Our London Adventure
Saturday, May 21. Wow! The last two days have been awesome and exhausting. My feet hurt a bit from all the walking. I love London. It's been an adventure finding our way around, but the system is similar to Paris, so not too bad. We made a list of things we wanted to do on this trip, found it on the map, and off we went. We didn't get to see quite everything, but that is quite impossible in two and a half days. I think we did pretty well all things considered. Friday we went to Big Ben, Westminster abbey, the London eye, the British museum ( Rosetta Stone, mummies, tourquoise, Mayan dragon) old city London ( St. Paul's cathedral), Piccadilly Square, the oldest book store in England (Hatchards) London bridge, the Tower of London and the tower bridge ( McKenna and I saw these from London bridge, Haley saw it up close) and then the Globe theater where we saw "The Taming of the Shrew!" It was a awesome day, a bit cold and sprinkly, but good. I'll give more details when I have an opportunity to put my pictures up. I'll have to wait until I get back to Paris. Today we saw Bakers Street,  Sherlock Holmes museum, Beatles London store, back to Piccidilly square for Haley to see the book store, we attempted to go to the temple, but that didn't work out, so next was cleopatras's needle, Buckingham Palace (we didn't get to see the changing of the guards or even get close to a guard), st. James park, Wellington arch (marks defeat at Waterloo. Weird to switch from Waterloo being a terrible loss for the french to a victory for the English. I had torn loyalties), bombing monument, Hyde park ( Diana's monument, little Nell, beautiful lake and lots of birds), Kensington gardens, which is connected to Hyde park ( Peter Pan statue, birds!), Abbey road( where the Beatles walked) and  road a double decker bus to a random location, because we could. We made it home Sometime closer to ten pm. We made ourselves pasta for dinner and prepared for heading back to Paris in the morning. We plan to leave by five forty five in the morning. Not looking forward to that. It's been a good ole time in London. We could have prepared better. Now we're older and wiser. ;) More details to come. Watch for updates to this post!
London Part one: Friday

 
 Big Ben is quite spectacular! Even with the clouds these pictures turned out pretty good.

Westminster Abbey!

 I thought this was a great pic with Big Ben and the London Eye in it. In front of me is the abbey.

 

 The abbey is beautiful! We couldn't go inside without paying, so we just walked around the outside. This is where many of the royal family have had their coronations for generations.

 
 Crossing the bridge to the London Eye.

 

 
The view fro the London Eye is spectacular! It's so high up, you can see so much of London!  When I reached the top, I reached into my purse for whatever reason that I can't remember now, and found my banana had gotten squished all over my purse, my wallet, and my sweater. That was lovely to clean up. People were looking at me funny. Luckily I had tissues with me. I wanted to eat that. Darn.

 

We found the British Museum and decided to take pics in the classic red phone booths that were out front. We felt pretty cool. The museum is free, which is even better!!!! Special exhibits aren't unfortunately. We wanted to see the sunken cities of Egypt one, but we're too poor for that. :) Haley wanted to spend about five hours here, but McKenna was a bit museumed out, so I dragged her around for an hour and a half before we left to go to Inner City London. We basically quickly walked through each floor of the museum (5), barely stopping to read anything, so I could still see everything I wanted to see, but not stay there forever. It was fun. Way too many stairs though.

 

 
Just hanging out with my Egyptian friends! They're a bit frightening at first, but not bad once you get to know them.

 
Made a trip to Easter Island before heading to Africa where I found this fellow on the right. Isn't he fun?

NO WAY! NO WAY! NO WAY!!! I've always wanted to see the Rosetta Stone! I still have my archaeology book for kids that I first discovered the Rosetta Stone from when I was in Middle school. Look mom, I finally did it! Tears of Joy.

 
Taking a look around the Parthenon.  McKenna is in awe of how big this column is.

I found Gandolf!!! Not kidding guys, he looks just like him, beard and all. I was trying to take a picture discreetly, so as not to be creepy, but I couldn't get one with him looking.

 
More of Athens!!!!

 
Took a detour to Japan! Found this tea house and samurai armor.  Totally awesome.

Back to Athens! :) We might have doubled through some floors to find everything I wanted to see. I think that crown would fit me perfectly. Just saying.

 I think this was Alaska...Indian of some sort. Isn't he cute?

 

 Made a stop in India to visit the temple and gain enlightenment. Also found these interesting, large figurines. They're fierce looking.

 
Mexico! I've always wanted to see the dragon!!! It's smaller than I imagined. Someday I'll go the pyramids/temples there!

 Back to Japan! They have a lovely jade collection. It's amazing what they could do with the stuff.

Back to Africa! I thought this horn made from a  elephant tusk was cool...and sad. Poor elephant.

Saying goodbye to the museum. I'm sure it misses me. :') We had a lovely hour and a half together.

                                                                  The first YMCA!

 

 
It's St. Paul's Cathedral!!!! It's a beautiful church. I couldn't resist singing "Feed The Birds." McKenna has only seen Mary Poppins once when she was younger. This was an iconic moment for me. Julie Andrews was here!!!!

 

 Short detour to look at these cool things!!!! This gate way is one of the few that remains from old London. It's pretty cool. The monument on the left is dedicated to the great fire of 1666 that burned much if inner city London. It's height marks the distance from  where the fire started at a bakers shop. Pretty cool eh?

 

 

More of St. Paul's. Again, you can't get in without paying, but I wanted to step inside the doors, so this is the view from the doorway.

 
Cool random church we found exploring old London. It's undergoing renovations right now.

 
Obelisque dedicated to Robert Waithman.

 

 I think Dr. Johnson and I would have got a long great. I could never tire of London!

 
Cool old place that used to belong to a bookseller. The family crust is still on the gate.

This is where prince Henry used to live at one point. Pretty cool, eh?

 

 
 This monument on the left marks the spot where the famous, devastating fire of September 1666 was put out.

 
This is a famous old inn. It connects to a church and has a short cut cutting through its yard.

 
This passage is more narrow then the narrowest street in Paris.  It's got a funny name. Just saying.

 
Different memorials or statues to people in the old city.

 

 This is Piccadilly Circus! The fountain is Shaftsberry Memorial Fountain. This place is basically the Time Square equivalent of New York, but in London. It's pretty cool.

I thought this sign was silly, so here it is for your enjoyment.

 
This is Hatcherds, the second oldest bookstore in the world and the oldest in England, established in 1797. It's a great bookstore. We spent quite a bit of time here.

 Southwark Cathedral next to London Bridge. Beautiful.

 The view from London Bridge! You can see the Tower of London and the Gate bridge of London. It was nice to be near the water. The river Thames is pretty awesome. A man was selling roasted peanuts on the bridge. They smelled so good.  Talk about torture. There are a lot of pubs between the bridge and the Globe. Makes sense considering the history of this side of the bank as being shady. There is a small section of restaurants thought that smelled soooo good. I could have died and gone to heaven. We tried to walk to the Globe quickly though so as to avoid the drunk hour that was sure to follow by the looks of it. Have no fear, we made it perfectly fine.

A little history of prisons for you. :) It's in English so have at it.  Sorry it's a bit blurry.

 

 
We met back up with Haley here at the Globe!!!!! We saw "The Taming of the Shrew!!!!" It was really good, a bit more crude then I would like, but it is Shakespeare as it most likely would have been done originally. The magicians were awesome too! Very talented and entertaining. It was so cool to be here, you guys! Of course we're too poor to afford real seats, so we got to stand in the yard for five pounds, which is about 8 U.S. dollars. It was so legit! As soon as half time came around, almost all of the yard standers sat down. Mostly young people and students, I presume. We'd already been walking literally all day, so standing that long was fun, but totally worth it. I'd do it again.

This is the view of the river Thames outside the Globe at about ten a clock at night. Quite beautiful.

This is Millennial Bridge, not far from the Globe. 

London part two: Saturday 

 Famous authors and a composer that lived on this street.

We made it to Sherlock Home's house! Its a museum that only Haley went into, but McKenna and I enjoyed the gift shop and just being there.  We each got business cards of Sherlock Holmes! It was pretty cool. I love Sherlock Holmes books!

 
Look what we found next door to Sherlock Holmes's House! This store is dedicated only to the Beatles. As we looked around we got serenaded by their songs. It was awesome. I know more of their songs  then I thought I did.

 
We went back to Piccadilly Square to show Haley Hatchards since she didn't come with us yesterday. This is a quote from "The Little Princess" that I like. Sorry it's sideways. I don't know how to fix it. We spent a lot of time at the bookstore. I started reading "Peter Pan" while Haley looked around. I got to the part where Peter kicks John out of bed before we finally left. I could have stayed there until I finished my book, but we had much too much to do and I can read "Peter Pan" any time.

Cleopatra's Needle, similar to the Obelisk at Place de Concorde, was a gift from Egypt to England. It's pretty cool. A bit damaged from a bomb that went off at a station near by.

View from the Needle. The bridge on the right is Waterloo where Napoleon was defeated.

Look at this cool bench you guys! Why can't we have cool benches in the states?

It's a hobbit home in the metro! First Gandolf at the museum and now this. I'm sensing a pattern here.

 It's Diana!!!! AKA Artemis. <3

 
St. James Park by Buckingham Palace.

 

 Buckingham Palace!!! The queen is in ladies and gents! The flag is up. The fountain is The Queen Victoria memorial. It's right outside the Palace. Very nice.

 

 These are war monuments, dedicated to allies and to the deaths of so many soldiers.

                                  Wellington arch dedicated to his defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.

 This is Hyde Corner, where people come to debate political and philosophical issues. There wasn't anyone there when we went, but it was a rainy day, so I can't blame them.

 Little Nell. debated whether to originate from a mermaid fountain.

 
This tree is the bomb you guys!!!! It naturally grew like a little hut. It's so cool!!! I wanted to climb it so bad.

McKenna trying to make friends with Mr. Squirrel.  He came pretty close actually. I was quite surprised bu the courage this little animal showed.

 

 The lake in Hyde Park is quite large and is a natural reserve for wild life, which includes many birds. I've never seen so many swans, pigeons, storks, and ducks in one place. There were other birds too, but I can't name them all. The park is quite breathtaking.

 
Still trying to make friends with the animals. :) The squirrel went right up to his hand. It was impressive. McKenna didn't have such luck.

Haley says this is a type of duck. I've never seen such a funky looking duck before! He's got this, "I'm so cool" look going on.

The duck on the right started hissing at the egret. It was quite scary actually. I'm not gonna lie. Who knew ducks could hiss?

 
Diana's memorial fountain, where one can go and stick their hands and feet into the water without getting into trouble.

 

The egret was just posing for me. It was so perfect I couldn't resist. 

You guys!!!!!! This was literally the best moment of my life!!!!  We saw a group of people feeding the birds in the park: pigeons and parakeets, so we decided to see if they would land on us, even though we had no food and they did!!!! I held up my hands and they flew to me. They didn't fly away when they didn't find food either. They stayed. It was the most pure joy I've felt in a long time. One of the canaries kept biting my fingers. He sat on my hand for about five minutes straight without doing anything, then he started biting me, so I had to shake him off. He came back to apologize later, so I forgave him. Obnoxious little bird, bit me again. I've decided that he likes to say love with a bite. Anyone who's seen "Bango" will get that reference. The pigeons pecking doesn't hurt much, but the parakeets biting does. No blood though, so we're all good. Carson lost his bet to McKenna because of this. He bet her ten Euros if she could catch a pigeon without trickery. Too bad for you Carson. :) McKenna and Haley were super tired and sore by this point (I was a bit too). The birds raised their spirits immensely. I'll put up pictures of us holding the birds when I get them from McKenna and Haley. I was too busy holding the birds to take pictures.

I've wanted to see this statue since I saw "Anne Two" when I was young. It was awesome!!!!
 
Italian style garden and a insanely cute fountain with bears hugging!

 
This was an awesome toy store we found near Baker Street. That is a life size lego dude and, though maybe not quite life size, Hiccup and Toothless are quite large also!

                                      Another famous person who lived in London. Shocker. :)

This is Abbey Road, the sight where the Beatles did their walk. I'll post the picture with us imitating them later when I get it from McKenna. It was fun trying to get this picture. The road is actually quite busy. People run into the road when the cars are less frequent, snap a picture and continue. Some people did this for what felt like a hundred times. We only needed to do it once because we're perfect that way. Cars hate pedestrians here. I can't say I blame them after seeing how they acted.

 

 

 Riding the red, double Decker bus!!!!! We rode it because of course we had to before we left back to Paris. It was fun and scary at the same time. It felt high up, like we were gonna hit something, and being on the left side of the rode freaks me out a little bit, not gonna lie. I think drivers here are less crazy then those in Paris though.

 
We took Baker street station to head home. They have Holmes on the walls made up of little Holmes! It's awesome.
Saturday night/Sunday 
Once we got home we made ourselves dinner and talked with our hosts. They really are a sweet family. Naheem got up early this morning to open the door for us to leave. They don't give keys to their guests. One of them is always home to receive them. They were very gracious and kind. We made it to bed around one in the morning and got up at five thirty am. My eyes wouldn't open at first. My brain was telling them to work, but they refused. We left a bit later then planned because of our lack of sleep, but we still made it out by six am. We managed to get to the train station with half hour to spare as well. Go us!!! The train ride was uneventful and smooth. I tried to sleep, but I couldn't. We got back to Croissy around twelve pm. I unpacked and I've been working on this blog ever since, with breaks to eat and dance. I'm surprised that I haven't crashed yet with only having gotten four and a half hours of sleep last night. I'm hoping to talk with my dad tonight before I go to sleep. Hopefully I can stay awake long enough for that. Our host family's grandchild got baptized today. After the baptism about thirty or so friends and family came over to the house to celebrate. We got to meet the grandchildren when we got home. They are precious. Their son and daughter in law seem sweet too. London was a dream, but it's good to be home in Croissy. Too bad we have school tomorrow. Our second professor starts tomorrow. He's french, so if I'm being totally honest I'm a bit nervous. I've met him before because of the interview process for this trip and he's a nice man, but you can be nice man and a scary professor. Fingers crossed. Hopefully he'll take pity on us. Ta ta for now! Love you!

 

 

Train ride back from London to Paris. These screens tell you how fast and how deep the train goes in this route. It's pretty insane. We go underwater and hit the speed of 275 km/h. It's no wonder that the trip from London to Paris only takes about two and a half hours with a train like this,