Eiffle Tower

Moulin Rouge

Fountainbleau and Louve

Paris Day 1

Friday was a really long, and really short day at the same time. We took a really fast train to Paris. It only took three hours. We got to go under the English Channel! I was really disapponted because I didn't get to see the water before, after, or during the English Channel part. But I was very glad that it was a short ride. We got to Paris at 2:30 and there was supposed to be a bus waiting for us, but it was late. We waited around until 5:30, then determined it wasn't coming and decided to take taxis. We ended up waiting outside the train station for 4 hours. It was kind of fun to see all of the people walking by and stuff. I was just glad that we were standing under a roof because it rained a few times. We had a great bonding experience, though. I had a good time.

This is the view out our window...a little ways out our window.
I was so happy when we got to the hotel and it was like an American hotel. I am sharing a room with Kaari and Cassie. So far we've had fun. I like it, I'm very pleased.
We had a sweet bus pick us up today. It was a Mercades Benz!

Eating ice cream at Fountainbleau.

Last Day in London

It has been a great two weeks here in West Kensington. I have enjoyed my stay here. I have seen the coolest buildings and learned so much history here. England has so much and it's crazy to see how old everything is. In America our vision of old is definatly not old. Their trees are even cooler because they are old. I was just so amazed at how big everything is. It feels like home to me, so I feel like going to Paris is going to be kind of like when I left home to come to London.

Today was way chill. We went to lunch at Nando's. That was my best food experience in England. I loved it. It was a Portugese chicken grill-type thing. I had a chicken pita with their special sauce on it. Holy crap, it was amazing. I'm so sad we didn't find it sooner. I also ate a nut mix that was seasoned with their spicy sauce. It was so good. I wanted to figure out a way to bring some back home with me, but that didn't really work out. At dinner time, we went to Wagamama, but Cassie, Lindsey, and I weren't very hungry, so we just had desert. This is a picture of our chocolate fudge cake. It was amazing. Today was over all a good food day.

Defying Gravity

Here we are waiting for tickets! It's pretty cold.

This morning we set off to The Apollo Theatre in Victoria and stood in line to get tickets for Wicked!! We waited outside for about an hour and a half until the box office opened and we got tickets! They weren’t even that expensive! I’m so excited to go see it! We also went to Syon House today. Robert Adam was the architect and his style was really busy. All of the furniture and ceiling carvings had immaculate detail. They were crazy, I tried to sketch things, but everything was too complicated. Anyway, I’m really excited to see Wicked tonight and I will have sweet pictures to post later tomorrow.This is everyone after the play. We loved it. It was incredible. I have never seen anything so great in my life. I was even in more awe than when I saw Aida. Aida is still my favorite musical though. I was sitting on the front row, right in front of the speaker, so the music was LOUD! It was just how I like it. It was kind of overpowering and made my seat shake. I think that made the whole effect more powerful and exhilarating. I'm serious guys, Wicked was amazing. Elphiba had such an amazing voice and she was perfect for the part. I loved being able to see their faces up close. I'm so glad I went it was the highlight of my trip-well, I don't know...I say that about everything, but it was definitely the highlight of my day.
This is Cassie and I waiting for the show to start. Yeah!
Lindsey, Sharele, and I were so excited to see it. This is us on our way to our seats. We weren't sitting by each other, so we had to take pictures before we parted ways.

Chatsworth, Tuesday June 19

Today was Chatsworth. We had another two hour train ride, but the best thing is that we don’t have to go on a long train ride again until we go to Paris. Yeah!! But seriously, Chatsworth was so awesome. We could actually take pictures inside. Maybe that’s why I liked it so much. We didn’t have a guided tour, so Lindsey, Kaari, Cassie, Chance and I walked through together with some funny old ladies. We were behind them for a while just laughing at everything they said, and then we talked to them. They became our little travel buddies, and we had some pretty good laughs. They are from Essex and they are best friends and it was so cute to see how close their friendship was. They are really old too, 85, 87, and 88. Meeting those ladies made my day.

Once again, I loved the gardens. They were beautiful. I think they were my favorite so far. There was a man made water fall thing that we got to play in. That was so great, I love water! There was also a section that looked like the mountains. It made me very homesick. I loved it though. There were rocks, huge rocks and dirt and trees and plants...everything you would expect if you were hiking in the canyon. We had a hay day. It was wonderful!

Monday in Oxford

Our train ride was only 1 hour today!! We went to Blenheim Palace. We couldn’t take pictures inside, so we all sketched a lot. I actually really liked this because I had to practice sketching and I had to do it really fast. I also got to try cream tea. I don’t know what this sounds like to you, but I was expecting something totally different. I was told it was a scone. I pictured a warm deep fried pastry, but it was more like a biscuit and you put clotted cream and jam on it. It was really good, just not what I was expecting. Once again, the gardens were beautiful. Lindsey, Chelsea, Cassie, Kaari, and Chance walked through them taking random pictures all over the place. We had such a great time. One of the gardens was called the Secret Garden. It was beautiful! There were so many cool plants and it was just over all gorgeous.

We found a grocery store!! That was the highlight of my trip. I was so excited to see a large store with good food and they had shopping carts and everything. We were so excited that we took pictures! Our only regret is that we didn't find it sooner. It was only a 10 minute walk from our hostel. we could have been eating good food all along! Oh well. I'm glad we found it at all.

Great Scot!

This weekend was amazing. We arrived in Edinburgh, Scotland Saturday morning after waking up at 4 and riding a train for 5 hours. To everyones surprise, it was freezing cold outside. We were definitely not dressed for the occasion. The manager of our hostel, Muhammad, picked us up from the train station and got us settled in our rooms. They were actually a lot better than I was expecting. They had a mirror and a TV! This is more than we have in London, it still wasn’t a wonderful hotel, but we only stayed one night and this room did the job. We ate breakfast/lunch at an Italian Café called Papilio’s. It was really yummy (or maybe we just hadn’t eaten in so long, that anything would satisfy us). After we were all full and getting used to the cold, we headed up to Edinburgh Castle. It looked so awesome in the fog and the grey sky. I loved it, it was just like I had always imagined Scotland to look like. In order to get to the castle, we hiked up a pretty big hill. When we got to the top, we came upon a construction fence that we couldn’t pass. We could see people going into the castle, but they were a fence and sidewalk away. We had no idea how we got so lost or how to get to where all the people were, but we went around and finally made it up there. Even though we did that hike for no reason, it was still worth it. It felt good to be in the mountains again. It was really pretty. Zach and Katie decided to climb fences and walls instead of walk around, so this is a picture of them when we found them. They were stuck on the other side of this fence. It was fun to see them try to meet up with us! The castle was really cool. It looked especially great in the fog. To me, it felt more like we were there during a war or when the castle was actually in use. After we toured the castle, we walked down the Royal Mile and shopped in all of the souvenir shops. We saw a lot of cool things, and saw a lot of people playing the bagpipes. I loved hearing the Scottish music in all of the stores. I really like that stuff, it makes me want to dance.

We ate Mexican food for dinner!! I was so excited! It was different than Mexican in America or even in Mexico, but it was still good. Then we went back to the hostel and watched TV and went to bed. It was really nice to just go to sleep.

I don’t know if this had anything to do with the bedding at the hostel, but Sunday morning, I woke up with an eye infection. My eye was swollen shut and I had a hard time opening it for the rest of the day. Hopefully the sheets weren’t infested! Anyway, we took a train to Prestwich and we were headed to see Calzein Castle, but our timing was off so we wouldn’t have time. So instead we went to the beach!! It happened to be the first sunny day in 4 weeks. We played in the water; it wasn’t even cold! It was fun to just hang out, collect rocks, and run along the beach all afternoon. I even got to eat ice cream on the beach in Scotland. It was a wonderful day. I love Scotland! This was the best weekend of my life.

Stonehenge

On Friday, I went to Stonehenge with Cassie, Kaari, Chance, Lindsey, Chelsea, and Lila. It was so cool. I was not expecting much, but it was AMAZING!! The sky was overcast and it was pouring rain. I think that made it look better than if it had been sunny. It was kind of mysterious. They rocks were beautiful and the history behind it made it such a neat experience. I'm so glad I got to see one of the oldest things on the Earth.

Thursday, June 14th

Today was awesome!! We took the train to Cambridge and had an all day tour of the city. Our tour guide, Sally, was so cool and enthusiastic about everything. She loved the history and was so excited to teach us about it. She took us to a really nice café for lunch. It used to be a church and it had been turned into a café called Michael House. I wanted to try something new, so I ate a grilled cheese and pear panini. It was really good. Sally took us to King’s College Chapel, which had amazing fan vaulted ceilings. There was also a really cool organ. It was in the middle of the chapel, so you could see it from both sides.

Later on, we went punting on the Cam River. The Cam surrounds the whole town and all of the colleges. Punting is like rowing, you get in a boat and someone stands with a long stick and floats you down the river. It’s like a gondola in Italy. It was really cool. Everything was so pretty there.

Wednesday, June 13th

What an adventure today was! I think it has been my favorite day of the whole trip. We went to Hardwick Hall, the old one that’s in ruins and also the new one. They were both pretty cool, but I didn’t like all of the tapestries on the wall in the new Hardwick Hall. When we were done there, we took the bus to Haddon Hall. I LOVED Haddon Hall. I honestly believe that it is the coolest thing I have seen in my entire life. Haddon Hall is the perfect example of what you think of when you think of a castle. It was stone and had turrets, and the huge arched wooden doors with iron hinges and handles. It was so perfect. I think Andie would really feel like a princess if she went here, I know I did. Another cool thing about Haddon…Princess Bride was filmed here in the courtyard. When Princess Buttercup is being presented to all of the people.

After the Haddon Hall tour was over we headed back to the train for our two hour train ride back to London. After being on the train for 2 hours and we weren’t about to stop and London wasn’t mentioned we wondered where we were. It turns out we got on the wrong train. We asked the people next to us where we were and when they found out we were trying to go to London, they just laughed and said, “We’re near Wales!” Our two hour train ride ended up being 5 hours! We made the best of it though. We actually enjoyed ourselves a lot. Holly, Cassie, Kaari, Lindsey and I played many games on the train and laughed at our mistake. That made our trip even more memorable! I never knew how much fun a misfortune could be.

Happy Birthday Cassie, June 12

Today we went to Salisbury Cathedral. This was an AMAZING experience. We took a tour for about and hour through the cathedral and it was fantastic. The ceilings were so high and the organ was interesting. It was so big, just like everything is here. I feel so small and insignificant here. I also enjoyed the colors inside the cathedral. I thought that was cool, but we also got to tour the attic. Holy crap. I have never had an experience like that im my life. It was unreal. We got to go above the ceilings and see what the vauling looks like from on top and the guide explained how they built it. We got to go all the way to the top except for the spiral because it’s too unsafe. But we got to the highest level and got to go outside and see England from 400 feet high.

We also saw Wilton House today. This is where the Earl of Pembroke lives. It was a really cool building and, once again, the grounds were beautiful. My favorite part was the playground. There was a trampoline, and many other cool toys. They had tire swings, a zip line, slides, a teader todder. We had so much fun. We made friends with a few of the kids and they were asking us to take their picture and show them. They were so cute. Anyway, we had a blast.

For dinner, we all went to an Italian resturaunt for Cassie's 21st birthday. The food was so good. It was fun to celebrate with Cassie too.

Monday in London

Today Lindsey, Chelsea, and I went to Leicester Square to use our laptops with the free wireless internet, but we never did get connected. Dang. But, there was a good side. The Odeon Theatre is on Leicester Square and tonight was the opening of Shrek 3. There happened to be a red carpet event going on. There were celebrities there and tons of people. I would have to say, that was well worth the trip. Very cool.

The rest of the day wasn't my favorite. We went to the Design Museum and the main exhibit we were going to see was under construction. That's too bad, but other than that, it was a cool museum, not exactly worth going to, but since we were there it was great. We also went to the Tate Modern art museum. I don't really like modern art, i think. It wasn't the coolest thing we've done. We saw a Monet painting, that was pretty cool.

We walked by the Globe Theatre today. I was pretty excited to see it. Othello is playing there now and I've already seen it, so I won't see a play there, but it's a cool thing to see.

We walked past Southwark Cathedral and there was an organ playing, so we walked in and heard him play. It was a neat cathedral, but it turns out we went in the wrong door and we weren't supposed to be in there taking pictures, but nontheless, we were there and thus have pictures. This is a bunch of the group chillin' while we waited for everyone else so we could leave.

The best part of my day was eating the BEST gelato of my life. It was hazelnut and it tasted so great. I love gelato.

Weekend in London

Saturday was full of fun! We went to the Portobello Market and Oxford Street to shop...all day long. We ate KFC, wonderful food! This is Maryum, Winnie, Jesi, Lindsey, and I eating our lovely American Chicken.

On Sunday we woke up early to get to church in Hyde Park, but apparently we didn't get up early enough. The train drove off just as we were getting to the platform, so we were late to church and missed the Sacrament. But, never fear, we went back later and took the sacrament at the Portugese/Spanish branch. We got to sing hymns in Spanish and in Portugese. That was pretty cool.


After church, Karrissa, Jesi, Lindsey, and I crossed the street and went to the science museum. That was so cool. They had displays of all the great inventions like cars, airplanes, tractors, and space exploration. There was and American flag on the space ship that landed on the moon. I saw that and was like, "YEAH! America, it's so familiar!" In the basement they had 'hands on' exhibits and you could do all sorts of fun things. We had a party. The coolest thing was a radio that had been disassembled. You put a bowl on top and you could hear the music. Another trick was to put your chin on top of it and plug your ears. Haha! We looked funny, but we could hear it!

We went back to the V&A museum for a little bit today and Linds and I modeled Dahli's Lip Sofa. Not as comfortable as you may think, it's kind of hard and plasticy.

Hyde Park was not too far from where we were, so we spent a few hours there. This picture is us sticking our feet in the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. It felt so good!! Our feet got so tired. We also took a picture in front of this really cool statue that came out of no where. My favorite part was eating ice cream in the park, it was peach/mango, and it tasted marvelous!

We took the not-so-short walk over to the Tower of London and St. Paul's Cathedral. We didn't get to tour St. Paul's but we went to church there instead! Three church services today-We got way too much religion for our own good ;) This picture is in front of the extremely large doors of St Paul's.

The British Waiter...or was he American?

Hampton Court was huge. The gardens were beautiful. I couldn't believe how much property and land the King's had that lived there. My favorite room there was in the King's bed chambers. It was a room with guns everywhere. It remided me of somethings Grandpa Benson would do. This picture shows a few of the gun arraingments on the wall and there were more on every side of the room. There had to be a thousand guns in that room. It was a cleaver arraingement, I especially liked the ones in a circle.
Back to the gardens we spent about and hour in the gardens and we only got to see about an eighth of them. I could not get over the fact that the royal family had so much land! I don't know what I would do with that much space, except maybe have parties all the time! These pictures are of the cool hedge that is cut so exact, my sitting on a really awesome bench, and the swan that tried to bite me! It was a great experience.

We ate dinner at a Pizzaria in town and our waiter did and impression of an American accent. He really sounded like an American! It was great.

Wetminster Abbey, here we come!

Westminster Abbey is HUGE! The ceilings were a million miles away, and I felt so little inside that enormus church. Elaborate fan vaultings covered the hallway ceilings. The details in the whole building were insane. My favorite part was lighting a prayer candle. They had hundreds of small candles that you could light and set a candle holder. The picture is me comming out of the oldest part of Westminster that is still intact. It had a really cool door, actually there were two of them. Talk about security! On our way the V&A museum, Lindsey and I stopped to check out this sweet phone booth, it stunk pretty bad, other than that it was cool.

The V&A museum was awesome. I saw many cool things there. One highlight was this Roman column. It was so big. we saw it from the 2nd floor and it went all the way to the ceiling. It was part of an exhibit that was a replicate of Rome for people that are in England and cant go to Rome to see thoes amazing things. This blown glass chandelier was hanging in the V&A as well, super sweet! Last thing from the V&A, a glass bench. Not only is it the coolest glass bench I've ever seen, but it has lights floating in it! Definately a highlight of the day.