"Shhh..... Guys! They speak our language."

The time here at the Abbey gets more and more exciting with each passing day.  This weekend I went with Jacelyn, Amanda, Casey, Charlotte, and Elizabeth to London!  It was spectacular!  We were only there for two days, but that was enough for me to fall in love with the city.

The trip there, however, was not as spectacular.  I had the first anxiety attack of my life between the time Jessica left and the time our train came to pick us up.  I thought a guy was going to blow up our train.  And last but definitely not least, a man tried to steal something out of my backpack while I was walking through the metro in Paris.  Needless to say, getting to London was not the beginning of our trip that I had envisioned. 

The next morning we arrived in London around 8h30.  We went straight to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guards.  I enjoyed it, but I think I was the only one.  That's mainly because I could see what was going on and they couldn't.


After that, we got lost in Notting Hill looking for our hotel.  We saw four Madeline-like classes walking along the sidewalk before asking a woman where to go.  She had never heard of the street, but told us to get an AtoZ (pronounced zed, not zee), which is a book with maps of all the streets in London.
We found our hotel, but couldn't get a cot for 3 more people.  The man at the desk let one more person stay in our room free of charge, but two people had to go to another hotel for the night because there wasn't an opening for that night in our hotel.

That night, we went to the London Eye which is a huge ferris wheel from which one can see all of London.  We went at night, so the whole city was lit up.  It was beautiful.  I got so many good pictures from that one ride.  It takes thirty minutes and was the best 18.50 pounds I spent.  After the London Eye, we went to Westminster.  We  did not go in because it was closed.  We saw Big Ben and Parliament when we were at the London Eye (they're right next to each other). 

The next day we woke up and went to the Tower of London!  One of the coolest places I've ever been!  Being there was strange because so many famous people had been there like Anne Boleyn, the two princes who were killed (I think) by Richard III, and William the Conqueror (the first three of which were killed there).  We got to see the Crown Jewels which were ridiculously amazing.  We saw the 2nd largest diamond in the world (530 carats).  It was the largest until 1985 when the Jubilee Diamond was discovered.  If you or someone you know goes to the Tower of London, make sure you or they take the beefeater tour!  They are the yeoman wardens who guard the tower.  They are part of the British military.  There are only 35 and they have over 20 years of experience in the military.  It's a serious job.  They get to march in the Queen's parades and what not.

After the Tower of London we went to St. Paul's Cathedral!  I was SUPER pumped about this because it is where Prince Charles and Princess Diana were married.  We didn't go on the tour, because it was too expensive and I'm pretty sure I was the only one that wanted to go. The outside was beautiful enough though.  I also found a statue of John Wesley there.  Look him up if you don't know who he is.

After that, we went to Portobello Road and did a little browsing.  We ate fish and chips at a pub near our hotel and went back to get some much needed sleep.  We came back the next day and happened upon other Abbey students on the train back to St. Pierre des Corps.  It's so good to see Abbey students after a weekend away!  It's the next best thing to seeing family!