McDonalds, Handicapped Access, and History!

Thanks to Janessa and Sister Black for commenting!  I haven't had a chance to try fish and chips yet (probably later today since I feed myself on Saturdays) or crepes.  The guys are in the attic room but I'm still at the top in #4 with eleven other girls.  Roomies at last!  I'll post pictures of the centre as soon as I can.  I really get a kick out of the fact that the water comes out in hot and cold in different faucets so you either burn your hands or freeze to death.  Also, the see through shower doors are... uh, nice.

Last night for dinner we ate pea and mint soup.  They put this huge bowl of green stuff on the table and none of us could figure out what it was except for the mint leaves in it.  That was different.  Nobody ate much.  We hurried to get ready and then we headed for the National Theatre to see Ralph Fiennes who I know as VOLDEMORT.  I rode the Tube for the first time. It went a lot faster than I expected and it was pretty crowded (try keeping fifty people together in a group on something like that), but I'm pretty sure I had a silly grin on my face the whole time. Unfortunately most of us couldn't stay awake through his presentation and so, as Dr. M. put it, we all looked like "a bunch of drunken sailors."  There was a sign on the wall right outside the theatre that said, "How have you been sleeping lately?" Not well, my friend. Not well. We also saw the Thames. It was beautiful.

Really tired on the tube

We all went home and were sent to bed. I haven't fallen asleep that fast in years. A couple of times I woke up, looked at the beautiful buildings across the street from us, and went back to sleep smiling. My alarm clock didn't work so I overslept a little but it was all right. I found some people to go with to get breakfast and I went to the glamorous, healthy McDonalds. I don't know if she gave me the right change or not because I still have no idea which coin means what. I should figure that out soon. I might need to distinguish between a two pound coin and a one pence coin.

What I came here to see!

We met in the classroom to get an introduction to our London walks course and then we had an hour to do the preparation reading before we set out. We went on the Theatre Walk and it was quite a long trip.

I love how much history there is everywhere. This area was owned by the church in the middle ages, the crown in Tudor times, Leicester square was once the most scandalous place for entertainment, and so on. It's so cool to think about all the people who have walked the same roads I walked today.

A closer shot

Unfortunately, my tube ticket didn't work and I had to go through the handicapped entrance every time. Lovely. Still, when I crossed the street and I saw Big Ben, I cried. I never thought I'd really see it in person but there I was, staring across the river at the London Eye and Big Ben. I can't even express the way I felt.

Cleopatra's Needle

Forgot to do my hair... oops.

We started this walk at the Temple tube stop. We caught a glimpse of St. Pauls, the area we were last night from across the river, and the Thames. We stopped at the 60 foot high Cleopatra's Needle, took pictures with the sphinxes, and I loved seeing a bit of Egypt in London. There's a bit of everything here. The obelisk goes back two centuries before Ramses the Great. Mary and Joseph might have seen this while they were in Egypt. We passed the place where Gilbert and Sullivan became famous. We also saw the statue of the man who is responsible for the three hour church block, Robert Raikes who founded Sunday School. Soon I want to go into this park area and look more closely at the statues here. We went through Charing Cross and up to the Strand, which wasn't paved until Tudor times. We saw Somerset House where many royals have lived, including one of my personal favorites, Elizabeth I as well as James I, Charles I, and Charles II.

In front of something old

The Sunday School guy

Opera singer at Covet Gardens 

Covet Gardens

 Magician street performer

Soon we came to Drury Lane (there's supposed to be a muffin man there I think). It started out as excellent theatre, was the place of the first cases of the plague in 1665, and one of the worst slums in London in the 1700s. Next was the Theatre Royal and some other museums.

Theatre Royal

Puppets at a toy shop

Next was my favorite part of the walk, Covet Garden. There is so much going on! I particularly enjoyed the magician street performers and all the incredible sounds (an opera singer, for example) and smells of delicious food.


I loved St. Paul's, not the Cathedral but the actor's church. The outside is where the flower girl scene in My Fair Lady is! Inside an orchestra was rehearsing. The chapel was incredible. I wish I could have taken some good pictures.

Orchestra at St. Paul's

Leicester (Pronounced “Lester”... not as cool as it looks, huh?) Square was both fascinating and disappointing. I tried to get a good look of all the shows playing. A lot of it was under construction so several statues I would have liked to see weren't there. We saw the lovely Piccadilly Circus as well. I can't remember which but one of them had gigantic TV screens across whole buildings. Whoa. I think it was Piccadilly but I don't remember.

Shrek at Trafalgar Square

Don't stand too close! No... seriously.

We headed to Trafalgar Square where we saw the National Gallery, a giant ship in the bottle, and the famous lions you see pictures of people sitting on. After this the group was sent wherever we wanted to go. One girl and I went to take a quick peek around the Gallery (quick meaning, look in two rooms and leave. We'll be back later) and then to St. Martin's-In-The-Field. I'm so glad we stopped here because I loved it. I saw a whipping post used in the 1700s and really, really, REALLY old gravestones. We stopped to talk to an artist there and had a lovely conversation with him. He happened to be doing biotechnology in America twenty years ago. Hooray for biotechnology! We then took pictures in the Square (I got wet in the fountain) and passed an anti-war demonstration.

Notice the colors!  Also notice that I'm not in it.  Yay!

Ship in a bottle

Whipping post in St. Martin's that was used in the 1700s.  Ew!

Gravestone of someone who fought in the American Revolution.  On England's side of course.

We headed back to Covet Garden and wandered for quite some time. One of my favorite moments was when I cracked a joke about needing to figure out where to see Narnia in London and a little boy in front of us turned around and gave me the weirdest look. One of my least favorite moments was wen we stopped to talk about something and looked back over at a street performer who for some reason was undressing. We looked at each other and walked off quickly. You don't see that in Provo...

We walked all over, bought food, and just took in the sights and sounds of the place. We decided to go back to the M&M store we had seen so we headed over to that. I am so glad we did! Quite possible the coolest store I have ever been in. We had to take pictures of ourselves with giant M&M statues of the palace guards, knights, and so on. I want to get a hoodie from there if I can afford it. They have the M&M guys in front of the England flag and it says LONDON underneath.

This is seriously cool.

Don't mess around with this guy

Fair ladies

I'm swooning.  Apparently I need practice.

Can't make us laugh!

Well, okay.  But only a little bit!

M&M Road

I didn't mean to stand in front of the American flag.  It just happened that way.

Royalty

We decided to head back to the Centre then because it was getting dark. We successfully navigated the Tube and made it back. Soon after that I went shopping to grab something for lunch tomorrow and dinner. I grabbed some Mars bars in honor of my home ward home teacher and some Turkish Delight (maybe I did find Narnia!) After dinner we had a fireside to talk to us about a few important British customs and to get our ward assignments.  They also talked to us about the White Van Man that is trying to kill us, poor British customer service (or what not to do if that's what you want), finding our way around using addresses (good luck... I think I'm screwed), and BIG (America) vs. OLD (England).

This ad made me giggle.  "Mr Right could be sitting beneath this ad.  We're here just in case he isn't."

On the tube with my buddy for the day,  I look a little scary in this one.

A lot of people went out to do cool stuff but my legs hurt more than they did the first week I did track. Disneyland didn't hurt nearly this badly. So I'm calling it a night. Hopefully we won't get lost on the way to church.

Cheers!