Hello, hello! Long time no see. I am back at TCU now! I have been through RA Training and finished my first week of classes. Through all the chaos of getting home I have not found time to write my final blog post! Soooo.... Without further ado, here is my final week in London:
Friday, July 31:
Today Alyssa and I toured BUCKINGHAM PALACE. 'Twas glorious. Photos were not allowed inside, but I did get to take pictures at the Royal Mews.
This is the Glass Coach. Princess Diana rode in this coach on her wedding day!
Despite what you'd think this carriage was made just last year for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.
The Gold State Coach is only used for coronation ceremonies. The coach weighs four tons!!
After the very long tour we had lunch at the temporary cafe in the Queen's Garden!
I had a baguette sandwich and strawberries and creme. Mmm.
This is the backside of Buckingham Palace. The Queen's Garden is essentially a park in her backyard for her own personal use.
That evening I headed to the theatre to see War Horse! The show was so good and my seat was great!
I tried very hard to take an illegal photo.
Saturday, August 1:
Today I went to my favorite place for the last time... Portobello Market!
Portobello Market is in Notting Hill, so there are lots of fun colored buildings!
It's a bit hard to see, but Portobello Market is 150 years old!
Lemon and sugar crepe!
This is how they make the crepes!
Sunday, August 2:
I spent today in the flat working on my final video project with my partner Alyssa! For all who are curious, here is the finished product. The video outlines everything that we learned during our time in London.
Monday, August 3:
Today, Alyssa and I headed over to the Tower of London and London Bridge until it started raining on us!
We walked across the bridge along "the Queen's Walk" before popping into a pub for lunch.
Here is the view from the South side of the Thames River!
I had a steak pie with mashed potatoes and cabbage. YES.
Alyssa bought this beefeater guard hat for her younger brother, so naturally I had to test it out first.
Tuesday, August 4:
For class today we headed to The Museum of London to study life in London in the 1970s, the time period in our novel for the week The Buddha of Suburbia (a novel that I highly DO NOT recommend. Seriously, it's terrible).
The museum tells the tale of London's past, from prehistoric times to present day.
My favorite thing in the museum was the small exhibit on the London Olympics. Here is the massive Olympic torch!
After class, I headed over to one of my other favorite places in the city: Covent Garden! I was on a special mission to get an order of macarons from Laduree for a friend at home.
Precious cargo.
Wednesday, August 5:
Today was officially my last full day in London! First, for class we headed to the Victoria and Albert museum, the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design. We were there to study the theatre exhibit, as the main character in our book was an actor!
Here are some of the neat costumes from shows on the West End that we saw:
War Horse!
Lion King!
After the museum, I went to ride the London Eye with my professor. The London Eye was technically supposed to be the final day's activity, however I was leaving a day early in order to be back at TCU to start RA Training on Friday!
The London Eye is the giant Ferris wheel on the South Bank of the Thames River.
This definitely is not your typical Ferris wheel. You ride in a large glass "pod" that you can walk around in rather than a sitting in a seat.
Here are a few pictures of the view of London from about 440 feet in the air!
'Twas the perfect ending to my time in London.
Thursday, August 6:
Today, I woke up early to finish up getting all my things together to head home! I honestly was not sure I was going to make it onto the plane without paying extra baggage fees...
Nonetheless, with my backpack stuffed to about three times my weight, a deer shaped pillow (oh, the things I do for people) and cowboy hat from Disneyland Pairs in hand, and TWO questionably heavy suitcases I took off for London Heathrow Airport.
After sitting in traffic for over an hour and standing in line for what seemed an eternity, I got my bag checked. Either my charming allure evaded the overweight baggage fee, or my excellent packing skills just barely made it under 50 pounds (the scale was in kg so I will never know...)!
One short 10 hour flight later, and I was home Thursday night just in time for Mexican food for dinner with my family!
