I have started to make a list of things I have learned about myself and learned how to do in London. One thing I have been mastering this last week is how to tell military time; 24 hour time. I officially changed the clock on my phone to help me practice. I have also learned that earplugs work and are a glorious invention. Mostly importantly I learned that bringing an extra camera on this trip was the best thing I could have ever done. I dropped by beloved camera and it is broken. I got a quote on it and it is almost 3X more to fix than what I bought it for. Luckily, I brought a back up camera and have therefore been handling the situation better than I thought. With that said we will start with random events of the last 2ish weeks that came courteous of my back up camera.
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| My first crepe in London. Chocolate Hazelnut |
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| We had a taco bar in our flat. We miss Mexican food! |
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| Taco Bar in flat 5 |
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| Petrified tree in the Natural History Museum |
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| Natural History Musuem |
For our day trip that week we first went to Salisbury Cathedral. We are getting to the point where I can name every single part of a cathedral and they are all starting to blend together. The only way to remember them is the unique people they have buried there for other artifacts. The Salisbury Cathedral is home of the oldest running clock in the world and one of the original copies of the Magna Carta.
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| Oldest running clock |
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| All cathedrals have old flags in them |
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| Where the choir kids have to bang their heads for initiation |
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| We couldn't take pictures but I saw the Magna Carta |
Next we headed to Winchester to another cathedral. This cathedral is famously the resting place of Jane Austen. We also got to see Arthur's round table.
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| Jane Austen memorial |
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| The sun was shining so we sat in Queen Eleanor's Garden until we had to leave |
We then took a quick ride to Chatsworth. We visited Jane Austen's house that she lived in when she wrote or edited all of her 6 published novels. It is such a quaint, beautiful little town; I can see why she loved it there so much.
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| THE table where Austen wrote her novels |
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| Jane and her sister Cassandra's room |
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| Jane Austen quote in the gift shop |
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| In Jane Austen's garden |
Later in the week a big group of us went to see WICKED! I have seen Wicked twice. Once in San Fran and once in LA. Both times were spectacular and I cry every time because of the shear talent of the thing. I was very back and forth if I should go while here in London because I have already seen it, but man was it worth it. I cried once again and soaked up every minute. It was not the same as I was used to because all the actors had British accents so the songs sounded different. I really enjoyed it.
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| 3rd time |
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| First timers to see Wicked |
There is the best market open on the weekends called Borough Market. It is ALL food. We walked around, sampled everything that we could see then bought some lunch. We got the famous grilled cheese then Jenna and I got the most delicious smoothie to wash it all down.
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| So many mustards |
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| Famous grilled cheese |
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| Smoothie with Jenna |
For our in London trip we went to the Houses of Parliament. Of course we could not take pictures inside but it was very neat to get inside the British government. We are hoping to go back to see an actual debate while we are here. We had to go through hard core security then got a tour of the queen's room, House of Commons, House of Lords and everything in between. We then went on our weekly walk and saw some random gems.
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| Parliament |
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| After our tour at Parliament |
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| The London Aquarium |
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| Whitehall Palace |
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| Whitehall gardens |
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| 10 Downy Street. Where the Prime Minister lives |
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| St. James's Park |
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| Trying to soak in all the rays that we can |
Next we headed to the Winston Churchill underground War Rooms. During WWII there were bombing raids so the British war effort was run almost entirely from underground.
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| The main meeting room |
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| Mrs. Churchill's Room |
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| Typographers |
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| The keeper of the keys |
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| Winston Churchill's Room...that he hardly used |
Earlier this week Hannah and I had a date day with Hannah. She went to the camera store with me, we got groceries and then went to see the musical Once. I had only heard one song from the show before and had no idea what the story line was. It was tragically, beautiful and I loved it so much. Hannah and I even got box seats so we got to lounge around and eat all our treats in peace.
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| Box seats |
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| Pancakes on Shrove Tuesday |
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| On top of Parliament Hill |
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| My first opera! La Boheme |
For our day trip this week we first went to Runnymede. This is where King John signed the Magna Carta. There is a JFK Memorial there for some reason and Magna Carta Memorial as well. The big, green field is about all else there is. We had frolicking around.
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| Runnymede |
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| JFK Memorial |
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| Jumping fail off the Magna Carta Memorial |
Our next stop was Windsor Castle. Queen Elizabeth lives here on the weekends and the whole month of April. Again we couldn't take many picture inside but we got to see all the state apartments and Queen Anne's dollhouse that is huge, detailed and with working vacuums. We then headed to Eaton to walk around, eat and buy some fudge from a crazy man.
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| Windsor Castle |
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| The round tower |
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| The changing of the guard |
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| St. George's Chapel |
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| Windsor Castle crew |
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| Fudge shop we got sucked into |
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| Crazy fudge man |
Next we went to Stoke Poges. We got to see the church, graveyard and Thomas Gray's memorial and tomb. This is where he was inspired to write Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Then the literature side of me was fed some more as we headed to John Milton's Cottage and saw first editions of Areopagitica and Paradise Lost.
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| Thomas Gray Memorial |
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| Eating digestives around Thomas Gray's tomb |
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| John Milton's cottage |
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| Fellow literature nerds |
Today we went to Hyde Park and played tennis. I keep forgetting how much I miss this sport. It was such a blast and a beautifully sunny day. Next week we are off to Scotland!
