The Year of the Dragon

Chinese New Year was a week ago, but London celebrated it yesterday. There was an all day parade in Chinatown and then performances and fireworks in the evening. 

Mike, Amy, Rachel and I went to Trafalger square to catch some of the festivities. It was super crowded, and we were actually jammed in a sea of people, but the atmosphere was super excited and lots of fun. 

Our really good view of the stage

After the fireworks, we went to My Old Dutch (which obviously reminded me of the Dutch as Vassar) where they serve giant pancakes and tiny waffles all day and night. 

The food was delicious and I couldn't resist taking pictures. (Honestly, would you expect anything else from me by now?) 

Giant jars of nutella! (Or should I say, Olivia-sized jars?)
Compare these to the wine bottles to the right to see the scale. 

Mike's sugar and lemon pancake/crepe

Mike's hummus and sun-dried tomato
pancake with rocket (that's what they call arugula here)

My delicious, and tiny, waffle.
I don't know why, but the pancakes (and nutella jars) are giant and the waffles are miniature...

Amy enjoying her berry waffle 

Overall a wonderful new year's celebration!

The Tate Modern

After Borough Market, Amy, Jason, Bailey and I ventured onward to check out the the Tate Modern--yet another free museum in London town. 


We walked along the Thames to get there and had a bit of a photo-shoot on the walk over:

The Millennium Bridge-The one the dementors blew up in Harry Potter

Shakespeare's Globe

The Tate Modern

Jason decided he had to climb the bridge

Modern art really isn't my thing, but we still had fun wandering around the museum. We also had fun (and I think made a scene) running around the rows of trees outside the museum and taking pictures, but that's neither here nor there. 


Here are some of the highlights of the things we saw in the Tate:

All the exhibits had pretentious titles like "Poetry and Dream" and  "States of Flux"

And there were interactive computers before you went in to each exhibit

A little Picasso 

...This is art...I guess?

A giant pile of sunflower seeds...made of porcelain...I don't know why

Zipper art

Georg Braques

I guess she waited too long to do her laundry...

Silk stairs on the ceiling!

A silent movie of trash being blown around the street...

This one I liked...Monet's Water Lilies.

I also loved the view! We went out onto the Balcony and got a great view of St. Paul's and the Thames

St. Paul's Cathedral 

So all in all, a little highbrow for me I guess, but I'm so glad we went.