6 May 2008

We went to buy tickets to the musical the Lion King, and on our way we decided to go to Hogwarts!!


Look! It's platform 9 ¾ at King's Cross Station!


Unfortunately, our trolley got stuck in the wall. Apparently the Hogwarts Express had left without us!


So we all decided to pose with our stuck cart. This is Whitney...


...and Josie, both of whom are my roomies.

Down by the theater is Liecester Square (pronounced Lester). There are a lot of street performers and stuff--there was this guy who was squeaking... couldn't figure out how, though. I'm not sure if you can hear this, but here is a short clip.


PS-Hope it works.




THE THEATRE!:


This is a picture from the theatre where the Lion King was playing. It was amazing. Granted, there was a couple terrible songs (badly written, not badly sung). But anyway, it was fantastic. The costumes were I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E.


This is Whitney, me, and April waiting for Lion King to start!

So these might be a little off for my personality, but because you will never see advertisements like this in America, here are some ads compliments of the London tube.... :D


I thought this was hilarious--and a little shocking! It's actually about exercising. The small print says "Not only does exercise make you look and feel sexy, it increases blood flow to all your vital organs (wink, wink). And if that doesn't arouse your interest, we've got plenty more that will. At Vigin Active Health Clubs, you get more for your membership than anywhere else, so you get more from your body--in every sense. Life's more fun when you move".... yeah, there isn't any innuendos in that at all. ;oP

5 May 2008

I went to the Children's Museum with one of the directors, Joe Ostraff, and his wife and kids. These are two of his kids, Ethan and Hannah... I'm not sure what Ethan put on my head.


Oh, and happy birthday to KATE!

3/4 of Londoners smoke...

...and three quarters of all tourists smoke. It's gross. The nice thing is, almost all the restaurants, theatres, etc, don't allow smoking inside. The bad side of this, everyone smokes on the streets.... literally. I have never seen so many cigs in my life!

Also, can I say that my feet are really ridiculously and painfully sore??? That much walking isn't good for a lazy American to do in 4 days!


Oh, and I now say "No" and "sorry" with an accent.

Westminster Walk and Legal London Walk

May 2, 2008--Legal London Walk

Near the Bank tube stop.


The old Guildhall square.


Guildhall square (or maybe this IS the Guildhall--we couldn't figure that out).


This is the gate to one of the Churches. I think it is dedicated to St Bartholomew the Great, or there is a statue of him or something. I didn't see a statue, so who knows.... It will come to me later.


St Bartholomew


St Bartholomew (check out the gravestones...)


St Bartholomew


It is fascinating how Modern and Old World juxtapose each other in London. I mean, look at this city street!


Some cool ornamentals on an overpass.


I just thought this was funny due to the sign that says "Dead Slow"... Don't know what it means.


Cool building. I can't remember if there was a specific reason I took a picture of it.


I believe we surmised this is the Temple Bar (the Statue). But we aren't sure.


Another cool building.


Entrance to King's College in London.


Have no idea what this is but I thought it was pretty.


Temple Church--It is circular like the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. This area is referred to as "the Temple" because it was owned by the Knights Templar. I'm pretty sure this is the oldest church in London... or something to that affect. I'll check my knowledge.


Temple Church


Temple Church


Westminster Walk:


Big Ben!


Park beside Parliament. It amazes me how London can be so big, busy, and noisy, yet there are hundreds of places like this park next to Parliament where the city falls away and a calm, peaceful hush surrounds you.


Not sure what this is, but that is Parliament in the background. This is in the Park pictured above.


A view of Parliament and Big Ben from the opposite side of the Thames.


Another view of Parliament and Big Ben from the opposite side of the Thames.


This is a statue of Richard the I (the Lionheart) outside of Parliament.


This is a statue of Oliver Cromwell outside of Parliament.


Westminster Abby--It costs £11.00 to tour the Abby (roungly $22) so I am still debating whether I want to give up the money to do that.


The frieze above the doorway to the Abby.

These guys played their instruments on the Tube. I have seen several musicians in the halls of the Tube, but none on the actual trains! They were by far the best musicians I have heard on the subway and I thought they were a lot of fun, so I taped them. Sorry the camera work isn't great. The Tube isn't the best place to film! I believe they were Irish. Their accent wasn't overly pronounced, however, so I couldn't guarantee that. Still, they were a lot of fun to listen to.



Please let me know if the video works of not. Thanks!

South of the Thames Walk

I am getting a little tired of posting so sorry if this is abrupt. I've been working on this for a couple hours but I am almost caught up!

May 1, 2008--South of the Thames (At least, I think this was May 1, I've lost track of the days. We've done enough walking to last me four months and it's only been 4 days!!!) These pictures are not placed in any real order.


A panorama of the Thames (pronounced Tims) and the Tower Bridge.


View from of the Thames from Tower Bridge.


Another view of London, the Thames, and the Tower Bridge.


Walking along the Thames.


The Tower of London.


The Golden Hinde which was captained by Sir Francis Drake... Let me know if you need a translation. Not sure how small this will show up on the screen. It looked rather plastic to me, however.


The Golden Hinde.


The recreation of the Globe Theatre. We are going to go see A Midsummer Nights Dream there sometime in the next couple weeks.


This was underneath some sort of Museum. I thought it was really cool.


Tower of London and my first glimpse of the Thames.


Haha--I guess these are in case you get lost, you can have the Tube map on your panties!! If you look you will see a yellow line going in a circle. That is the Circle Line. The green line is the District Line, the black the Northern line (which goes up to Camden Town--I will tell you about Camden Town later). The red line going straight through is the Central line. There are several others, but I haven't been on those yet.


Outside of Southwark Cathedral.


Southwark Cathedral.


Southwark Cathedral.


Southwark Cathedral (yes, this picture was taken illegally). This is in one of the small chapels on the transept. The most disturbing part of Cathedrals and Abby's is the fact that you are walking on so many graves. Some of the 'headstones' I guess you would call them, are inscribed on stone slabs on the floor, marking where the graves are. Some of them are so old they are written in Middle English and completely unreadable. Some of the slabs have been worn away by hundreds of years of pilgrims and tourists walking on them.



A really unflattering picture of me outside of the Tower of London.


Part of the Tower of London


Tower bridge... another unflattering picture. Jess didn't tell me she was taking it and we were goofing around.


Tower bridge.


Tower bridge again. Not to be confused with London Bridge--they are two different bridges. London bridge is much uglier and far less ornamental.

Later on this day I went to do the London City walk which explores the central part of London. However, as I was getting off the Tube (I had gone by myself) a British gent said "Excuse me, miss, but did you know a pigeon pooed on your coat?" I promptly thanked him and said that no, I had no idea such had occurred. Soon thereafter it became very cold and rainy and as I had removed the offensive jacket, I went home. Unfortunately, I forgot to get a picture of the mishap before I sent my coat to the cleaners. But let it be known I cursed every pigeon I saw on my way home that night!!!