Today was such a fun packed day! It consisted of so much walking but it was completely worth it! I took a lot of pictures!! Here are just a few! Enjoy!
So to start off the day, we had a full English breakfast. This English breakfast consisted of eggs of any style, (boiled, eggs over medium, poached, scrambled) sausage links, fruit, toast and jam, bacon, coffee, milk, bran cereal, apple juice and orange juice. Its in a buffet style so you can go up for seconds if needed. It was a filling meal for sure. After breakfast we had a group meeting where we talked about the day and what we were going to do. The professors distributed metro (also called the tube) passes that we can use for one day all day (which was today). We will get one tomorrow that we can use for the rest of the week. After the meeting, we all went to the tube and traveled to Piccadilly Circus. It's pretty much the Times Square of London but a lot smaller. (first picture) Then we went to Trafalgar Square. (second picture) The 165-foot column is dedicated to Admiral Nelson in the 1830's. He is a one armed, one eyed admiral that fought in many battles. He died in one of his greatest battles (the Battle of Trafalgar) against Napoleon which led to Napoleons demise. The lions that are guarding the column on the bottom were put in 25 years later. After we visited Nelson, we went to see Westminster Abbey. (third picture) This is THE most amazing place I have seen yet. It is absolutely beautiful and has so many wonderful architectural features that are so intricate and simply amazing to look at inside and out! My favorite place inside the abbey was The Lady chapel. When I stepped into the room, I was amazed! Then I looked up. My breath was taken away by the vaulted ceiling. It was absolutely gorgeous! Unfortunately, they would not let us take pictures in the Abbey but I got a post card that shows just the ceiling and it is amazing! Westminster Abbey was started in 1400's and was completed in 1745. It is a Gothic style building and is the resting place for many British monarchs. Including Elizabeth II and King Edward the confessor. After we left the beautiful, amazing, gorgeous, wonderful Westminster Abbey, we walked to the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. (last picture) Big Ben is not pictured but would be to the right of the picture. We were not able to go into the Houses but I got a lot of pictures of the outside! Especially of Big Ben. Fact: Big Ben is not named after the tower but after the huge bell inside of it that has kept exact time since 1859 when it was put in. Pretty cool!!! After the Houses we just became typical tourists and went sight-seeing. Took pictures and looked in different souvenir shops. Then we went to....Buckingham Palace!!! This was a beautiful place! Again, we could not go in but I took many pictures of the outside and the pathway leading up to the Palace, the gardens and the Gates. Very intricate. We started to head back to the tube when Amanda and I got distracted in the park and had to feed some ducks, squirrels and swans. (if you couldn't guess, I got lots of pictures there too.) So after we were done being distracted, we left and got on the tube to go back to our hotel. Once we got back, we had a group meeting to talk about what we did during the day, good things and bad things (if there were any) that happened to us and so on. Then Amanda and I went out for dinner at an Italian restaurant about a block or two away from out hotel. I had wonderful meat ravioli! Then we went to get some really good European ice cream because it was wonderful weather for it. (50 degrees or so) Mine was called "After-dinner mint" and Amanda got "Blueberry." Both were really good!! But after, we wanted to head back to our hotel to rest from all that walking we did today. Tomorrow we will be going to a museum! Cant wait! But until then, I'm outta here!
Cheerio!
Question of the Day: What was the thing you enjoyed seeing most today?
I loved seeing Westminster Abbey. At first I was thinking it was just going to be another church but boy was I wrong! Starting from the outside, the huge rose window we saw caught my attention very quickly. Then we went in. Every chapel inside of it was intricately made with so much detail that it's mind boggling! I could not wrap my head around the fact that it was built so long ago yet still in such beautiful condition! From floor to ceiling, the amount of details did not decrease. Everything seemed so perfect!
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