August 4, 2009

Today was our last group day and tour for that matter. We went to Buckingham Palace and did an audio tour. It was really pretty I was kind of hoping that I would see the Queen so I could say "Oh hey girl, what is up my sister?" But no such luck. Probably better that we didn't she would have most likely had me shanked for disrespecting her...oh well. Anyway the tour was really informative and the Palace was pretty much like every other palace that we have been too. So after the tour I went to the cafe just outside of the palace and sat down and had a cheese straw, lemon poppyseed muffin, and a cappuccino. It was delicious. Too bad the weather was not cooperating and it was raining again. Anyway after that we tried to get back to our flat and we couldn't because the Victoria line station was closed because somebody jumped in front of the train. So we took a bus to Westminster and found the underground and came back to our flat. I want to go out for a little while tonight because it is our last night. Erika is goin to dinner with her mother's boyfriends daughter Karina and they are going to some really nice restaurant and it's cool because they have never met each other before. I'm sure she will have a good time. I think i'm just going to go out and have a few drinks and maybe do some last minute shopping. As for right now I am getting ready to get all of my stuff packed so that tomorrow at 5 am when we leave maybe it won't be quite so hectic. I'm kind of sad to leave London and Europe for that matter it has been such a fun adventure but I guess all things must come to an end. Everyone else said that they are so excited to go back to Logan, and I guess I just don't see the value in that other than that I miss my family and friends. Who knows maybe someday I will find myself living in a place like Rome, Florence, Venice, Paris, Amsterdam, or London. I'm not sure where or when but I do hope one thing...that i'm as happy as I have been here.

August 3, 2009

Today I woke up and Erika and I joined up with Caitlin, Lindsey, Kylie, and Brady to go to Thorpe Park which is basically like a Six Flags Amusement Park here in London. It was so much fun and it wasn't that far away. I think it was like a half hour away by train which isn't bad. They had some really fun rollercoasters. Erika said that she has always been scared of rollercoasters but I coaxed her to come on them and I think that she really enjoyed them. Well at least she told me that she surprised herself by going on them. There was this one rollercoaster called Stealth that went from like 0 to super dooper fast in like no time and then it shot you up a hill and then it whipped you around the top and then it was like a straight drop all the way back down...if that makes sense. Then we went on this other one where you are below the track and it's called The Inferno Nemesis we liked this one it had lots of loops in it, so did the Collosus rollercoaster. The park had just added a new one that they modeled after Saw the movie and it was suppose to be scary but it didn't really scare us that bad. It actually reminded me of the ride Wicked at Lagoon but in the dark and it had a inverted drop which was kind of new but not that scary. Anyway we had a fun time at the park. After standing in the lines to get on all of the rides we were pretty tuckered out and didn't want to have to battle through the crowds to get back on the bus to take us to the train station and vice versa. So we decided to leave early and come back to the flat and do so preparations for departing which is on Wednesday. Tomorrow should be kind of fun because we are touring Buckingham Palace and I think I will enjoy it. I really should do some sketching but instead i'm just going to sleep. Nite.

August 2, 2009

Today Erika and I slept in again oh yea I could totally get used to this. We showered and then we set out to meet or friend Laura and go to the Spitalfields market. Because it took us forever to get to Liverpool Station because of the underground we didn't see Laura she must have gotten sick of waiting and moved on. We felt bad but decided to go to the market anyway and have some fun. I bought some shirts and we just shopped around. We found this cute cafe and had iced tea and a brownie. It was tons of fun. I really like the market because I can actually afford to buy stuff. After that we came back to the flat and relaxed for a bit and then we went to this Morrocan restaurant and have cappuccinos and smoke some huka. It was so relaxing to not have to be on the go and actually have time to sit and chill. After that we just came back to the flat and have been taking it easy ever since. I've been catching up on my blog and Erika has been painting and I'm going to sketch soon and then get a good night sleep because tomorrow we have plans to go to the zoo. We saw some pictures online of the zoo and one of their elephants just gave birth to a new elephant and we can't wait to go and see them. It should be lots of fun...can't wait. What a nice slow and relaxing day...and it didn't rain which is such a plus.

August 1, 2009

Erika and I slept in again today oh it was so nice. We went out the night before with our friends that we met here Laura, Simone, Maurion. They took us to a swanky club and we had cocktails and visited it was so hip I loved that place it was called Doon. Then we went out dancing for quite awhile at this underground club and I'm not sure what the name of it was. It was so good to dance, and we ended up staying out until like 3 in the morning so it was good to sleep in. But today we went and tried to buy Mamma Mia tickets but they only had two left and they were like 60 pounds and Erika and I were like hell no that's too much and we are slowly running out of money anyway. We were going to shop but at Picadilly Circus it literally was like circus so we decided to avoid the cluster of people. Instead we went to Fridays and had some drinks and a nice lunch. Our bartended loved us he was so funny and a great bartender he really put on a show. Once we finally made it back to our flat I told Erika that I would take her to this gay club called Barcode and we could have some drinks. It was nice but everyone in there I swear was a male model and there was like two girls and they were lesbos and I think Erika felt strange god bless her she is such a sweetheart to put up with me. To make a long story short we ended up just making our way back to our flat and crashing. I didn't take any pictures today so I'm just going to add pictures from yesterday at Chatsworth House and the gardens.

July 31, 2009

Hey all today we went to Haddon Hall and Chatsworth House. It was a pretty long day. Haddon Hall is basically in the middle of nowhere but it's really beautiful. It kind of looks like a castle and it's one of the most meidevil structures that we have been to on the trip. I thought it was interesting to see something so old and the inside of it was interesting to see the kitchen and the living quarters. Thank god I was born when I was because I don't think I could live like that. It had beautiful gardens outside and a river that ran in front of it...very peaceful. After that it was on to Chatsworth House which was by far the coolest house that we have been to in my opinion. Everyone in our group was excited again because it is where they filmed Pride and Prejudice and the Duchess. This time the gardens were much different instead of being perfectly groomed it was like taking a hike through Oregon or Washington. Everything was so green and picturesque. I loved just getting lost, I took off by myself and eventually found Darrin, Carolyn, Terri, and Susie we then set out trying to find some tree that Kiera Knightly sat on during Pride and Prejudice I think we may have found it but maybe we didn't, perhaps it doesn't exist. I didn't want to say that though because it might crush their fantasies. I bought a new book called Elephants on Acid and it's about all these different science experiments that you wouldn't think about that were conducted and it talks about their outcome. I have not read a book for a long time so I was excited that I couldn't put this one down. I'll have to let you know how it ends.

July 30, 2009

Yeah today we had a surprise free day which was well needed. Erika and I decided that we would sleep in and then we went out later that night and saw the musical Billy Elliot. The musical was so great I loved it. It is about a boy named Billy Elliot and he grew up with a family that was in the mining industry and they enrolled him in boxing. Billy didn't really want to be a boxer and one day he was late for his boxing class and he ended up having to stay and do a ballet class. Well that's all it took and Billy new that he wanted to be a dancer. Sound familiar? Anyway story of my life minus the mining part. It was so good and the dancing was amazing and Billy had a happily ever after. After that we were going to go out but we were tired so we just came back to the flat and crashed out. It was a fun day.

p.s. we also thought that we saw Rod Stewart at the train station....ha ha

July 29, 2009

Today we woke up and went to Stamford which is a cool town just outside of London. We were able to visit the Burghley House which was lots of fun. The house was so beautiful on the inside. But once again we were unable to take photos. So I took a few of the outside. The outside was nice and humongous with beautiful gardens...imagine that...a house we visited with beautiful gardens sounds a little too familiar. Anyway the house has it's own deer and they are really friendly and they would come up to you and let you pet them. They were sassy little deer but I guess I would too if I got to just roam around the grounds of the Burghley house. After we toured the inside of the house which was stunning such marquetry and beautiful beds, rugs, artwork you name it. Our professor Darrin was really excited to be there he made the tour fun because he pointed out all of the things that we normally would have overlookd. And Erika made the best comment ever saying to Susie that Darrin is so horny for Pride and Prejudice which is a movie that was filmed at the house. We laughed and Darrin has such a good sense of humor he too found it funny. We may have a surprise brewing for him in the future. Anyway after that we went to Stamford and walked around the town and went shopping and I got a couple of cute items. After that we went back to London, and Erika and I went out to this pub by our flat and we meet some nice people from Japan, and Italy, and the food conniseour of London. Then we came back to our flat and all the people from Temple were having a party so we hung out with them for awhile and then went to bed. I met a really nice girl named Tonya also from Temple studying broadcasting and she was fun to talk to. We had a really good day.