Innocents Abroad

The BYU London Centre on Palace Court.

The street where I live.

Lost.

The Rosetta Stone

 SO-CRATES. haha. (bill and ted's excellent adventure)

The British Museum-- perhaps, the best museum in the world.

Portobello Road.

Best gelato in the whole world!

The many flights I climb to get to my room.

Hyde Park. Right down the street from where we live.

Lost.

Chess is a sport.

I found a Botero!! Grandma would be very proud!

A cool little church we found on a walk. Apparently, Mother Goose was buried here. I didn't know she was a real person.

The London Tower.

Posing for pictures isn't our forte.

Some people believe that aliens built this. haha. typical aliens.

There were sheep everywhere.

heart telescopes.

I spy, with my little eye, something big, mysterious, and prehistoric... STONEHENGE!

fambly picture.

The lovely city of Bath. Pronounced "BAAAHWTH." Yeah, really drop that jaw, and give that British accent a try. It just doesn't sound as elegant with an American one. Not for a city this beautiful.

Fan Vaulting. Very cool.

Bath Abbey.

The Royal Crescent... breathtaking!

Audio tours. We are learning a lot.

Above the Roman Baths

You really can't grasp this place from the photo... the classic guitar, the historic buildings, the people, the elegance and tranquility... Bath is magical.

At the Criterion Theatre for 39 Steps.

Piccadilly Circus at night.

A quiet, hidden park in the middle of the city. It is dedicated to ordinary people who died performing heroic acts. This small place had the strongest feeling of peace I have felt in this city.

Here is one of many memorials.

The financial district? London business people like to bowl together on their lunch breaks!

The Borough Market. So many interesting foods and plenty of samples!

A Razzle Dazzle Rose in the Queen's Garden at Regent's Park.

Westminster Palace at Parliament.

A guard ready to blow our brains out.

Do you feel lucky, punk?

A little snippet of Westminster Palace.

Afternoon tea at the historic Pump Room. This was the real deal, ladies.

Oh Bath! How will I leave you?

How do you solve a Problem like Mr. Darcy? How is it done, Jane?

The endless panorama that is the Royal Crescent in Bath.

Me and Natalie at the ancient Roman Baths.

Westminster Hall at Parliament. We weren't allowed to take photos anywhere else in this building, but it was amazing! I really liked the Queen's robing room.

Arriving at the Piccadilly Circus to see the play 39 Steps.

St. Paul's Cathedral

new kicks.

Turkish Delights from the Borough Market. Mine was rose flavored!

Ol' Bill Shakespeare and I.

An exciting day on the Thames-- full of life and culture.

London Bridge... not the one in AZ.

Does anyone have the time?

Okay... I don't have a lot of time to go over everything I did this past week, but if you are interested in reading some details about some of these things here is a passage (well, most of it) from an email that I sent to my Grandma:

"My first week in London has been absolutely amazing. It already feels like I have been here for weeks! I have already done and seen so much! A few things of interest: 

-The British museum. (saw the Egyptian and Greco-Roman rooms.) It was our assignment to see the ruins of old Greco-Roman architecture. It was really amazing. i'll be back there for sure.

-Stonehenge. I found that National Geographic article you were telling me about, and read it on the bus ride there. It's amazing how mysterious this prehistoric monument really is. Apparently, they believe the stones came from Wales. Some people even think it was made by aliens!!! haha. The area surrounding was very beautiful. There were sheep herds all around. It was very picturesque.

-Bath was something out of a storybook. I visited the Roman Baths, which was very VERY cool. I couldn't believe how well everything was preserved! Unfortunately, visitors are not allowed to swim in the baths anymore. It is a very interesting place though. Historically is was a place of leisure, business, cleansing (physical and spiritual), and worship (It had a surrounding temple dedicated to the patron goddess Silus Minerva).

While at Bath I also visited a museum of a fancy Georgian home, and the Jane Austen Centre (we are reading Persuasion). Bath Abbey was also a very beautiful visit.

Before we left, me and some girls dined at the historic "Pump Room." It looked like a gorgeous ballroom with an extremely high ceiling and gorgeous chandelier. We ordered the famous "bath buns" and I got the traditional pump room tea. This included a well-presented assortment of little sandwiches, biscuits with jam, fruit tarts, and a little mini creme brulee! Oh, and some herbal tea of course! It was so delicious. I was just like Jane Austen or any of the fashionable ladies of Bath would've had their tea time. Mostly, it was really cute.

-We went to the Piccadilly Circus to see  39 Steps, a hilarious mystery play with only 4 actors and about 40 characters! They were very talented. I bought some ginger flavored ice cream during the intermission that was very tasty. I never knew they made ginger flavored ice cream! 

-The other night, me and a friend went to the open air theatre at Regent Park, (It's just right off Baker St. where Sherlock Holmes was supposed to have lived) and we saw the musical "Gigi." The music and costumes were beautiful,a nd we were very glad that it didn't rain on us!

-We traveled to Westminster Palace to take a tour of parliament. It was very awesome inside. Everything is so ornate!! Well, except teh House of Commons. They had to keep a tight budget after WWII. My favorite was to see the statue of Winston Churchill, and his shiny foot where conservative politicians have often rubbed his toe for good luck. I was tempted to do the same, but they asked us not to. We heard some god stories about Churchill while on the tour.

-Yesterday, me and two friends took the walk down the Thames. It also happened to be the weekend of the Thames River festival. There were booths and all kinds of things to see everywhere. We also went to the Borough food market and a really neat open air book market. The markets here are so awesome. All kinds of cheeses and interesting foods! I had a rose-flavored turkish delight! It really tasted like a rose too. Next time I go, I want to get some good cheese and a baguette and have a picnic in the park.

We walked by the Tate Modern Museum, but we didn't have much time for it. Tomorrow I hope to stop by the National Gallery and see a few things for my class. So much to do, and there's so little time! All of this, and I still have to study, go to class, and get sleep at night! I'm having the time of my life!"