Saturday morning I went on possibly the longest run I have ever been on and it was one of my favorite things I’ve done here in London. Here’s a list of things I saw/did while on my run- gorgeous Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abby, Big Ben and Parliament, the London Eye, the Thames River, I ran across the Bridge in Harry Potter (here’s a link if you don’t know what it looks like haha), the Tower of London, and I ran across the Tower Bridge. So it was pretty much amazing; the best way to start a day!
At noon we had a tour of parliament. It was interesting to see how differently government is run here in the UK compared the US. There is so much history and ritual to the way that they do things. The building was amazing on the inside! So much detail, gold and portraits of royals. Our tour guide was liked to get right in our faces to explain things, which kept the tour interesting:) It was a really fun and different experience. When we left Parliament there was a large protest going on outside. It was CRAZY. They were yelling, marching and some of them were even throwing fire (I don't know why). In our efforts to get away from the mob of people we were walking about 15 yards in front of the protest and we like to say that we lead the riot haha. It was definitely an eye opening experience.
That night was Annie’s B-day celebration. Annie is one of my roommates here and I just love her to death!! We went to the biggest mall I have ever been to in my life! They had everything from Prada and Tiffany’s to grocery stores. We had a lot of fun browsing and exploring (mom I didn’t buy one thing!:). For dinner we went to GBK or Gourmet Burger Kitchen. I have missed burgers quite a bit and this burger was delicious; it hit the spot. For dessert we got little baby gelato cones that only cost a pound- it was perfect.
Sunday’s are wonderful here. I go to the Lea Valley ward and I love all of the people. I teach the 8 to 11 year olds in the Primary and they are the sweetest! I love their accents.
Now Monday was Kaylee and Elise day! We just happened to need to do all the same things and so we spent the whole day together and we had a good ole time:) We worked out in the morning, went to class, ate lunch, went to the National Gallery for an hour or so and then because it was such a beautiful day we walked around Big Ben and had a photo session! To end the perfect day we went and saw LES MISERABLES!! It is by far my favorite show I have seen here. It was, in one word, perfect. I am already dying to see it again:)
Tuesday was Tea. The whole center when to afternoon tea at Kensington Palace; it was so fancy. We got all dressed up and tried to act proper. Though I didn’t drink any of the tea, Kaylee and I had fun stirring in sugar cubes. We had these picturesque stacked plates of sandwiches, an orange scone (my personal favorite) and little dessert tarts. It was delicious and oh so fun.
Wednesday was our nine mile hike throughout the countryside. It was SO beautiful. I have come to really love the city but going out to the countryside reminded me about how much more I love nature. Living in Santa Fe, I sometimes forget that things can be so green, even in the winter!! The hike was not really rigorous, just really enjoyable. We stopped to eat our lunch at some castle ruins and walked through gorgeous green fields. There were three older men who led us on the walk and it was fun to talk to them along the way. They were all in London when it was being bombed in WWII. It was fascinating to hear their stories.
Today was homework day. I got all of my homework done because in a few hours 9 of us are going to PARIS!! I am so excited! We’re planning on seeing all the main tourist sites in just 2 days. We are going to have a blast! I will definitely be blogging about it when I’m back in London.
Have a great next few days!
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