London, in mostly pictures

I will live there one day. 

Double-Decker and the London Eye

Parks :)

Big Ben

Her Majesty's Theatre, where we saw The Phantom of the Opera

There were the random moments...

WIN.

Our thoughts about the rain

Laughter, take 1

laughter, take 2

Abe? What?

It's only missing an 'e,' too!

Little bit of my childhood

In the tube

Virginia on Abbey Road

Kate being Paul

I love London, and our trip was wonderful (special thanks to Melody and Dave for giving some great suggestions). We actually got to catch up with one of the other groups that went to London on our first day. Seeing them was great, but it definitely made me appreciate our little trio; I think I would've gone crazy if I had to constantly interact with seven other people for over a week. They all seemed a bit stir crazy, too—though Lindsey and Rainey were just as sarcastic and cute as ever.

Lindsey, Virginia, and Kate on top of... Aslan?

Julia and Aslan

Lindsey and Me

Lindsey and the saxophonist

The Millennium Bridge- note the lack of Deatheaters

It was interesting walking around the city and seeing all of the political signs and such. In addition to all of the signs (see picture below) and tent city, there were also a rather large percentage of people wearing little paper poppies. The idea behind the poppies was that they were the only things that could grow during World War I; they've become this symbol for remembering fallen soldiers. It was rather beautiful seeing so many people walking around with these little red flowers pinned to their lapels.

tent city

 

"Remember, remember..."

Oh, Westminster Abbey.

Just as the Vatican is the great center for Catholicism, so is Westminster Abbey for English Literature.

I had what has been dubbed affectionately as a "nerd moment" which was actually more like an hour. I started crying and just couldn't stop for a good while. This beautiful, old place holds such a great collection of grandness that it overwhelmed me. I'm sure you all know that Elizabeth I, Bloody Mary, and Mary, Queen of Scots reside here. This is also where Poets' Corner is... I walked on the grave of DH Lawrence. I stood next to Chaucer's grave, next to Shakespeare's grave. And then, when I thought it was all over, I saw Sir Isaac Newton's and Charles Darwin's graves.

This has made my list of places to pilgrimage to again.

Also on this list is the British Museum and the Globe.

The Rosetta Stone

The Flood Tablet from The Epic of Gilgamesh (the oldest existing piece of literature)

The Globe

I loved being around English so much. I had forgotten how to act in a "normal" setting- how to interact with people who speak my language. It was interesting how similar Britain is to the states. I had grown rather accustomed to average grocery stores being about the size of a CVS or Walgreen's, and then BAM! British commercialism. It's so much like American commercialism. I kind of miss the smaller grocery stores.

London is a nice meld of European and American customs: the tube, the public attitude, the history sitting alongside the commercialism and confidence. I love London and I feel like it would be a nice place to live one day. I will live there one day.