London

This blog is concerning events that took place 3/26/11-3/27/11

I was so excited to go to London and be able to understand everyone. It turns out that I usually had a harder time understanding than Bianca did. As soon as we got off the plane we took a train to the underground. That’s how I got around London. Trains.

I did actually go to King’s Cross but, I don’t think it was the station. Anyway it didn’t look anything like Harry Potter and there was no platform 9 ¾.

The first day I was really nervous about getting all the souvenirs I could because I didn’t want to spend money on it on Sunday. We did the major sightseeing this first day.

As we were walking towards Big Ben and all of that, we realized that there was a huge protest going on. We asked a guard if it would be safe to go and he said yeah. The problem was the protesters were taking up all the area by the things we wanted to see so we had to go through them. We ended up getting a poster and shouting with them, just so we looked authentic. I might add that this trip I was the youngest. It was Bianca and her dance students, a co-worker (Eliana who I actually hung out with before) and me.  So, it’s not like we were putting kids in danger of the crowd. And if anyone heard about it, I assure you that when we were there, it was safe.

We took pictures of Big Ben while marching. Once we got out we walked to Westminster Church/Cathedral. We couldn’t go inside but, this is where the William and Kate are getting married. So, everyone had decided that we all had to get a cup with William and Kate on it, to remember our trip to London. I was like ‘okay, whatever.’ I had to get it as soon as I could though because I didn’t want to be badgered about it on Sunday. So I got one in that church, and I’m pretty sure I ended up being the only one to get it but, that’s okay. I’ll never forget that church now and otherwise it would have been a pretty fleeting memory.

I don’t remember as much about London as I do about Rome because there is so much less to see. We only stayed Saturday-Sunday and we pretty much ran ourselves ragged on Saturday. We went to Harrods. This store, is not like any other store. There was a woman singing on the inside balcony. There were security men all over and people dressed up in formals to check you out and direct you through the several levels of the place. It was amazing.

After Harrods we went to eat at a pub and discovered that there was a big Soccer match, Scotland vs. Brazil to be played on Sunday. Scotsmen were beginning to appear everywhere. From what I understand, the Scotts would be awesome to play for because they are basically the coolest fans ever. They take over cities when there is a match. Usually they take over the bars, which was why they were in the pub.

They were pretty hilarious but, I won’t go into the graphic details. After eating we went back to the hotel to freshen up and then go see “The Most Incredible Thing.” The reason we went to London is because one of Bianca’s friends danced in this act. We were so tired by the time it came around though.

I loved the dance. It was “the Most incredible thing” I’ve ever seen. It made me crave to see all the other performances London has going on. Next time. We were invited to a cast party but, we could barely keep our eyes open so we went home and went to bed

Sunday we saw the changing of the guard at Buckinham palace. That was the highlight of that day. The rest was shopping and as it was Sunday I couldn’t be to enthralled with anything. Bianca bought me a nutella spreader in honor of my love for nutella.

We went to a big department store kind of like Harrods but, not as intense or as rich. We saw a crowd of Scotsment with kilts and bagpipes singing "Do-Re-Mi" at the top of their lungs.

Bianca was really sweet all Sunday. I didn’t realize at first but, she was paying for everything so that I wouldn’t have to. She never said anything about it but, when I realized what she was doing I was really touched because with our previous conversations I would have never thought she would do that for me.