Busy Week in London
Trip Start
Aug 2008
1
12
44
Trip End
Jul 2009
Loading Map
London,
England,
United Kingdom
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Wednesday most of the girls headed out to high tea at the Berkley Hotel. Their tea service is called "fashionista tea." Their china is designer (which should be expected of the Berkely) and all of their snacks were shaped like actual designer goods. Having tea at the Berkley isn't cheap, so we were determined to make it worth it (like the cheap grad students we are)!! We amassed quite an extravagant number of tea pots on our table and had 3 servings of the little snacks. I think we were there for over 3 hours!
The Girls at Tea
Pink Coat
Fashionista Snacks
Banana Purse
Afterward we did a little shopping and a lot of walking. We walked past Harrod's. Since most people had already been there, we didn't go in ... it's still on my to-do list. BUT, they are all decorated for Christmas (they don't have the after-Thanksgiving rule here ... you know, since they don't have Thanksgiving ;).
Harrod's Decorated for Xmas
Wednesday night we were "forced" to celebrate one of our classmate's birthday. What a shame. We went out for a fun night of dinner and drinks.
Thursday I headed over to the Imperial War Museum b/c I have to write a paper on it and last time we were there, there were to many freaking little kids (it was their mid-term break). This time was much more enjoyable. Plus, it has info to accompany the Germany/Poland trip I just took.
Thursday night Erin and I went to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (8th row). IT WAS AMAZING!! The best performance of Joseph I have ever seen. The costumes, singing, and dancing were all over the top! Plus the cute little backup kids were all singing in their adorable British accents!
Friday we went to the Churchill Museum and War Rooms. We were a little early, so we decided to walk around a bit. As we were walking, we heard a band playing and a bunch of people lining up. So we walked over to the crowd ... it turns out we stumbled upon the changing of the guard. It was awesome. It would have been more awesome, if we were on the other side (not looking at the butts).
Guard Marching
Horse Butts
The War Rooms and Churchill Museum is by far the coolest museum you will ever go to. Plus, the war rooms are the actual underground bunker that they used during the war. Everything is preserved exactly as it was during the war. It was sooooo cool. Plus we all fell in love w/ Churchill. He was a pretty impressive guy!
Chiefs of Staff Conference Room
Hugging the Churchill Statue
Afterward the girls and I had lunch in the park and observed the TERRIBLE traffic design outside of Westminster Abbey and Big Ben (well, I observed it at least ... I think the KEG needs to take a field trip ;). Big Ben is ... big? Not sure how else to describe that one. I'm sure Westminster Abbey would be really cool if they didn't charge you 12:50 to get into it. We decided it's not worth it (i.e. that's the same as 6 beers at our new favorite bar!). Hopefully we'll make it to a service some time before we leave, because those are my favorite price ... FREE!
Westminster Abbey
Me and Ben
I did a little shopping afterward (when in Rome ...) and made it back to the dorm in time to drop my stuff off, eat, and head back out to see WICKED! I won't lie, it wasn't as good as it was in Chicago (w/ Double D and Bear), but it was still enjoyable. Plus, I got home in time to talk to the parental units and some of the KEGgers!!! :) We're in the process of planning another Belleville bar crawl for when I'm home at Christmas! We'll let you know the plans!
Wicked
Today Kieffer, Sarah, Erin, and I headed to the Borough Market. It was HUGE! They had everything you could possibly think of ... Chocolate, Beer, Dead animals, Sea food, Baked goods, Sandwiches, Fruits and Veggies and a ton more ... As you may have guessed, I only took part in the first 2.
Chocolate Truffles
Dead Birds
Then we went on a bus tour of London. We would have done a bike tour, but A. They drive on the wrong side of the road and B. Traffic is insane. We'd surely die. We saw all the key sights: London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, Tower Bridge, London Bridge, Tower of London, Trafalager Square, St. Paul's Cathedral, Madame Tussuad's, Margaret Thatcher's House, Buckingham Fountain, and a bunch of other random things. If I don't get to go in them, at least I got to see them.
London Eye
Piccadilly Circus decorated for Xmas
We're getting into crunch time, so the sight seeing will undoubtedly be slowing down (not the musicals, though, I have at least 5 more on my list). Next weekend I'm headed to one of Britain's islands to visit a few friends from high school, so it may be a week or 2 before your next update. Try not to miss them too much ;)
Enjoy your weekend!!
Becca
