Europe With a Phone Glued to My Hand [1]

Keeley Young
Sep 17
4 min read

what follows are merely photographs I took on my phone while in Europe.

~ England edition ~

from left to right: flight view on the plane, almost in London; the London Eye; that big old boy Big Ben.

three theatres: the Theatre Royal Drury Lane [currently showing Hercules]; Gillian Lynne Theatre [currently showing My Neighbour Totoro]; and the Fortune Theatre [currently showing Operation Mincemeat]

architecture of London pt. 1

the British Museum, part one...

the British Museum, part two...

three theatres: the Playhouse Theatre [currently showing Cabaret]; the Savoy Theatre [currently showing Burlesque, the one with Cher but not obviously]; and the Adelphi Theatre [currently showing Back to the Future the musical]

a day at the zoo: seeing my very first sloth, a quick sandwich for lunch, and a sleepy tiger

out and about in London: including Shakespeare's Globe and a giant monument they constructed after the great fire?? why are we building a giant monument instead of reconstructing the city with said materials.

art in The National Gallery

the best things to eat in England: mac & cheese from the Borough Market, a crownie from the Borough Market, and a beef and stilton cheese pasty from a store in Bath.

more art in the National Gallery

art and culture: including Daunt Books, in which this section pictured is segmented by country of origin, rather than genre or author.

interesting art: the lobster telephone, snapshots of the miniscule, and fruit on a rock.

art is truly in the eyes of the beholder. and I'm FASCINATED.

interesting art ii: a tower of radios, transmitting completely different frequencies, a disheartening reminder of Trump's America, and a urinal.

Tower of London: isn't it insane to think Anne Boleyn was beheaded here?

Barbican: brutalist architecture, greenery, the dream to be back.

bring back the London Wall ! bring back the London Wall !

three theatres: His Majesty's Theatre [currently showing The Phantom of the Opera]; the London Palladium [currently showing Evita, or it was, Evita has since closed]; and the Lyric Theatre [currently showing Hadestown]

I should have bought a Miffy and a puppet. I should be in bed all day.

quirks of Bath: a fresh milk vending machine; an Eton mess flapjack; and a telephone booth fashioned into a vertical garden.

Jane Austen: she hardly lived in Bath but they are absolutely obsessed with her and I do not blame them. Four years and an absolute eternity of adoration.

three theatres: the Criterion Theatre [currently showing Titanique]; St. Martin's Theatre [currently showing The Mousetrap, in its 73rd year!]; and the Dominion Theatre [currently showing The Devil Wears Prada]

Hyde Park: an absolute tonne of geese and a gorgeous building.

The Natural History Museum: skeletons, creatures great and mighty, and a gargantuan escalator upwards towards Hell???

selfie break

the V&A Museum: Medusa, a gorgeous naked man, and whatever the hell these animals are. I think they represented a man's crest or something but now they just represent my sleep paralysis demons.

the theatrics: an outfit of Dame Shirley Bassey's; an assortment of accolades, including Vivien Leigh's Oscar for A Streetcar Named Desire; and a wall of stained glass.

stoned and sculptured for the gods: art in the V&A Museum.

more food from England: a pasty from Dover; the free meal I had at the Strand Palace's restaurant courtesy of the hotel itself [a schnitzel and chips]; and a Five Guys burger and fries I absolutely devoured.

the path to Langdon Beach: and how I thought I would break my ankle.

the Dover Cliffs: there is so much beauty in Dover.

I was momentarily confused when I saw a "welcome to England" sign though, after having been in the country for a week already.

food away from home: you start to crave a homecooked meal again, but you don't crave cereal enough for a cornflakes oat drink. Burger King tastes much like Hungry Jacks, but different because you read the words Burger King while you're eating it. Meal deals are the absolute best thing about an English supermarket...marry me chicken wrap, packet of crackers, and an ice kick [lemonade, essentially] Lucozade for a very reasonable price!

lights are bright: this streetlamp is the last remaining sewer gas destructor lamp in the City of Westminster, which is what the sign says, and I stumbled on it completely randomly but I had known about it and I was so weirdly pumped by it; I couldn't fit Six into a "three theatres" spot so the connection is they are both incredibly shiny ! [even though the lamp photo is during the day so it looks dull, and I didn't see Six in London so I am incredibly dull]

the fashions of the royals: above is fashion inspired by various outfits once worn by the royals, in particular of course the absolute fashion icon, Princess Diana. I am most obsessed with the baby green dress and the Cinderella blue gown.

Kensington Palace: a view of the building [it was a dull day, the sky is usually pretty dull in London]; a gown that would also double as a mattress; and the Princess Diana Memorial Garden outside.

Liverpool architecture: once I left behind London, I arrived in Liverpool and explored all the city had to offer. The architecture, to be expected, is gorgeous. The church [in the centre] was down the road from my hotel and I walked by it every day anytime I wanted to go literally anywhere.

a day at the [Chester] zoo, pt. i: the beautiful map of Chester Zoo, the delicious pineapple dole whip I devoured while walking through the pink zone, and the disappointing pizza I definitely paid too much for once you convert the money back into Australian dollars.

a day at the [Chester] zoo, pt. ii: flamingos, the banteng, and that smelly flower waiting to bloom [it blooms like, once a year or something.]

exploring Liverpool: Marilyn on the walls, rainbows on the rocks, liverbirds in the distance. [did you know the liverbird, the symbol of Liverpool, is a completely made up bird? yeah sure Liverpool whatever.]