Brighton & Westminster

England

Ahhh 6 minutes until tomorrow! I’m trying to get entries in every day in real time, and so far it’s been a little stressful. Especially because I have like no time at night and no real want to write anything down. Anyways, today we went to Brighton, which I thought was really anti-climactic. It took an hour and a half to get there, our tour guide was horrible, and there wasn’t really much history outside of George IV’s Royal Pavilion, which in itself was very bizarrely non-English. The outside is very Indian, while the inside is decorated ENTIRELY in Chinese. In the words of Craig Ferguson: Iiiii knowwww!

Buckingham Palace

England

Just so I can post before today turns into tomorrow! I will expound later. Today I had AH class again and we went to National Gallery. Then Melissa and I went to Buckingham Palace. Then we went home and I ate some grilled cheese and took a long nap. Then we went to Tesco Express to buy groceries and I splurged on some Chocolate Fudge Brownie! For dinner I ate an apple, some grapes and carrots, then some ice creammmm. Then we went out with Antoine to the Imperial Pub, where I got a Snake Bite (mmmm). Then we came back to have a glass of wine. Note: I NEED TO GO SHOPPING. THEY HAVE THE BEST CLOTHES HERE. Pictures obviously later. Camera Clinic STILL hasn’t gotten back to me on the status of my camera 😦

EDIT: Pictures from the Palace!
We weren’t allowed to take any inside, so we took some when we went out the back.
buckingham

mepalace

The gardens in back were beautiful. Obviously.
palacegardens

gardens2

Panoramic tour & Tower of London

England

No pictures yet, but I took them! I just have to get Melissa to upload them and hand them over. Today, I took a bus trip on a Panoramic tour of London! We drove all over, which was really nice because I saw places in London that were wonderful and interesting to see but nothing I would go out of my way to walk to.

EDIT: Pictures added!
We stopped by St. Paul’s Cathedral which was overwhelming but magical. The bells were ringing as our tour guide led us to the front. It reminded me of Notre Dame (which, honestly, I have an unbelievable desire to see).
stpauls

So we did that, went to Starbucks (yes, yes, I know, it was cold!), then walked along the Millennium Bridge.
girlsbridge

Post-Starbucks. Very happy.
starbucks

Then we went around to Buckingham Palace where we were able to see the second half of the changing of the guard, and more fuzzy hats.
band

THEN we went to Covent Garden where there is a sweet market that really resembled Faneuil Hall. We saw street performers and cute little cupcake shops.
cupcakes

We ate Paella for lunch. It was DELICIOUS.
paella

After lunch, we took the bus to the real event of the day: The Tower of London.
tower

Officers!
officers

There is a picture of me as a ghost! (Who was actually acting quite silly) But kind of hard to see. Anyways, I walked forever along the tower walls and up and down spiral staircases: clogs were a bad choice. But the ravens were cool.
raven

Alas, too short to be a guard.
tooshort

But then all was well when me and the roommates had a ham tortellini and spinach ravioli dinner together. Tomorrow: art history class and then an actual INSIDE tour of Buckingham Palace. Whoo!

Windsor Castle & Eton

England

I dropped my camera today, and now it does not work. Needless to say, it put a damper on my touring day of Windsor Castle and Eton. But after getting over the shock and panic of it all, I decided that only one thing can be done. So I’m taking it to a Sony Centre at High Street Kensington on Monday after class in hopes of getting it repaired. And if not, replaced. This is so dumb.

But lovely Melissa had an extra camera with her at Windsor (imagine the luck) and I was able to get pictures online!

So today I went to Windsor Castle and Eton, which were both so beautiful. The weather was, shockingly, sunny and bright and pretty much perfect again, just like our boat cruise day. So we arrived at Windsor.
windsor

And it was beautiful. (picture off of Melissa’s expensive camera)
sun

We were able to get in early enough to watch the changing of the guard, which was all yelling and stomping of feet and marching and pomp. And furry hats!
guards

I really like their uniforms. This guy didn’t know what to do with his eyes, they were swirling around so fast, I think, trying to avoid eye contact.
guard

So afterwards we toured the castle, which was full of rooms bigger than my house complete with marble statues, portraits, coats of arms, gold-flaked ceilings, and very expensive and extravagant-looking furniture.

We also looked into Queen Mary’s dollhouse, which stood about 5 feet high complete with basements, intricate details, and even miniatures of famous paintings of the family painted by the original artists. I felt like a ten-year-old princess, rich enough to appreciate it but young enough to want to play.

After touring the inside, we stumbled upon one of the courtyards, which looked like it belonged inside a brochure.
inside

castleme

Once we pretty much covered everything, Melissa and I wandered off and decided to have a photoshoot along the outside wall!
memelissa

Then we took the bridge over the Thames to get to Eton which, I think, has been the most beautiful part of the trip so far. Everything was lush and old and quiet.
eton

(I have a LOT more of the campus and the greenery, obviously I can’t fit them all on here. But take my word for it—they are equally as gorgeous)

The term for the boys starts next week so the school is currently closed. But considering the fact that I’ve simply waited 21 years of my life to get there, I thought I deserved something better. So I broke some of the rules.
sneaking

shadows

Sneaking is stressful!
omg

We snuck into the back where we discovered a lot of residences and offices and cottages which led to the backyards where sporting took place. The view on our way to College Park.
campus

And in the park.
collegepark

Where men were playing cricket!
cricket

There and back again.
etonme

It was a lot of walking, but a trip well worth it.

Natural History Museum & Portobello Road

England

I am happy to report that I have fully recovered from last night! So I went to my EUSA meeting to discuss my interview next week and get specifics. Apparently the commute is kind of lengthy, but when it comes to commuting around one of the greatest cities in the world, I really don’t have much to complain about. So between EUSA and my newsletter meeting today, Melissa and I went to the Natural History Museum! You know, that gorgeous building that can be seen right outside my window. The museum was beautiful, vast, and the best part about it: it was absolutely free. Like most of the museums in London.

First days, boat cruise, walkabout

England

The first few days in London! Not really eloquent, but will probably re-edit tomorrow when I have more time.

Yesterday, sitting in JFK, my view out the window. Not much to see here.
flight

Yesterday, the view from my apartment window: The Natural History Museum. Pretty beautiful looking. We even have a balcony, but are banned from using it. What a SHAME.
view

We had a boat cruise on the Thames today, and after walking out of the Westminster Tube station, I walked up the steps to see this.
firstglimpse

The eye! It moves reeeaaalllyyyyyy slowly.
eye

The bridge that collapsed in HP6! It wobbles really badly in reality.
hpbridge

Tower of London: Place of Beheadings.
tower

Tower Bridge.
bridge

The weather could not have been any more perfect.
sunlight

And when we got off the boat, it was still waiting for me 🙂
bigben

HAD to do it. While we were eating lunch on the steps, it drove right behind Parliament. In my future lies King’s Cross.
hp

Me and Melissa ❤ Roommates!
landm

Westminster Abbey. And oh yeah. Zach Ranger was here.
zach

Saint James Park. In the distance, Buckingham Palace. We had a group shot here, but it wasn’t on my camera.
jamespark

The other side. A palace and the London Eye.
otherside

Us again in the park!
flowers

The flag flew above the Palace, which means the Queen was currently in residence. HOW EXCITING.
queen

Afterwards, we headed to Notting Hill to see the Carnival 2009, apparently something REALLY HUGE that takes place in London every year. Too much of a story to tell, but let’s just say there were more people at that parade than the population of the United States.
colors

But there were really cool costumes.
swans

Really cool.
peacock

And then we headed to the Imperial College pub for a pint. Hooray beer!
beer