London Town

LONDON = Such a fun place! I loved London so much! It was so nice after 10 days in Italy to be able to actually speak the language of people who were working and serving etc. I remember the first place that I asked for food was on the Sunday afternoon and we went to a sandwhich shop and I still pointed and barely said anything to the gal that was helping me with the food. I was being so silly, but old habbits die hard I guess. ;) Anyways, the first day we got there we just hung out in the subway until we could find our passes for the week, and did some excellent people watching. I tell you what, people in England just do whatever the heck they want to as regards their dress, speech, and mannerisms. It was so fun to watch, then went straight to bed we were so tired. The next day was Sunday, and we just took it easy by eating lunch in Hyde Park after an amazing session of church, walking around the city for the first time (where I took this picture of Westminster Abbey) and then just lazed around and read etc. and went to visit my friend Hannah who was at the London center until the day was done.

The next day we started the art classes again, and went to my most favorite museum, the National Gallery. It is cool because all of the museums in England are free to the public, so anyone who has any interest in art, PLEASE go to the national gallery in London. It was so magical because I finally felt like I connected with art, and got a little teary over a Monet and the one and only Fredrick that we saw on the trip (he's one of my most favorite artists) and I just realized how incredibly lucky I was to be able to be having that experience and be traveling and studying abroad. It was a great thing. Then we went and got fish and chips (where I left my journal, don't worry we went back to get it later that day), went to the Cult of Beauty exhibit in the V & A and after went to the musical "Billy Elliot". It was so weird, don't go, it swears a little too much, but I guess it was fun to be there with good friends and be able to feel some of the true culture of England.

The next day was more of the same as far as the layout of the day went. We went to the Brittish Museum and got to see the Elgeon marbles, Hammarabi's code, Egyptian artifacts like no other, and a lot of really old, cool stuff! We also went to this small collection called the Wallace collection. It has a lot of Rococo stuff in it, which is some of my favorite stuff so I really enjoyed it. We also saw Johnny Dep right before it, and I got to talk to some older gentleman about the gospel... it was pretty cool. Inbetween the two museums we went to find Harry Potter's Platform 9 3/4... This was it... a large poster on the wall with half a cart to pretend like you were pushing through... So silly, yet still fun to go as I am a huge harry potter fan.

That night we went to see the musical "The Phantom of the Opera". It was AMAZING... I don't think I have ever heard a more impressive man's voice before. I loved it!

The next day we got to go on a day trip to Stonehenge, Salisbury, Stourhead and Bath. Let me tell you what, the British countryside is incredible. I don't think I can recall a more beautiful place in the world than here... Maybe Hawaii and Florence, but this is beautiful because of the calm and peacefulness of the cities. Stourhead especially.

This is our group at Stonehenge. It was surprisingly smaller than I pictured it to be, but it really is incredible how mysterious it all is... I enjoyed it a lot!

After Stonehenge we went to Salisbury where there is the infamous Salisbury cathedral, one of the oldest in the world, and with just a very small (like 4 feet) foundation... They had to add a lot of things to the inside for support of the cathedral, but it was fun because in this cathedral we got to be taken around by a nice lady (in her 70's?) who told us all about the place. It was fun to hear not just art facts, but normal history stuff too! She finished her lecture saying, "Well you guys must be absolutely wacked" a phrase that we used repeatedly throughout the rest of the trip. Then we went to Stourhead, which really, INCREDIBLE. I have never seen a place so beautiful before in all my life. There was just lush greenness all around, and flowers of vibrant pinks, purples, yellows, blues, and just everything inbetween. We all decided if we could die anywhere it would be there. This picture is of the group at the temple of venus which is where a scene from the new Pride and Prejudice was filmed. We were in heaven, the boys? not so much. Hence why they are not pictured there. he he.

The next day we went to some more museums like the Tate Britain (so many Turners and Constable's there I was just in heaven) and the Tate Modern (I also spent a ton of time at this museum cuz I thought it was awesome). We went to the london bridge, the tower of london, and the Tower Bridge as well... Oh and saw the Globe theater, and St. Paul's bascillica. So much of the famous stuff in London was all off of the same metro stop.. It was awesome.

I totally loved London. It is a place i had been dreaming about going to for so so long, and so it was amazing for me to go there! Also, there was so much history there so I had to see it. And, my Grandpa B. along with so many other important church members served there! What heritage. It was also the most fun place to shop! I only ended up buying some hair stuff, jewelry, and a pair of shoes for 11 pounds (at primemark, the least expensive yet most busy store I have ever been to).