ENGLAND { part 1: London }

ever since I was a little girl, I dreamed of going to England. I had read about it in several books, and had seen it in movies. One of my really good friends in my neighborhood was from England, and I was fascinated. This year, I am in AP World History, which is my favorite class. I love history so much, and find it very interesting and fascinating. We are in our European unit right now, and we had just covered British history. I loved it and I wanted to go even more.
Last year, my dad brought up the possibility of going to England. He often does that about vacations, and we never go on them. I still haven't gone to San Francisco yet, and about 4 years ago, he asked, "how does San Francisco sound?" so I thought he might be joking. but around Christmastime, he was totally serious. He bought a British guide book and announced that we would go during spring break. Words cannot describe how excited I was. I counted down the days until we could leave.

ok this is not actually an England picture. but I just so happened to run into Kate, one of my very best friends, at the airport. Unfortunately, they were not going to London with us (although it would've been fun!) They went to New York instead, which is where we will go in the summer! but still, I had no idea we would run into each other, and it was really exciting. and I know, I didn't look very good. Wesley tried to sneak a picture and I guess Kate got the memo and I did not.

2 flights and 14 hours later, we were in London. We were all very tired, but since we arrived in the afternoon, Dad wouldn't let us sleep. we rested for a few minutes, and got right down to business. 1st destination was Kensington Palace. Prince William and Princess Kate live there with Baby George. Queen Victoria used to live there, and so did a few other people. I don't remember who. I was so tired during this part, that I thought I would just fall over and drop dead.

 

onto Queen Elizabeth's house, Buckingham Palace. this was the closest we could get. we couldn't actually go inside, but at least we got to see it, and it was amazing. we also missed the Changing of the Guards, but..who cares. at least we got to see it! and I would love to live there myself.

 

my favorite movie is Zoolander, and Wesley is trying to copy the "blue steel" look here. he is going through a phase where he won't cooperate and make a simple smile.

Justin got really grumpy because of jet lag, and he wanted us to get out of here FAST. we had to take the subway back to our apartment as quickly as we could before he killed us all. luckily, we had a Nando's right by our apartment and ate there. Nando's is not in the US, which is pretty depressing. it serves Portuguese style chicken, with this amazing spicy sauce called "peri-peri." they marinade their chicken in lime, mango, or lemon and herb, and it is sooooooo good. we loved it so much, we came back on our last day as well! now, if only we could bring Nando's back to America. or at least the peri-peri sauce. 

onto Day 2

 

Day 2 was the Tower of London, where King Henry VIII imprisoned basically anyone who disagreed with the Church of England and had his wives beheaded. I just learned about this in AP World History, so it was really neat to actually see what I had just learned about. Mom has a new obsession with King Henry VIII and watches every TV special about him, and has read pretty much every book about the subject as well. She took about a million pictures of everything, but I had to be selective in what I chose to post. we had a really funny tour guide named Bob, who told us all the history. Justin got bored pretty fast. Mom and I were really interested in everything he had to say. After the tour, we got to go inside and see torture chambers, armor, the crown jewels, and fancy golden dishes used at coronation ceremonies. It was raining in the morning, but in the afternoon, it cleared up. It was still very cloudy. It is rarely sunny in London, actually. as you probably know, I get depressed when I am without sunlight for too long, so I don't know if I could handle living there! although it is an amazing city, and I would love to visit as much as I possibly can.

 

this bridge is Tower Bridge. People mistake it for London Bridge, when actually, this one is more famous. London Bridge is just plain and blah, and is actually in Lake Havasu, Arizona. Us Americans were duped into buying the wrong bridge. we thought we were getting Tower Bridge, but we actually got the boring lame one, and London kept the exciting one. we got to walk across the bridge and along the Thames River, and finished our day off at the Museum of London. It covered many years of London's history, which again, Mom and I found fascinating. we could've stayed in there all night, if it weren't for Justin getting hungry again! Both Justin and Wesley are hitting their growth spurts, and all they do is eat. Justin gets really whiny and cranky without food, and he was practically crying because he wanted to leave so bad. finally, he dragged us out of there and into some bakery, where we had yummy British sandwiches. we then went back to our apartment and ate some more and played a few rounds of Uno before we had to go to bed. We had to wake up at around 5 in order to catch the train to York, which will come in the next post!

PS. If you are already bored, just skip this whole England trip altogether. there are tons more pictures to come! it could take up possibly 3 more posts. who knows. but that's all for tonight.