highlights from week one in London.

Our first couple days were just spent getting to know the city and getting over jet lag. Though we did make a trip to Speedy’s and I was able to indulge my wildest dreams about Sherlock Holmes of walking where Benedict Cumberbatch once did. And we did make a trip to Harrod’s to tour the biggest department store I have seen and get some delicious food. We barely even saw anyone of it it was so huge and I want to go back.

in front of Westminster abbey

Our first big trip was to Westminster Abbey. And it was fabulous. You can’t take pictures inside, so I hope the description will do it justice. First off, the ceiling is huge. And covered in lovely arches. There are lots of old English kings and queens, but it is just gorgeous. The walls and everything. Especially the stained glass. I am sad as I am writing this because I realize I have already forgotten a lot of what it looks like. I am seeing so many new things that it is hard to remember them all. Anyways… they also have a huge courtyard that looked so green and inviting. The coolest part was that we were there during a prayer service and we got to go up in the shrine of Edward the Confessor. The priest said a couple recited prayers and then offered a very eloquent prayer. I definitely felt the Spirit while I was there, which was cool because it reminded me that other religions are still admirable because they help people come to know God. I love the gospel, but I love all religious people and I feel the Spirit in many churches. 

the view from the top of the Tor. so gorgeous.

The next exciting thing that happened was our first day trip. We left at 7:15 am and headed first to Stonehenge. Not as cool as I was expecting at all. It’s roped off so you can’t get near it and the rocks aren’t nearly as big as I thought. But now I can say that I have seen it.

We then drove to Glastonbury Abbey, which was awesome. Our tour guide treated us as though we actually lived in the 15^th century and taught us all about what it would have looked like if it was not in ruins. The best part was hiking up Glastonbury Tor, which was rumored to be the Isle of Avalon in Arthur’s time. The view up there was gorgeous and you could see miles and miles of green countryside and cute little towns. I never wanted to leave.

After Glastonbury, we headed to Bath to see the Roman baths. They were really cool and we even got to try the bath water, which a lot of people drank because they believed in would heal them. It just tasted too warm and salt. But hey! Maybe it healed me of some strange malady. We then explored the city of Bath but we only had an hour to do it which was not enough time because there were so many cute shops and such! It took forever to get home from the day trip, so Lisa and I ended the night by watching Les Mis while I worked on homework.

me at the Roman baths

On my first free day, I woke up early to go to Borough market with Krista and Jared. It is entirely good, so we got some peaches (which weren’t even good) and some sourdough bread to take home for lunches and snacks. I was shocked because a lot of the stands were selling sandwiches with just sausage and bacon on them and so many people were eating these sandwiches at like 9 in the morning and it made me sick. I guess that’s just what the British do! I did get some fresh squeezed orange pineapple juice which was delicious. I then got to do more homework… yay! I went to the British museum to get some info for the report I did for my history class on the Roman army. They have so many cool artifacts at the British museum and I really enjoyed learning about it. Though the paper I wrote wasn’t that good I think. After we came back we were starving and so we went to get good Italian pizza at this place by our apartment. Later that night, we took a trip to Snog ice cream with the boys. What a wonderful name for an ice cream place. The funny part is that the place was in the middle of Soho, where a gay pride festival was going on. So we were enjoying some good Snogs while many people were around us snogging. And it was a little gross. And there was lots of smoking and drinking and general grossness. We then went back to play Crowns with the boys from our study abroad for awhile. I lost badly every round, but it was a great day.