"Be sure to avoid the crumbly old coffin dodgers!"

So it's been about a week since I last blogged and quite a lot has happened! I'll break it down by days for my sake and your sake!

Friday 20/1/12

(the Brittons do it with the day than the month) confusing if the day is lower than 12!

I don't have class on Friday, so I slept in which was nice, and then went off to tea time and shopping at Harrods!! Harrods is absolutely THE BEST department store in the world, not just London. It is world-renowned and certainly deserves this reputation because it is gorgeous and very fancy inside. So my roommate and I walked around a couple of the sections and saw all the fancy and expensive labels like Chanel, Gucci, Prada, Jimmy Choo, Alexander McQueen, and saw some American ones like Tory Burch! Then we found the Hunter boots sections! The iconic rainboots are UK made and perfect for the weather! They were pretty expensive, so I found some cheaper ones later. The food court in Harrods is ridiculous. All types of full restaurants inside and the seen-and-be-seen tea shop. So we went in and had a proper English tea with scones, jam, and clotted cream! Here is a picture:

Raisin scones with jam and clotted cream!

Inside of the Patisserie

So Harrods was a big success! I didn't have money to buy anything in there, but maybe when Susan comes to visit! ;)

After Harrods we came back and relaxed a little then went out to dinner! I must say, I am being very adventurous with my international foods, because Gabby and Rachel wanted to go to a Greek restaurant. I must say, Greek food doesn't really interest me much and always seemed kind of gross, but I went anyway, just to find that we couldn't find it. So we had a choice of either Italian of French. I opted for Italian, but I was voted against and we went to a French place called Ratatouille!

But it had nothing to do with the movie. However, I did order the Ratatouille! It was really good and was definitely a much needed serving of vegetables. After that we turned in early because the next day was going to be a very full one!

Saturday 21/1/12

We woke up at 7:30 the next morning and boarded our bus for Stonehenge and Bath! Our program, CEA, provided a chartered bus and tour guide for the day, and I was glad to have the man because he was very knowledgeable and pretty funny. The title of this post is a quote from our guide who kept going on and on about all the old people he works with and how he was glad to see some young faces. He told us all about the differences between English English and American English. We learned that some words and gestures that are completely normal for Americans are actually really offensive to the English. (You can ask me about them if you really want to know) We also learned a lot of history about Stonehenge and then we pulled right up to it!

Trust me, I would tell you the history of Stonehenge in a heart beat, but the thing is, no one really knows it! It is one of the world's mysteries and wonders. But what I can say is that it is estimated at over 2,000 BC and built by nomads who were switching from hunting/gathering to stationary living. Archaeologists just found out that the stones are hand carved and from cliffs in Wales! So whoever built it must have cut the stone and carried it over 100 miles. Keep in mind, the only tools they had were made of stone also. It is a calendar type formation that tells time and the season. Whoever built it must have been pretty smart. Truly a wonder!

It was EXTREMELY windy when we went hence my hair and scarf, but it was great seeing it again!

Then we went to Bath which is also in the western part of England. But we needed to pass through this absolutley GORGEOUS English countryside before getting there!

Bath is a gorgeous city! It is the home of Jane Austen and some very enthusiastic Rugby players. The streets look like this:

Beautiful architecture and very clean! So it was about 2pm when we arrived, so finding a pub to eat lunch in was very important. I decided I should try some really English food so I got bangers and mash.

Its just a fancy way of saying chicken sausages and mashed potatoes in a mushroom gravy sauce. It was pretty good actually but I couldn't eat it all. Afterwards we walked around a bit and saw Bath Abbey. Most major cities in England have a large abbey, and this one was particularly pretty!

So maybe you are wondering why the city is called Bath? That is a very good question, and just when you thought you would make it out of here without another history lesson I've got another! This is very brief though I promise.

The first documented people to actually settle in England were the Romans. They came over from London to Bath and set up a town here with this large Roman bath! It fills up naturally from a hot spring below into the Earth's core. It is the only Roman Bath still in existence to have water continuously move through it. Not even the Baths in Rome still do this. It dates back to about 100AD or so. Very neat to see the actual Roman's handiwork around here and in the artifacts on display.

So after our tour we wandered around a bit more and headed home to London! It was a great little trip!

Sunday 22/1/12

Sunday was a pretty chill day, but I did go to a Hillsong Church! It was held in a theatre and had their touring Christian rock band play a bunch of songs I knew from FCA and CC4G! And the Australian founder of the church spoke which was pretty cool. One month til my birthday! Too bad nobody cares about being 22 :/

Monday 23/1/12

CLASS ALL DAY 11:30-6:30 a long day indeed.

Tuesday 24/1/12

SHOPPING!! I don't have class on Tuesdays, so I was on a mission. I found out that my duck boots were not always the best for London rainy days, so I needed to find some suitable rainboots. I went to a couple places, but then ended up at Primark. I bought a tall navy Hunter-esque pair and a Union Jack Cath Kidston pair! Now I will be very prepared for the weather. Also, I may have done some damage in there buying a couple tunics and sweaters. I mean when a solid v-neck sweater costs 3 quid it is literally asking for me to buy it. Why wouldn't I?? I also got a cute quilted satchel, yes satchel, so I know the Wolfpack would be really proud of me. Adding to the list, I got my WP girls their London presents! After a very successful Primark trip, I went to Cath Kidston!! Like I said earlier, CK is basically England's Lilly Pulitzer/Vera Bradley. So OBVI I had to get something!

How cute and positively Londony? Everything in there is floral printed and she makes kitchenware, bags, totes, wallets, cutlery, clothing, quite a lot.

I also got some really touristy London gifts for people and some postcards! Let me know if you want one! I also got a Paddington Bear!! Who can say they didn't love reading the books as a child?

Wednesday 25/1/12

Yesterday was a very big day! My museum studies class went on our first museum trip. I went to the Natural History museum which was really cool, but honestly it was no different than the ones in NYC and DC. But I learned that Narwhals are real!!

This is the outside of the museum. Really pretty, huh? Apparently it was designed like this on purpose as a sort of "Church of Science", not sure what to make of that, but the museum was really great nonetheless. There were just wayyy too many schoolchildren. However, their English accents made up for their loudness.

After that I decided to go across the street and have a look at the Victoria & Albert Museum. It is probably the best museum I have ever been to in my life. It has clothing, furniture, sculptures, art, pottery, decorations, and imagery from all over the world from the years 800-1900. It was organized brilliantly by time period and continent (that's the museum studies talking) and I couldn't get enough of it! It had the perfect mix of artifacts and text and was fascinating. I will DEFINITELY be going back to look around some more. My favorite piece inside was James II's wedding outfit! I think I stood there looking at it for 5 minutes. The building was also very pretty, but its the inside of it that had me freaking out for sure. Sorry for being a history nerd!

After a day at the museums, I went to my first show on the West End! I saw Woman in Black with a couple of kids from my theatre class. We went to a pub in Covent Garden called the White Lion right before which was great. The play was a sort of thriller mystery with only 2 actors playing out what had happened to one of the characters. A play within a play. It was really good, certainly startling at times, but some of the audience found it necessary to scream bloody murder. I was not pleased. But the show was great!

So I know that was really long winded, but I've had an eventful week! This weekend I plan to do some more sightseeing, possibly Abbey Road and some palaces, and the Camden Market!

Cheers!

Oh yeah, I forgot I had to be a student..

So not too much has happened since I last posted. Nothing except the actual reason why I'm here:

Classes.

On Monday I had a very long day. Modules (what the English call classes) are set up in the block format where you have a module once a week for 2-3 hours. So at noon I had my Shakespeare class where we discussed the origin of the theatre and what Shakespearean drama was like. People often forget that Shakespeare's plays are meant to be acted out on the stage and not merely read on a page. (I'm quite pleased with my little rhyme there) We discussed the history of the theatre and how it was a frowned upon occupation because people were not being themselves, therefore insulting God's creation. Really interesting to think about. Also, the theatres were very different than how they are set up today.

Here is one of the only original pictures we have of what the actual Globe theatre looked like. "Groundlings" or "pennylings" paid one pence to enter the theatre and stood on the ground to watch the show. Often times there would be fights and riots on the ground and most people in this section were illiterate bums. The theatre was not just for the uneducated though. Elizabeth I herself loved the theatre, and the aristocracy and nobility would often attend these performances and sat on one of the upper levels because they paid more money. The view was definitely not as good of the show, but people more came to be seen then see the show. London used to be a walled city and the Theatre district was outside the wall on the opposite side of the river, the "seedy area". The east end was also known for being one of the bad parts of London where Jack the Ripper operated. I will talk more about this in detail later!

After that we discussed the play Henry V which we had read for this class. Long story short, The Lancastarian King led his troops to battle at Agincourt in one of the most famous battles of the Hundred Years War. To see the most famous speech of the play click here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-yZNMWFqvM

You'll notice Henry V is played by our very own Gilderoy Lockhart! Quite a riveting speech, I would certainly want to go to fight with him! The English are outnumbered 1:5 against the French but despite this they win huge and only lose 30 men to France's 10,000. Seems highly unlikely but I guess Henry V was a phenomenal ruler and having the longbow on their side certainly helped.

So for next time I have to read "As You Like It" and "Taming of the Shrew". After that I had to wait an hour then I had my The Great Wen: Victorian London class.

We learned a lot about the history of London up to the Victorian era and how it was a city built by the Romans on the Thames River. The picked this spot because it was on higher ground for good defense, but with an excellent proximity to a relatively large flow of water. I'll save you all the history, but it was later occupied by the Vikings until Alfred the Great chased them out and contained them to the North. In 1066 everything changed when William the Conqueror and his Normans invaded from France and won the Battle of Hastings. He was crowned King in the same year in Westminster Abbey built by the previous king, Edward the Confessor. Here's a wonderful depiction of what happened based on the Bayeux Tapestry, a hand-stitched 70 meter long cloth that depicts and explains what happened in the battle. No one really knows who made it or its real origin. I'd really like to see this in person in France!

Bayeux Tapestry

Okay so again sorry for all the history but I really love it, London in the Middle Ages continued to expand into the walled city with twists and turns for lanes and the poor living among the rich. The Lord Mayor acted as governor, and the King lived primarily in the Tower of London among other castles. The plague struck the city hard in 1348 and again in 1665. I've already discussed a little about Elizabethan London, but later in the 1600s London was torn apart by Civil War and then by the Great Fire of London in 1666. After all the rebuilding mostly by Sir Christopher Wren (designer of St. Paul's), London grew rapidly to the other side of the river, and into two separate cities, The City of London and The City of Westminster. The reason the class is called the Great Wen, is because a wen is a boil that is continuously growing and swelling. Although a gross metaphor, its pretty accurate in terms of how London grew in terms of people, buildings, and power.

After we sat in lecture for an hour we departed for our seminar. In the UK system, Lecture is just as it sounds with the professor talking and students taking notes, but Seminar is where the class breaks into smaller groups and has discussion. So our seminar group went and had a walking tour of London outside! We examined different architecture styles and compared how they were similar and different. This is what really makes London cool because you have old Tudor buildings next to Georgian style, Victorian style, and even super new buildings constructed in the last 10 years. Everything has a story behind it and a history.

That's enough history for now, hopefully this hasn't bored you! So anyway, on Tuesday I did not have any class, so I did a couple of things. The first thing I'm going to tell you about is English groceries. So it seems like a very simple thing, going grocery shopping, but it is not. First of all, the food here has no preservatives. So unlike our wonderfully chemical filled foods at home, stuff here has a pretty strict expiration date that only lasts about a week. Grocery shops here are much smaller, so no Walmart type establishments. You have to go grocery shopping much more frequently because of the expiration dates. But stuff is pretty reasonable. A loaf of bread is only 60 pence! The exchange rate is about $1.55 buys you a pound. I can't do the pound symbol on here but it looks like an L with a slash through it. So even with the exchange rate stuff is still reasonably priced. There are always sales on things that close to expiration, so that's the way to get the best prices. Our kitchen isn't too exciting, so its been a lot of sandwiches and apples for me. So anyway, Tuesday I ordered some groceries from Sainsbury's online and had them delivered! Now I have enough food for a month yay! I got pretty standard American things like soup, ham, cheese, apples, vegetables, pasta, chicken. But the most exciting is NUTELLA! Its wonderful on toast. And English candy is awesome. Home of Cadbury?? Pretty tempting. I'll be sure to bring lots back home with me.

So after I packed my groceries away, I went for a walk/jog/run through Regent's Park. There are 2 major parks in London, Hyde Park (where Buckingham Palace is next to) and Regent's Park home to some of London's prettiest gardens.

I also ran by the London Zoo and saw some little boys practicing rugby. The park is so beautiful and full of gorgeous English gardens, fountains, and lots of different birds. It was awesome!

That night we went on a Jack the Ripper tour of the East End where he actually killed the 5 prostitutes. He is the world's first serial killer, but people still do not know who he was! The summer of 1888 was when he operated and did all sorts of gruesome things to 5 women. The mystery fascinates people and it was quite something to be exactly where the murders took place. I could go into detail, but let's just say it was really nasty what he did to the women.

So today I had my Public History class. I'm minoring in Public History with my conjunction with my History major, so I'm really excited about it. We are going to go to different museums each week and do exhibit reviews. Basically its going to be awesome.

After that I headed back to good old Marylebone and made a nice lunch of ham and cheese and an apple then it was time to SHOP!!

This my friends is Primark. Its the best thing ever, just like Forever 21 but cheaper and better quality and wayyyy nicer clothes that aren't crazy urban looking. So I bought a sweater, a tunic, and some socks. I will definitely go back when I get my debit card ;) The whole big top with leggings tucked into boots is very in here too! That's what I see all the students wearing. i also got myself a British flag yay! If you skype me you'll see it in the background. Shopping was great and I will def be doing some more in the near future. Next time it will be on to Harrod's for me!

Cheers!

Sightseeing Extravaganza

Skyline of the City of Westminster, lucky enough to call this home for 5 months!

So I've been pretty busy these last couple of days! On thursday I had my appointment with the Westminster study abroad office and discusses my classes and enrollment and so on. Here's my schedule!

On Mondays I have Shakespeare and Victorian London. Tuesday I have no class. Wednesday I have my History of London Museums and Public History. In this class I go to a different museum every week, learn to review it, and see what works and what doesn't. Perfect for my hopeful career in Charleston! Thursday I have a really fun class, London Theatre and Performance. We go see different shows each week and get to go backstage and talk to actors and the director. Pretty fun stuff! I think its safe to say I should know a lot about London by the end of the semester!

After my appointment, I went to get a London bank account. Obviously, I chose my boyfriend, Phil Mickelson's bank of Barclays! Now I'll look like an official Londoner. But actually, not once but 4 times did people ask me for directions to something in the last 2 days. I mean, I don't exactly blend in with my pink overcoat and Lilly Pulitzer scarves, but I guess I gave off an air of knowing? Well, whatever it was, the second I opened my mouth the cat was out of the bag. No longer a sophisticated and knowledgeable Londoner. It was fun for a second though, next time I think I'll answer with my English accent and see if I can still fool them. Maybe I'll trade in my Lilly for Burberry to look more London-esque.

So then on Thursday Evening we went on a boat cruise down the Thames River!! It was realllllyyy cold but amusing to watch the 19 year olds get wasted and sing American songs at the top of their lungs. I got these pictures of the Globe Theatre and Tower Bridge from the River. It was pretty neat to be seeing all these things from the water.

This morning I went on a double decker bus tour of London! It was really cold sitting up top, but very worth it! We began at Piccadilly Circus and went on a huge loop of the city over to Tower Bridge, Parliament, the Palace, Financial District, Hyde Park, and Victoria Station. To see all my pictures, definitely check out my facebook album, but I included some here that I will discuss in more detail. I learned some pretty cool things that I didn't know before. As you all probably know, I am obsessed with all things English (hence the title of my blog being about the life of an Anglophile) so I know a good bit about landmarks and the royals of the past and present. Today was great because I learned even more! I'll explain some of the pictures I took on my tour now.

I know that you all know this is Big Ben, but what I didn't know was that it is names for the huge bell that is inside the clock tower. The bell is named after its commissioner, Sir Benjamin Hall. Another little known fact, at the base of each clock face it reads:

DOMINE SALVAM FAC REGINAM NOSTRAM VICTORIAM PRIMAM This means O Lord, keep safe our Queen Victoria the First. Its strange that they would include "the first" there because they don't know there will be another Victoria, so why say the first? I guess they are speculating there will be another and want to make it clear that it is the 19th century Victoria they are referencing. Like the Brits, Big Ben is known for being extremely accurate and timely. Maybe this is where the English get their reputation from? I found this gate particularly interesting. It is called the Admiralty Arch and was commissioned by King Edward VII in memory of his mother, Queen Victoria. It allows pedestrians and motorists to go in between Trafalgar Square and The Mall of Buckingham Palace. BUT you can only go in the sides of the gate, not the middle, because only the Queen can travel in the center when on official royal duties. Must be nice to have something that only one person in the world can do! Close by were some of Elizabeth's Horse Guards. They are mounted cavalry on guard at Whitehall called the Life Guard. Prince Harry served as one!

This is the National Gallery that houses some of the most famous paintings in the world. Some include pieces by: Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Van Eyck, Memling, Reubens, Bruegel, Cezanne, Degas, Pisarro, Manet, Monet, Durer, Holbein, Davinci, Michaelangelo, Caravaggio, Raphael, and Picasso just to name a few. Basically the stuff you read about in books, its actually here.

This is for Platte if you're reading this! It was right next to London School of Economics and a very pretty building indeed!

National Bank of England. This is where all the gold and money is kept in vaults, so there are no windows on the bottom floor!

This is Lambeth Palace, the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It was acquired by the position around the year 1200. It has been added on since then, and played a role in the Peasants' Uprising of 1381, the Lollard Conspiracy, and The English Civil War. Why a religious man needs a palace that he doesn't regularly occupy is way beyond me. Its a cool building nonetheless.

This building is part of a Kensington neighborhood that costs over 16 million pounds (roughly $28 mil) to live in. It is the swankiest place to live in London and people such as J.K Rowling, Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Meryl Streep, Madonna, and many other high rollers.

St. James' Palace! This place was my favorite on the tour (besides the usuals) and had a lot of history. So obviously, I'm going to tell you ALL about it.

St. James's Palace is home to some very important events in Royal history. It has been the residence of Kings and Queens of England for over 300 years and is still the official residence of the monarch, althought since Queen Victoria, the monarch has lived in Buckingham.

The palace was built by Henry VIII in 1536 on the site of the Hospital of St. James, Westminster. Much survives of the red brick building erected by Henry VIII, including the Chapel Royal, the gatehouse, some turrets and two surviving Tudor rooms in the State apartments. Henry VIII's illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy, whom he contemplated recognizing as his heir, was living in the Palace when he died in 1536 at the age of seventeen. From then on St. James's House, as it was known, saw a succession of Royal inhabitants who lived there while playing their part in some of the more famous events in English history.

Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn, stayed there the night after her coronation. Before she was discarded following the birth of Princess (later Queen) Elizabeth, the initials "HA" entwined in a lovers' knot appeared on a couple of Tudor fireplaces in the State apartments.

It was in St. James's Palace in 1558 that Mary Tudor signed the treaty surrendering Calais. Elizabeth I was resident during the threat posed by the Spanish Armada and set out from St James's to address her troops assembled at Tilbury, to the east of London.

The future Charles II and James II were both born and baptised at St James's, as were Mary of York (Mary II), Anne of York (Queen Anne) and James Francis Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender). After the destruction of the Palace of Whitehall, all monarchs until William IV lived at St. James' for part of the time.

In 1809, much of the east and south ranges of the Palace was destroyed by a fire, but the State rooms were restored by 1813. At this time the Prince Regent (later George IV) was living at Carlton House, but four of his brothers were provided with houses within the Palace walls. Frederick, Duke of York was given Godolphin House, now Lancaster House, and William, Duke of Clarence (later William IV) was given Clarence House, today occupied by The Prince of Wales.

William IV was the last monarch to use St. James's Palace as a residence. After his death, court functions were still held in the State apartments, which had been enlarged by Christopher Wren, the famous architect of St. Paul's Cathedral, and embellished by William Kent. Some rooms were later partly redecorated by William Morris. Queen Victoria married Prince Albert in the Chapel Royal in 1840, and court levées continued to be held at St. James's Palace until 1939. It is also the London residence of The Princess Royal, Princess Beatrice of York, and Princess Alexandra, Hon. Lady Ogilvy. It houses court offices and officials' apartments in addition to being the former home of the Prince of Wales and William and Harry.

Now St. James houses Prince William and Harry's own personal staff which also serves Kate. before this, their duties were overseen by their father's staff at Clarence House. Clarence House, once the residence of the Queen Mother, is now the home of Charles and Camilla.

So I will DEFINITELY be coming back to examine this palace a little bit closer. It was a great day of sightseeing followed by Indian food for dinner again. I learned that I really don't like Indian. I think I'll stick to Traditional English pubs.

Cheers!

Getting Touristy in London

So the day was finally here. Sightseeing! We started off at our lovely Baker Street tube station (where Sherlock Holmes is from) and got off at Westminster. What was right above us? Why, Big Ben and Parliament! So we ran across the road and got the ultimate London tourist picture. The phone booth with Big Ben. I took one with 3 different poses lol

Then of course posing in front of it with the London eyesore was necessary.




Of course I'm not going to let you get away without a little history so here you go! England currently operates under the Constitutional Monarchy meaning the monarchy still exists, but power is mostly in the hands of the Prime Minister and Parliament. Big Ben is the clock tower connected to the Parliament building. The monarch used to be the supreme head in charge of everything until 1688 when the Glorious Revolution put William and Mary jointly on the throne, but established the constitutional monarchy and the English Bill of Rights. However, this is not the first act trying to limit the powers of the monarchy. Way back in 1215, King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta limiting his power, but it really did not do much and kings ignored it. Obviously, since we all know about Henry VIII's accomplishments. Since 1688, the power gradually shifted to the ministers and now the monarchy really only exists for ceremonial purposes. The Queen has veto power, but no monarch has vetoed something since Queen Anne in 1705. So there's your little history lesson!

Next on to Westminster Abbey and guess what? MORE HISTORY!

Westminster Abbey was built in 1065 by Edward the Confessor. It been added on since then many times and was used as a home to an order of Benedictine monks and place of worship, once Catholic, now Anglican. William the Conqueror was the first monarch to be crowned here, and since then, all monarchs of England have been crowned here. Many of these same monarchs are buried here a long with other influential Englishmen like William Shakespeare, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Isaac Newton, and Geoffrey Chaucer. On a happier note, 16 royal weddings happened here like what we just witnessed with William and Kate! A lot of history here and I will definitely go inside next time. Just a bit expensive for one short on pounds.

Next stop was Buckingham Palace! And the flag was raised, meaning the Queen was inside!!

Just when you thought you were done with history, there's more! Buckingham Palace was built as a state house in 1705 for a duke, but was enlarged and converted into the official residence of the Monarch of the United Kingdom. Queen Victoria was the first to reside in the palace making it the official royal palace of the British monarch. It is located at the end of St. James' Park and you can see the changing of the guard everyday. Yes the guards wearing red and the black furry hats that won't laugh. See that wasn't so painful, was it?

Next we found a little pub and had fish and chips! When we left it was night already! It gets dark very early. Here is a gorgeous shot of Big Ben at night.

DAY 2

Next it was time for the Tower and Tower Bridge!

The Tower definitely had me freaking out and we didn't even go inside yet! Just when you thought you were done, more history! The Tower was built by William the Conqueror in 1078 as a castle for the king to defend if necessary and keep an eye out on the river. The Tower has been used as an armoury, treasury, menagerie, home of the Royal Mint, public records office, prison, royal residence, execution site, and home of the Crown Jewels. It was a royal residence of the monarch and expanded during the 1200s. Famous prisoners were held here including Henry VI, Elizabeth I, Jane Grey, Guy Fawkes, the missing two princes, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, and Sir Walter Raleigh. It is tradition that each monarch about to be crowned spend the night in the tower and process to Westminster Abbey to be crowned the following day. Not too many people were actually executed here though. The 2nd of 5th wives of Henry VIII in addition to 2 monarchs, Jane Grey and Charles I. The Tower was reserved for very important people to lose their heads. Most executions happened on Tower Hill. Basically, a TON of history is here, and when I go inside I will probably get emotional.

This is the Tower Bridge, not the London Bridge, and is directly adjacent to the Tower. Very pretty!

After that, we walked around the "seedy" area of London, had a cup of tea and hopped back on the Circle Line of the tube and went home! Sightseeing was great, I just love London! Tonight we went on a cruise on the Thames River which was very cool to see everything lit up at night. My pictures did not turn out very well though. After we went to eat Indian food, which I did not enjoy very much. So until next time!

Cheers!