Day out with the Cuz!

Sorry I didn't blog yesterday. We had church and I will explain it more after our next Sunday. But today was our first day of classes. I am taking a humanities class and a British history class. Both are going to be so good. After class we had to go look at some paintings in the National Art Gallery. This gallery has so many original paintings. We are going to be here a lot for our assignments. Today we just saw some older paintings from the Italian Renaissance. It was just really amazing. I met up with Madeleine, my cousin here and we spent the rest of the day together. It was a lot of fun to be with her. 

 National Art Gallery

 A chalk artist that was doing all of the flags. 

 This was the Calvary court or something like that. This is for all of the guards. 

 Buckingham Palace was beautiful and very big. I just couldn't believe how amazing it really is. I WAS THERE!!!!

 Here is Madeleine and I at Buckingham Palace

 Then we went to Westminster Abbey and it is so impressive. I loved being able to remember all of my humanities 201 information about Gothic architecture and actually see it with my own two eyes. Seriously, such a splendid building. 

 I'd have to say that of all my favorite things, Big Ben and Parliament were my favorite. 

 It is just such a huge building, I can't imagine what you do in there, let alone how you build something that grand. AMAZING!!!

 We rode on a double-decker bus which was a lot of fun

 Then later in the evening after reading some Julius Cesear we went for some gelato. I didn't get any tonight because I was so full, but from the tastes of everyone else's gelato, it is pretty good and will have to go there another time. 

These girls are amazing and I love them a lot!

So I don't know if I've mentioned this, but I am so grateful to be here in London. It has truly been such an amazing experience. I worked hard to pay for it and to be able to come and enjoy another culture. All I've got to say is that it is totally worth it. And it's only been 1 week. Only 7 more to go! I did have my first bout of homesickness today, but now I am all good. Anyways,

Cheers!

The Temple!

Well today was quite adventurous. We had the day off so we decided to go out of the city and do something fun. We went to the temple. Now, the temple is not close to London at all. We took two tubes, a train, and a taxi there and did the same thing on the way back.

 This is Annalise and I on the train. We took the train to a little village station in Lingfield. When we got there we asked where the bus stop was and the station master asked if we were going to the temple. We didn't say anything about it, so I guess they are used to people coming to the temple. Unfortunately, the bus didn't run through this small village so we took a taxi. Being a passenger on the wrong side of the rode is quite the experience. 

 This is the cute village from the train station

 We made it to the temple and it was such a beautiful place :)

 And it was raining. 

 This is the little pub that we ate at. The food was decent, I wouldn't say that it was the best, but then again I am not a big fish eater. 

 We then went to the temple and it was just beautiful. The grounds are amazing and we talked to the missionaries in the Visitor Center. 

 The church has these little apartments where people can stay if they are doing a session or being sealed. They were really cute little places and it was just so much fun to be there and see everything. 

 Honestly, I am obsessed with the flowers that they have here. But I also thought of my mom because I think that these are dahlia and she loves them. London is just the perfect place to grow flowers!

 Here I am at the temple, not a great pic of me, but that's all I have. PS: love this dress!!

These are the girls that I went with: Annalise, Gina, Brooke, Sydney and Me! 

The temple was absolutely beautiful and the spirit is always so strong inside and outside on the grounds. I was so glad that we went!

Cheers!

The Tower of London

Today was the group tour of the Tower of London. First, London weather is so bipolar. It was cloudy and chilly today and then turned sunny and really warm for the rest of the day. So we carried our jackets with us all day, but no worries we just tied them to our bags :)

This is Mallory. I love her to death!! We have become friends and hang out with each other a lot. 

 Then she took a picture of me. I know, lovely face

 These are the girls that I hung out with today: Gina, Me, Mallory, Kim, Kindal

 This is the entrance to the Crown Jewels. We weren't allowed to take picture of the jewels, but they were so beautiful. We also got there at a perfect time and didn't have to wait in a very long line. But those jewels were so awesome, I have never seen anything so exquisite in my entire life!

 Then we took a tour of the White Tower. This holds all of the armor, weapons, and everything for the kings and princes. I took a ton of pictures for my brother, Michael. He would love this place!

 Here is the Queens house. We asked a guide why there is a guard at the door, and he said it was because it is still the Queen's residency even if she doesn't live there. So that was pretty cool. 

 This was in one of the towers that holds prisoners. They would carve these into the walls. There were definitely some interesting carvings. 

 I just thought that this was an interesting shot. It's from another prisoners tower looking at the great White Tower. 

 This is the memorial of the executions of Ann Boleyn and others. They believe that this is approximately the place that they were executed. 

 This is Kim and I. 

 These guards are called the Yeowan. Apparently they give great tours, but we didn't have the chance to take them. He was really friendly and answered our questions about the Tower. 

 This is the whole Tower of London. 

 Then we went on a walk for our London Walks class. This is on Liverpool street and it was absolutely beautiful. There are just so many different buildings that are so unique. 

 We went to Christ's church. It was so beautiful and peaceful. We just sat and looked at everything. 

 One of my favorite things about London is all of the flowers everywhere. I love flowers and they just have them everywhere you go. 

This is the old Roman Wall. A cool fact is that it was discovered after the bombing of WWII. It was really pretty. Also, the buildings are built with the structures connected to the sides of the building. Strange, but unique. Anyways, tomorrow is the weekend so it will be a lot of fun!!

Cheers

A Million Mile Walk

As you can probably guess from the title of this post, we walked a lot today. We are taking this class, London Walks, and have to complete certain walks every day. Today we went to South Thames and the Financial district of London. Can I just say how much I love living here. I love London!! I think we have the tube system down so my next goal is to try the double decker busses. 

These are my roommates: Sydney, Mallory, Melissa, Annalise, Brooke, Austen, Taylor Ann. We started the day just looking at the Tower of London. We are touring that as a group tomorrow so we didn't spend too much time there. 

Then we headed over to Tower Bridge. It was so cool! I loved it!

These are all of us roommates. 

This is Mallory, she is my friend and is such a sweet girl. The weather has also been perfect!

Again, on the Tower Bridge. Fun Fact: it was originally chocolate brown, but they repainted it red, white and blue for the Queen's silver jubilee. 

Then we continued on our walk down the Thames. We came upon this little market that was cute and fun. It is Hay's Galleria. It had a few little shops, but we just loved the architecture. 

 London has a million of these little flower shops and I absolutely love them. They are all so beautiful and fairly cheap. The US could use these. 

We continued on our walk and came to London Bridge. Disclaimer: it's a normal bridge, not super impressive or anything. But we sang "London Bridges Falling Down"

Then came lunch...This is Burough Market. It has the best food ever and the Indian food was to die for. It was pretty cheap and very filling. Definitely a must go too again.

It was this cumin rice, with a bean sauce, some potatoes, onions and this other dressing thing. It was so yummy. I was in heaven. However, it cleared my sinuses so I was sniffing for a little while. 

Theses guys are at the parks, and you have to pay a tip to take a picture. So that was interesting

 This was in the financial district of London. It was absolutely beautiful. Not a very touristy area of London, but it was quiet and cute and really fun!

This is the City. We went to the Bank of England, and the building you see now is the Royal Exchange building. Hopefully we learn more because I don't know that much about it.

Then tonight the President of BYU came and had dinner with us. I have a picture, but it is on my friend's camera. The place we are staying at is newly renovated so he came to take a look at it. I got to sit at his table and he and his wife are very friendly and I think he will do a great job as president.

Then we had orientation and house rules then went on a walk. It rained, the first time I experienced London rain. We went and got some ice cream and chocolate and then went to Kensington Gardens and walked around. It was a very beautiful night. It was an amazing day, and I am so happy that I still have a long time here. 

Cheers!