London - Day 3

Today was mostly a day at the museums. I didn't take that many pictures, but some other people did, so I hope to get some from them that I can post later.
The first museum I went to was the Victoria and Albert Museum. It is one of the most spectacular places ever. I truly think that I could be there for 6 hours and still not see everything. Today alone I only really saw two sections. The first was a really fun exhibit on English fashions from the 1500's to present. I read every sign for every item. I just couldn't stop thinking about how all the older stuff was made exclusively by hand. There was a long wedding veil of the finest lace, and it had to have been done by hand! There was also an ivory fan with the most intricate carvings. I can't even imagine the skill it would take to make it. I spent at least a full hour looking at that stuff before moving up to the British history rooms. I tried on a metal gauntlet that was really cool. I think I want one of my own.
The courtyard is magnificent! There is a wading pool (but it's freezing) and an astonishing facade (see below) that is so grand that my camera just does not capture it. My group was ready to go, so I called it quits too, but I hope to go back to see more of the museum.

The back facade of the courtyard.

 Right after the V&A museum, we went across the street to the London Science Museum. The stuff there was pretty cool. I saw a real moon rock! And a really neat lighthouse beacon - it was made out of several concentric prism rings to magnify the light without a bigger flame and a huge glass lens - the sign said that the prisms still weighed 3 tons! Also, this specific one was made to have three parallel beams shoot out across the sky - I would have loved to see it! The picture below is from the back of the beacon.

This is my Candle on the Water.

 There were also lots of different vehicles, and I thought they were fun too. Below is a stack of cars that reached to the ceiling.

 Also at the science museum, there was a special exhibit from Google called Web Lab. There was some pretty cool technology on display: there was a camera that would make a line drawing of your face, and then a robot arm would draw the picture in sand! It was pretty cool. People online at home can also interact with the people in the "web lab" too, making it extra fun.

This is the picture of the sign on the wall. Yay.

After that museum, I went to Piccadilly Circus to see about getting Phantom of the Opera tickets for this evening, but they were pretty expensive, so I decided to head back to the college for dinner. I stayed in this evening to rest up because my feet and legs are beat from walking so much (and I'm sure from climbing endless stairs to get to my room). Even my shins hurt! I did some planning and stuff for the following days, so hopefully I can rest up and have some good adventures for the rest of the trip!
It was a very educational day!
Come back for more tomorrow!