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Day 5 :: Written Blog – Warship, Beheadings, and Renaissance Casts

Our Friday started out with breakfast at 8, and was followed by a trip to the subway that took us to The Shard. Before going in, Nathan gave us a thorough presentation on it, and we learned that it is the tallest building in London and that the architect (Renzo Piano) designed it on the back of a restaurant menu. Once we were inside, we went all the way up to floor 69 to get a view of the entire city. The "Walkie Talkie" building, which we visited yesterday, looked small from the windows of The Shard. It was a good place to take pictures of important sites, since we were able to see the London Eye, St. Paul's Cathedral, and Parliament.

The next stop on our schedule was the HMS Belfast, a warship that was part of the Royal Navy during World War II, and that is now used as a museum. In my opinion, our visit to the ship was the most interesting activity of the day, because we got to experience all the different parts of a military ship first-hand. We also found out that moving around a ship is not as easy as it looks, particularly for seamen who work in areas like the boiler room.

Afterwards, we ate lunch in a nearby restaurant, and walked through the Tower Bridge to get to the Tower of London. Once there, we got a tour of the history of the castle and visited the exhibition that showed crowns and coronation ceremony jewels of past kings and queens. Adjacent to the exhibition was St. John's Chapel, which we also explored on our way out. Unfortunately, we didn't spend that much time inside the castle, which would have been nice.

To finalize the day, we walked around the Victoria and Albert Museum. Unlike the Tate Modern, the V&A showcased applied and decorative artwork. Some of the highlights of the museum were the collection of replicas of architectural ornaments from the French and Italian Renaissance, and the 20th century exhibition of post-war design.

written by Angela

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