A Summer Trip to London

by Hourglass

Chapter 9: Museums and Skyscrapers

The next morning Rainbow Dash was talking to Photo Finish and Derpy in the lobby's continental breakfast room. This is what they were talking about:

"So you're saying that you take pictures almost every single day and you find the best ones to put into the yearbook?"

"You are correct Ms. Dash! T art of Photography is very precise, you've got to have that right mind working when you get vat angles and color with brightness that you want or need."

"Sounds fair enough, I would probably be the same way if I was a picture taker like you." Rainbow Dash replied.

"AND IT IS PHOTOGRAPHER!!!" Photo Finish yelled.

Derpy asked her a question. "Have you gotten any pictures from this trip Photo?"

Photo Finish answered. "I have collected many wonderful and action-filled pictures from this trip Bobushka. I've gotten some from the airport, the Underground, this hotel that we are staying in, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abby, Buckingham Palace, and Trafalgar Square. I am making the best pictures into yearbook photos for this coming school year."

Derpy was surprised. "Sounds pretty good alright." and kept eating breakfast.

After breakfast was finished, Principal Celestia called for her group to meet in the lobby. It was the usual, there were two groups (one lead by Celestia and the other by Luna) and today they would be going to visit skyscrapers and museums. They would be traveling by the Underground to all attractions for today. Today's groups looked like this:

Celestia:
Snips
Snails
Micro Chips
Silver Spoon
Rarity
Pinkie Pie
Photo Finish
Derpy.

Luna:
Sunset Shimmer
Twilight
Applejack
Rainbow Dash
Fluttershy
Flash Sentry
Sandalwood
Diamond Tiara.

The group lead by Principal Celestia would be taking the Circle Line of the Underground to Aldgate Station to see the first skyscraper known as the Gherkin, after the visit they would take a walk to the Shard and take the elevator to the observation decks at the top to look out over the city. They would then get aboard the Jubilee Line and take it to Canary Wharf and take a look at One Canada Square (known to some as Torchwood 1). They would then go back to Central London and meet up with the other group for lunch.

Luna's group, however, would go and look at some museums around London. They would start by visiting the Imperial War Museum and the Churchill War Rooms, They would then take the Jubilee Line to London Bridge Station and go to the HMS Belfast, a battleship from WWII. They would finish by taking the Northern Line up to Kings Cross to transfer to the Picadilly Line, and would take it down to Covent Garden Station and make it to the London Transport Museum. They would then meet the other group for lunch and alternate with them.

Celestia's group got to the Gherkin quickly so they could get in and see the top which was a cafe for tourists and guests to the building. Silver Spoon let out a cry of excitement when they looked out over the city.

"WOW! HA HA! We can see all of London from here!" She was amazed.

Pinkie Pie decided to look out to the west to see what she could see. From where she stood she could see the St. Paul's Cathedral down below, the Houses of Parliament in the distance, Trafalgar Square, and Buckingham Palace. "What an amazing view from here, It's like I'm flying in a plane again."

Rarity and some of the others were sitting down at a table just talking about how the trip was treating them the whole time, Silver Spoon and Pinkie kept looking out the windows all over London, and Photo Finish was snapping pictures the whole time. They finished about 30 minutes after and got over to the Shard.

The Shard was a skyscraper that was much larger and taller than the Gherkin, it was really nothing more than a skyscraper that was shaped like a shard of glass that jutted straight to the sky. The elevator ride to the top was very fast and adrenaline inducing, but once they got to the top they were met by an amazing sight of the view from the top of the shard of the whole of Central London. Some members like Rarity, Derpy, and Micro Chips couldn't stand on the edge at the handrail because they were too scared to get closer. That wasn't a problem for the rest of the group because they all loved
"Living on the Edge".

The last skyscraper they visited was One Canada Square. After a quick and fast ride on the Jubilee Line, they came out onto Canary Wharf and entered the great building. They couldn't go to the top of the building here because it was blocked by business turnstiles, but they still had a good time exploring the many parts of the skyscraper's lower levels. They finished and took the Underground back into Central London.

Luna's group started at the Imperial War Museum, which was filled with many artifacts from Britain's great military past. Some collections included suits of armor from the middle ages where you could see how the knights in armor fought back then. Other collections showcased many war machines from WWII like bomber planes, fighter planes which would defend the bomber planes, tanks, jeeps, and even battleship turrets.

The next place that they went to was the Churchill War Rooms in which Winston Churchill HIMSELF kept Britain alive and helped to plan battle strategies within the hidden armored rooms beneath London. Everything was very well made up to look just like it would have during WWII. A lot of the group members loved all of the detailed pieces from the past happenings beneath the streets of London.

The HMS Belfast was another location that talked about the war time strategies of Great Britain. It was a battleship that was at use during the great war that was kept in perfect shape for visitors to come and see what life on a ship would be like, everything was done authentically. The worst part was that when the group got down to the lower levels of the ship where a lot of hatches that they had to go through were very small, Luna and a lot of brave members were not scared and went through the hatches perfectly, but the other's who weren't so brave had to be helped through the hatches.

The last museum of their visit was none other than the London Transport Museum that talked about the rich history of London's great public transit systems. There were double decker carriages and double decker buses (some of which you could get inside), there were London Taxi's on display to learn a lot of things about the classic black cabs that zipped around the streets of the city, and there were some areas that were greatly devoted to the extensive Underground system: from the steam powered trains of the Metropolitan Railway to the first electric powered trains all the way to the present day tube trains. Sunset Shimmer loved the one exhibit where you could drive a London Underground train through a simulator. The group finally left the museum and went to visit the other group for lunch before they alternated for the skyscrapers.

That evening the whole school group came back to the hotel and all went back to there rooms. They were all excited for tomorrow since they were going to go to the separation of the two hemispheres of the world: The Prime Meridian...

Author's Note:

Very Tall skyscrapers and intellectual Museums in this chapter.

Comments

[The Blue EM2]

Luna's group started at the Imperial War Museum, which was filled with many artifacts from Britain's great military past. Some collections included suits of armor from the middle ages where you could see how the knights in armor fought back then. Other collections showcased many war machines from WWII like bomber planes, fighter planes which would defend the bomber planes, tanks, jeeps, and even battleship turrets.

The Imperial War Museum does not contain artefacts from the Middle Ages. It covers WW1 onwards. Also, the bulk of the vehicles are kept at Duxford, and Belfast is the only place with naval parts are kept.

[The Blue EM2]

The last museum of their visit was none other than the London Transport Museum that talked about the rich history of London's great public transit systems. There were double decker carriages and double decker buses (some of which you could get inside), there were London Taxi's on display to learn a lot of things about the classic black cabs that zipped around the streets of the city, and there were some areas that were greatly devoted to the extensive Underground system: from the steam powered trains of the Metropolitan Railway to the first electric powered trains all the way to the present day tube trains. Sunset Shimmer loved the one exhibit where you could drive a London Underground train through a simulator. The group finally left the museum and went to visit the other group for lunch before they alternated for the skyscrapers.

The London Transport Museum does not have any modern tube stock. Its most modern set is a 1959 set kept at Acton depot.