London

The whole last week of my trip I spent in England with my friend Crissy.

It was a hoot.

We got there real late at night and attempted walking to our hotel, but definitely ended up in a taxi.

This picture is dark, but English taxis are SO great. 

 First day in England we took the train into London and began to explore.

Crissy had already been there for 2 weeks so she just led me around to all the best places.

First stop was St. Paul's Cathedral.

You know, the one from the Mary Poppins song "Feed the Birds."

There were tons of birds there. I didn't feed them, but it really set the scene.

Later that afternoon we went to a play at Shakespeare's Globe Theater.

They were having a big festival.

37 plays in 37 languages with companies hired from all around the world.

The one for that day was Taming of the Shrew in the language Urdu.

It was GREAT.

I don't speak the language, but somehow that wasn't even necessary to enjoy the play.

The theater was beautiful as well.

 After that play we played in the city some more.

I found all sorts of things referring to "Her Majesty The Queen."

Which I loved just because it's so British to have a queen.

Also, if you look close at this one you can see the huge picture on the side of the building of the queen.

What a life she has, being the Queen of England.

While on the topic of the queen...

I visited Buckingham Palace.

It really wasn't everything I had imagined.
I thought it would be like the movies with tons more guards, but there were only two.

The area around the palace was under construction because of the upcoming Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

Which speaking of the Jubilee.

This logo:

 was created by a 6th grader at a primary school that my friends cousin teaches at in England. 

We visited him and he was bragging all about how this 6th grader was all the rage since winning the national competition.

While in London I also visited the Tate Modern.

I liked looking at all the art, but I liked looking at the school children gathered around doing their assignments more.

 The first night I was in London we happened to pass the theatre showing Wicked right as it was about to begin and there were still seats available.

Last minute I got a ticket and went in.

BEST DECISION.

Seriously, the highlight of my London experience by far.

That play is SO good.
I finally understand why people rave about it so much.

It's fabulous.

The next couple days we just continued to visit all the tourist sites.

We got a tour of Westminster Abbey, I learned so much.

AND I saw the graves of tons of famous people inside.

Including Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.

I was sort of wishing it hadn't been 5 years since I took AP European History though.

All the names were familiar, but not familiar enough for me to feel way smart.

Of course I visited Big Ben.

Probably my favorite landmark we visited.

It's so iconic.

Just as impressive as I imagined.

 We saw lots of double-decker buses and the Union Jack all over the place.

I think it was a bit overkill because of the jubilee coming up.

 Another one of my favorite places was the London Bridge.

Maybe because I loved playing "London Bridge Is Falling Down" for family night as a child.

It was a really beautiful bridge though.

 We were there right at sunset. It was great timing. 

 Also, it turns out if you look right through the crevice in the middle you can see the Thames River beneath you. Crissy & I noticed some little girls doing it so we tried and it was a lot more exciting than we expected.

I tried out a fancy English telephone booth.

They aren't all they're made out to be.

It smelled rancid, apparently it's a popular place for people to urinate.

 We had DELICIOUS Belgian waffles.

With gelato & milk chocolate on top.

 Sunday afternoon we visited Hyde Park.

I really liked it there.

It was a beautiful, sunny day and the place was packed.

Here is a video of all the children in their swimsuits playing in the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain.

I guess it's England's equivalent of a water park.

Basically I loved seeing all the famous places in London.
And I really loved learning about Queen Elizabeth.

It's a great place to experience the arts.
I felt cultured after visiting, to say the least.