An Adventure in London: Day 1

I've spent the last couple days in London, seeing all the sights and spending some time with one of my English friends.

Francine and I left early (and I do mean early. Like 5:50 early.) on Wednesday morning. We didn't leave quite as early as we planned, because I ended up forgetting my shoes and had to go back for them. Then we got on the bus to get to our coach. But evidently we got on the wrong bus, because it didn't go to Piccadilly, so we got of on the wrong stop and took a taxi the rest of the way. Then we sat at the coach station for 15 minutes with this god-awful buzzing sound driving us insane. I have no idea what it was, but it was really annoying.

Then we had a four hour coach ride, which I mostly slept through. Once we got to London, we made out way on the tube to Mill Hill, which is where Fran's Grandma lives. Ann, Fran's grandma, was kind enough to let us stay with her for a couple days. She is an absolutely amazing woman, and she has a very thick Irish accent that I love. She was so kind, and even made me a cup of tea.

We made our way into London, and our first stop was Westminster. We saw the famous clock tower, which, by the way, is NOT called Big Ben. The bell is called Big Ben, and the tower itself is the Elizabeth Clock Tower.

And it was such a beautiful day!

Then we continued on to Westminster Abbey, which was recently the site of a royal wedding! We didn't go in, because it was expensive, but it was magnificent enough from the outside. At one point, we were standing on top of a wall to get better pictures, and this group of seven or eight boys with skateboards walked past and shouted, "Get those angles, girls!" Which made no sense at all. And then one of them tripped so we started dying. Anyway, here are the pictures we took:

Sadly, it was too expensive to go inside. 

Then we went for a walk in St. James's Park, which is just alone the road from Westminster Abbey. It was very beautiful, because the flowers have finally arrived and the trees are beginning to bloom.

 We were silly and took some fun pictures under the blossoms; Francine didn't get as into it as I did. We did get some funny looks though.

Then we went to a pub to meet some of Francine's old friends, who were lovely. We had a great time, and then went to dinner with them too. Then we made our way back to Mill Hill and crashed very soon after.

Nothing Exciting to Post

Sadly, I've not done anything in the past week worth mentioning. I've been very busy with schoolwork the past couple days, and I'm sorry to report that this trend will continue into this next week. I have 3 essays due these next two weeks, and as much as I would like to, I can't slack on my studies. I'm hoping to finish my essays early, and maybe plan a day trip for next weekend. I'm not sure where I want to go though; any suggestions?

I also plan on exploring more of Manchester this next week. I've not hardly been anywhere except the university. Maybe I'll make my way to the Northern Quarter, where there are supposed to me a lot of vintage shops and boutiques.

I'm very excited about my upcoming Easter break though. I'll have 3 weeks to do as I please. I'll spend one of those weeks with family. Susan and Ray said they would take me around Wales to see all the old castles. I also hope to make it up to Scotland. Francine, Katia, and I are planning a tentative trip to London at the tail end of the break. I'm very excited for London! I might be going more than once, too.

Then after Easter, it will be my birthday. I'm still very upset about having to spend my birthday away from home. This will be my first birthday that me and my best friend, DeAnne, (whose birthday is the 18th) will spend apart. Since meeting in second grade, we've always been together for our birthdays. I'm sure it will be fine though. My friends here will have no problem coming out with me to celebrate!