My first week in London was amazing.
At first I wasn't sure I wanted to stay because of various reasons,
but by day three I knew that I loved it here.
There is always something new to do, somewhere to go, and so many things to see!
I arrived on Monday night, but wasn't allowed to check into the London Centre until Wednesday so Monday night I just met up with my parents and grandparents and we didn't really do anything because I got in late!
Tuesday I got to explore London with my mom.
We saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, let me tell you-- there are SO many people there.
It was unreal.
The changing was pretty cool, though, they play music and make it a big production.
Then we walked over to Oxford Circus and walked through shops and ate pizza at a fun pizzeria.
By the time we had done all of that it was dinner time when we got home.
We made grilled cheese and just chilled because we had been walking the whole day and were so tired!
Changing of the Guard
So many people!
Wednesday I checked into the centre, it is beautiful!
I got stuck in the large room of 14 girls, but its really not as bad as it sounds,
I sleep like a baby every night.
I picked the best bunk in the room because I got there so early, which is way nice!
I am right by the window on a bottom bunk so my bed is super accessible.
Then my mom, a girl in my group, and I walked around London over by Big Ben and the London Eye. Big Ben is so much smaller than I imagined- its still big, but I expected it to be huge.
That was really fun to see those iconic London buildings.
At the Centre
Big Ben
Thursday was the looooooooongest day ever.
We had to do one of our "London Walks" for one of our classes and we had no food in us and it was horrible.
After eating a late lunch (even though it was more like a snack)
I walked around Kensington Gardens, which was so fun!
I love Hyde Park, it is such a fun environment and a great escape from the ever-moving city.
Kensington Palace
Queen Victoria Statue
The Flower Walk...
Royal Albert Hall
Albert Memorial
Physical Energy Statue
Italian Gardens
Peter Pan Statue
Friday:
We toured the London Tower, which as pretty cool.
My favorite part wasn't even in the tower, but the London Tower Bridge!
It is so cool.
Then we walked around the city and found a market with some cupcakes!
Cupcakes!
This is the church where Mother Goose was buried
How cute are all these blue doors?
Saturday:
We went to BOROUGH MARKET…
I recommend it to anyone who comes to London
It is a market of all food and yummy food at that.
aka my happy place
The BEST grilled cheese.
Raspberries… delicious
How fun is this little art display?
It was right outside a restaurant and all the workers were laughing at us for taking pictures,
but how could we not?
Sunday:
Church in a ward about a little over an hour away
I miscalculated the timing and we were 45 minutes late to sacrament meeting.
Oops.
I love this ward, though.
It is so cool to go to another ward so far away from my own and feel the same spirit.
It was a very special experience.
Monday:
Classes and a walk past the London Eye and Big Ben again
It's so beautiful over in this area.
I love it.
Tuesday:
Stonehenge and Bath
Stonehenge was SWEET… but it is a lot smaller than I thought.
It is in a field with a road running by it and that's about it.
I love the history perspective, though, and thinking of those people carrying and assembling those stones, it's amazing.
The Poppy fields on the way to Stonehenge were unbelievable
Selfie with Stonehenge
The Roman Baths were cool…
mostly for the history aspects. We got these great little audio tours that were super cute.
The town of Bath was amazing.
It reminded me of Zurich, but not as pretty.
There were tons of fun shops and restaurants.
The water is green because of all the algae.
It is super dirty and a little stinky.
The photo is a little dark, but I decided to post it anyways...
Cute photo with our audio tours…
(Please note the sarcasm)
Wednesday:
We went to Knotting Hill
It is so fun! There are so many great shops.
I have a feeling that I will frequent it.
Cutest flats
These are all sewing machines on display in a store!
Then we went to The Globe theatre to see a production of Julius Ceaser
It was pretty cool to be there, but we had to stand for the whole play.
I enjoyed imagining how similar it was to when Shakespeare actually had productions there
I got in trouble for taking this picture because apparently it is no photography.
My bad.
The prettiest sunset on our way back!
And thats about it…
sorry for such a long post.
More soon!
