London

The past few days have been like a dream. I am trying to put all of my memories and thoughts together and it is really just a huge blur or red telephone booths, brick buildings, and paintings. Okay, I'll try my best to recap London. It was incredible. Beyond incredible. I can't believe I was actually there and saw all the things I did. And who goes to London with their best friends anyway. How lucky am I? Seriously, I am just overwhelmed by this whole experience (in a wonderful way of course).

Prepare yourself for an overload of pictures. Words just can't adequately describe the things I saw! Also, I am already starting to forget what some of the buildings were, so bear with me. Most of these pictures and comments are just for me so that I don't forget.

June 21st

Jennie and I arrived in London FINALLY! We went through customs and boarded our first tube train.

 VERY tired, but oh so happy!

 This was the first street I saw that really looked like London. I freaked out a little bit and took a picture.

 House in Hyde Park

 Hyde Park was BEAUTIFUL. It was incredible how one second I was surrounded by the concrete and noise of the city and then all of a sudden step into such a peaceful place. I loved it!

 We found our name! (well sort of)

 Again....SO SO tired.

 Princess Diana memorial. You were supposed to "paddle your hands and feet" through the water. 

 Albert Memorial

 We decided to stop trying to take cute pictures because we were so tired it just didn't work very well.

 Albert Hall? Or something like that...

 Royal School of Music

 Hyde Park Chapel. We stopped in for a minute to talk to some sister missionaries. All three were from  Utah and knew some of my friends! Small world!

 Side of the Victoria Albert Museum

 You can still see the marks on the outside of the museum from WWII bombings!

After the museum, we walked back through Hyde Park and took some more photos.

Then we checked into our hostel! "The Pride of Paddington"

 The "food was friendly" and the "staff was tasty" hmm...

 British Museum

 The Rosetta Stone

 My favorite part of the museum was the Parthenon exhibit. These are real pieces of stone from the Parthenon.

 I actually learned about this piece in one of my classes last semester, so I was extra excited to see this!

After the museum we went to see the Thames and the London Eye. We got there just in time for sunset! The jet lag was really starting to set in so we found a nice bench and enjoyed the view.

June 22nd

On Saturday, Jennie and I met up with my other roommate, Andee, who just finished a study abroad in Oxford. Some of her friends from the program joined us as well. We saw all the major London sites and then saw Phantom of the Opera. It was a wonderful (and exhausting) day.

 This ladies and gentleman, is the face of jet lag. It was a rough morning to say the least. However, I did get to eat a traditional English breakfast. Toast, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, sausage, beans, and black pudding. I was a fan of everything but the black pudding...ew.

 The pub/hostel where we stayed our first night.

Here is our second hostel, "Hostel 23."

 Covent Garden

Trafalgar Square was partially blocked off for a concert, so I didn't get to climb the Lions unfortunately. However, we still got to go to the National Gallery which was incredible!

 National Gallery

 St. James Park

 Buckingham Palace

 Houses of Parliament

Westminster

 More Westminster

Church right by Westminster

 After seeing all the main sights, we headed to Portabello Road to walk through the market. We stopped and ate lunch at a pub along the way.

 I loved all the colored houses!

After a very long day, we got tickets to Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. The play always kind of creeps me out, but the music was incredible. Loved it!

 VERY VERY tired.

Well, that was an extremely quick run through of everything. I want to come back and add more details about the weekend later (and fix all the typos and errors). However, it's getting late and I have my first day of class tomorrow! Hopefully tomorrow I will have time to post pictures of the University and Glasgow. It is beautiful here in Scotland! The city is very different than London, but I think I may like it better. The culture is a lot more friendly and the city isn't such a tourist hot spot. It's great to see what life is actually like for people here, instead of just seeing groups of tourists from dozens of different countries. 

That's all for now! Maybe check back on this post in a little while to see if I edited it!