the decision that if I ever save up money to buy a designer pair of shoes, it's going to be a pair of Christian Louboutin's because I loved a ton of the shoes I saw in his department.

An enormous row of double-decker buses on Oxford Street. Just bus after bus after bus.

A pair of Louboutin's that I absolutely fell in love with. If only I had $600 or so to spare...

Seriously. I loved looking at all the shoes. Luckily Michelle loves shoes, too.

We walked to the end of Oxford Street to Marble Arch (which, unsurprisingly, is a big giant marble arch in honor of a war) and to Hyde Park, which is basically London's equivalent of Central Park. Though it would have been around long before Central Park. It was so cold however, as you can see in my first picture, that we didn't last long there and soon after we got back on the subway to go meet another of Michelle's friends for a drink.

Marble Arch and a bunch of pigeons that were super puffed-up against the cold.

We went over to an open-air market, Borough, which was closed since it was after five so maybe we'll go back later, to meet Michelle's friend. We peeked into an old church, the Southwark (pronounced "Suth-erk") Cathedral, and then headed to an old pub called the George. The pub is so old that Shakespeare used to stay in the inn above it and drink in the pub, as did Charles Dickens. It was very authentically British. We had a few pints (I had a British ale which is very flat, not dissimilar to Guinness) and chatted; it was a lot of fun! It was nice to buy a beer that didn't cost 6 or 7 euro for a pint! Also, Michelle high-fived me at one point which I reacted to by saying, "Oh my gosh, I miss high fives!!" which her friend thought was quite funny. The idea of high-fiving in France is quite bizarre - in any circumstances.

The front of the Southwark Cathedral, which has been around since 1400 or something.

More Southwark Cathedral. 

 Entrance to the George and a picture from one of the balconies. It was very authentic inside - clearly not much had changed over the centuries! Very, very cool.

A picture of the inn/pub from the outside. Not a great picture, but you get the gist.

Tomorrow we have a lot planned and in the evening we'll be headed to Bristol! The wind is still absurdly loud and strong right now - I hope it calms down by tomorrow or Wednesday!

Again, not a ton of history in this post. It's honestly also just been nice to see Michelle and catch up and meet her friends and chat with people in English! It's a bit of a reprieve from France. I'll be re-energized to go back for another six weeks before the program ends.

Sleepy - must go to bed now!