Day Five

October 4

Today we went to London! I got up at 6:45 and we left the flat at 7:30 to be at the bus stop by 7:45. There were about 12 people who met there at 7:45 for the 8:00 bus to London. The ride was about 2 hours and we got off at the marble arch in Hyde Park. Five of us left to walk toward the tourist attractions while the others went to the subway. Two people, Emily and Talia, were heading to see The Lion King and Charlie was heading to take the LSAT. The five of us, Rebecca, Andrea, Erin, Vanessa, and myself headed off. We went about two miles and split yet again. Rebecca, Erin and I went to the British Museum while the others went to see the sights.

The British Museum is free to the public and it’s an amazing museum. 

We say the Rosetta stone, some statues from the Parthenon, tons of Egyptian sculptures, Roman and Greek statues and paintings and artifacts, as well as a chronologic tour of England’s art, armor, and burial rituals from the time of the roman empire to today. We also saw a cast of Napoleon’s face, made after he died. It was kind of creepy but also really cool. We spent about two hours in the museum and then headed out for lunch and the sites.

We got lost a few times and found ourselves again. We had a really good map of London. It was so amazing we turned the corner and there was Big Ben. 

It was one of the coolest experiences of my life. Parliament, Westminster Hall, and the Houses of Parliament are gorgeous. 

It’s so big you could never imagine it. We spent some time taking pictures of parliament and Big Ben and then crossed the street to Westminster abbey for some more pictures.

 We were planning on touring the abbey however it’s closed on Saturday’s. We were a bit disappointed by that because of all the interesting history that building holds but were all planning on returning there again so we should have another chance.

After that we went to the London eye. 

We were going to go up in it however after seeing prices and discussing our options we decided just to go to all the sites rather that up in the eye. I was actually perfectly aright with this decision. I absolutely hate ferris wheels and the eye is just a huge ferris wheel moving very slowly. Next we headed over Westminster Bridge and into the subway. 

Erin, Rebecca, and I in the underground!!!

We got all day passes for five pounds and headed to the other end of town. We went to Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. 

We were going to tour the Tower of London however tours for the day had ended already. Since it’s Saturday everything closed a bit early.

Next we took the subway again to Victoria Station. From there we walked to Buckingham Palace. It was magnificent. 

It’s so big and so beautiful. It’s just amazing. The guards were cool too. We actually saw one move. They are allowed to walk back and forth if they are tired of standing. We saw one walking around a little bit. The flag was up so the queen wan't actually there, not as if we would have seen her anyway :-) 

It was about six when we left the palace and it was getting dark and colder. We stopped for dinner and then headed back to the bus. We had some trouble finding the bus we needed to get back but we finally did. We rode on the top of a double decker bus back through London and then on to Oxford. It was really cool.

            It took two hours to get back to Oxford and when I got off the bus my legs were so tired. I didn’t really notice while I was walking all day long but after sitting for two hours I sure did. Now I’m procrastinating on my homework problems by typing this blog. I have eight problems and an essay to do by Thursday. I know what I’m doing tomorrow!