Winter is Coming

I'm a movie star! Me and Steven Spielberg

Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes

First of all, claps to anyone who got the Game of Thrones reference. It refers to the massive panic London went into yesterday when their was a 30% chance of snow. Next, today Jillian, Stephanie, Lena, and I went to Madame Tussauds, the London Dungeon, and the Aquarium. We ordered the tickets online and got a huge discount, so that was good, so this morning we went to Madame Tussauds. It was amazing, the wax figures looked so real! (Side note: This will be a shot post with a lot of pictures.)

I must have married Prince Harry because here is me with the royal Family

Iron Man

Turtles

Once we left the museum we went down the street to 221b Baker Street, where the Sherlock Holmes museum is. We did not go in side, but we got a picture of the sign and the building. Then we went to the London Dungeons which is basically a haunted house. It was really scary, but so fun. I do not have any pictures of that as we were not allowed to take any. Then we went across Westminster Bridge over to the Aquarium. I love aquariums and there was penguins and turtles.

I won an Olympic Medal!!! 

Are You American?

Today's Google logo on Google.uk

    Another day, another class. This morning the lot of us went to the London Center where we were to have class. Today it was Britain and the EU, a class looking at Britain's complicated relationship with the the European Union. During the break we watched BBC News, which we all find a lot more interesting than U.S news, and a lot of us pay more attention to the news now that we are here. There are papers everywhere! After class Melissa, Grace, and I decided that we should go and get our textbooks for it. The bookstore was on Charing Cross Road, and as navigator, I got us from Holborn to Charing Cross Station. (Fun Fact: The London Underground is celebrating 150 years today!) When we left the Tube station we tried to find the bookstore, but we only knew the knew the name and address, so we got out a map and I tried to find the street. We wandered for about five minutes, before we went into another bookstore to ask where the street. It was there that the person at the register asked us if we were students(which seemed obvious since we all had backpacks) and we got our first "are you American?" The woman that we asked was American herself, or it sounded like it at least, so it was a strange question. We did eventually find the bookstore and then took the Tube back home. They had all but one of our textbooks and we shared the cost, so it was not that. Overall, it was not a very eventful day. We are just going to get together once everyone is out of class and have dinner and maybe watch a movie. 

Funny Story:
   Last night I walked into the kitchen and was told that the exchange rate had just gone in the United States' favour. I was quite skeptical of this statement; it would take a miracle for the exchange rate to go from 1.6 to .6 in a matter of hours. So, I looked it up and saw that I was right, someone had misheard. By that time though, half of Palace had heard and some had gone out to withdrawal money. Later that night as we were sitting in the kitchen( which is sort of where we all hang out. We read, surf the internet, and talk) Grace asked me what it would take for the exchange rate to get to .6. Before I could answer her question she answered it herself. "We would not want to be here if it suddenly went to .6, would we?" I shook my head. I do not know what it would take to get it that low, but I have a feeling that it would have to be significant. 

Side note: The terrible exchange rate is the thing most complained about at Palace. 

A Jog in the Park

The pirate ship

   This morning, as planned, Melissa and I went for a run in Hyde Park, which is very close. It is a beautiful park and we were amazed by how many people(and dogs) were there. It is centered around a lake with swans and other birds, and there is a statue of Queen Victoria near by. Melissa and I only ran for a short time because we are both easing ourselves back into running. We are going to run on our days off and it should be nice. While we were running we stumbled upon a few things, such as, Kensington Palace and the Diana Memorial Play Ground. I know that it strange to think that one could 'stumble upon' a palace, but we did. We wanted to walk through the gardens surrounding it, but we were afraid at first, we saw no other people. After reading a sign we saw that we were allowed and we took a quick look around vowing to come back with our cameras. On our way out we saw a tree that was in a cage; confused, we went over to it. The tree was carved so that it looked as if painted little elves were hidden in it. It was carved in 1911 and is absolutely adorable. As we were looking at it, something caught my eye. I am not sure how many of you know about my Peter Pan obsession, but if you did not, you do now.I have loved Peter Pan ever since I was a child( I was even Tinker Bell for Halloween one). Back to the story...The Diana Memorial Playground is Peter Pan themed. There is a pirate ship and tepees and all sorts of magical things. There was a gate, and you had to be buzzed in, so we did not enter, but we are going to go back. It looked so cool! I would have loved that place as a child! Hyde Park was so beautiful and green(probably because it rains every night). It was shocking to see so many people out running and walking. Tons of people were out walking their dogs, none of which were on leashes, they were so well trained they would just follow their owners. That is not something that you see in the States.  

Kensington Palace and statue of Queen Victoria

Historical Quick Facts: 
Kensington Palace was where Queen Victoria was born and raised. 
Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park are two different parks, but they flow seamlessly into each other. 

Hyde Park

The park is cut in half by the Serpentine River.
One of the most important evens that took place in the park was the Great Exhibition of 1851. The Crystal Palace was built in the park. 

The Almost Adventure

  This morning Rebecca and I met up so that we could go to Shepard's Bush and do our ethnographic study.      Rebecca's friend was in visiting from Spain, so he came with us as two of our group did not get up to go with us. Shepard's Bush is only two Tube stops away, and it is a lot like Notting Hill except less rich and has a HUGE mall. This mall is so beautiful, and I used that opportunity to buy a belt (for research purposes only of course).  There was also an amazing little playground full of children and pigeons. London has a lot of pigeons...

     After everyone got back from their ethnographic study we all decided that we wanted to do something on our day off. The Tower of London was on the our list so we took the Tube to Tower Hill and saw London Bridge and the Tower, but when we got there we realized that it closed in an hour and we came to a dilemma. If we paid to get in we would only have an hour, so we would have to rush, or we could go back another day. We decided just to take pictures and go back another time, but now we had to decide what to do. I looked at my map and saw that St.Paul's was close by so we walked there. It was so beautiful and amazing. It was getting dark, so the pictures are not the best, but we could go inside for free because a mass was about to start. Unfortunately, you cannot take pictures inside. Now we are back at Palace, and we should be having dinner soon(we stopped by Tesco on the way back). Later we might watch an episode of Sherlock.  

Quote of the Day: "The sun! It came out...I had almost forgotten what it looked like..."--Taylor

London Bridge 

Walls of the Tower of London

Monument to the Great London Fire of 1666

Saint Paul's

Reality: Classes

    Today, as the title stated, reality set in and I had to get up early and get ready for class. At 8:30 we all left together and took the Tube to the Arcadia Center. The thing you need to realize is that our Arcadia classes are 3 and a half hours long each. So, when we got there we had one class and then after a one hour break, I had another 3 and a half hour class. My classes all seemed very interesting, by seven hours of class in a day is a long time. The good thing is that since our City classes do not start till the 28th of January, I have no Tuesday or Wednesday classes. I also have o Friday classes, so Monday is going to be the one busy day. I am sorry for the brevity of this post, I am tired. Another event that happened today though is that it is Melissa's 19th birthday, so on the way back from class we stopped at Marks and Spencer and got her a cake and candles. Now we are sitting in the kitchen, making dinner, and talking about Scotland. 

The East End

   Not much happened today, this morning Melissa, Taylor, Sarah, and I tried to go and get food from the grocery store, but after walking around trying to find our desired store, we found out that it was closed until noon as it was Sunday. After that we went with the group to the Columbia Flower Market. It is rather far away but it was lovely. The long street had flower sellers in the middle and on the sides there were cute stores. Melissa and I got delicious sandwiches from a small woman who called us 'angels' when she gave us our food. We sat in the back where there was a garden. Later that day we were supposed to go on an ethnographic study as we were assigned by Arcadia. My group as given Shepherd's Bush which is rather close.  We were unable to do it though and we decided to do it on another day. 
    Classes start tomorrow and we then did some homework and readings in the meantime. We are all really excited about classes beginning. I am taking Environment, Communities, and the Arts in Britain; the History of Modern Britain since 1850; Britain and the EU-- all Arcadia taught classes--; and Theories of Global Politics at City University. 
      When Sarah got back we finally went to the stores and got some food. After that we made dinner and I skyped my parents. It was a slow, but really good day. It has been cold lately but not that bad. I guess that it is London weather though. 

The Great Beyond

The firetrucks down our street. 

    That dramatic title has to do with our trip to Greenwich. This morning we woke up and saw that apparently there was a fire down the street, which was concerning, but the firetrucks where there and everything seemed to be fine. After that we took the Tube to Westminster. Coming out of the Tube station we saw Parliament and Big Ben for the first time, which caused lots of excitement. Then we boarded a boat for a boat trip down the Thames. We saw so many excellent buildings and sites, including the Tower of London and London's ugliest building according to Prince Charles, the National Theater. The boat brought us to Greenwich were we broke up into smaller groups and got a guided tour by a nice old woman. After that we went to have lunch in the adorable Greenwich Market, where I got a crepe with nutella and banana for lunch. Then we took the tunnel under the river to the Island Garden Tube stop and took the DLR(which is above ground). Now that we are back, we are taking a nice break. I am keeping this short so that I can put up lots of pictures. I will most likely post again later as we are thinking about taking a walk through Hyde Park and perhaps going to Piccadilly Circus later. Cheerio for now!

London Bridge, obviously. We went under it.

The London Eye and the aquarium.

Taylor and Melissa

Sherri, Rebecca, Jo, and Dennis

The Globe(recreated); where Shakespeare performed

Sarah and Angelica

Parliament and Big Ben!

The Cutty Sark in Greenwich

Add caption

Greenwich Market

Theater built for one of the queen's. The green area in front was where the Tudor palace once stood. 

The 'new palace' which was converted into a hospital for disabled sailors by Queen Mary II

King William IV, uncle of Queen Victoria. William had no legitimate children, which is why Victoria took the throne. He is not that well known, but do not feel sorry for him, he had a great naval career and eleven illegitimate children by his mistresses, Dorothea Bland. His real wife bore him two children but neither survived into adulthood.

Greenwich Church. It is said that when the vikings stopped on their way to London from Canterbury, they dined at this spot. There hostage was the Archbishop of Canterbury and died trying to preach Christianity to them, and the altar was built over the spot where he died. 

This is not a part of the church. This is the dining area of the hospital that Mary II built. The sailors, who had lived a hard life refused to dine in such a fantastically beautiful place and instead choose to dine in the basement. The ceiling was painted by the same man who painted St. Paul's Cathedral.