Just a Little Something Something

Words of wisdom for the day:

That is all.

Speaking words of wisdom...let it be, elementary & "2nd star to the right and straight on til morning"

So with less than a week left here in London I have planned lots of activities to cram in all the things I have forgot to do up til now. Some of the most basic tourist attractions in London, which I'm still not sure how I went so long without seeing, were on the list for today.

This morning we went to Abbey Road. Let me just say, The Beatles make that picture look easy. I am here to inform those who haven't tried that taking that picture is not easy today. Abbey Road is located on a crowded street. However, the challenge presented by attempting to get a good shot amid the traffic made the experience much more fun. Here was the best shot. **Please note it was cropped, straightened, and enhanced using iPhoto (as are most of my photos). You can compare to the original here. Of course I don't have the technology necessary to get the color right, and of course it would be a little too risky to ask Lisa Ann to stand in the middle of the street to get the angle right.

After finally getting a satisfactory photo we headed over to Abbey Road Studios. Not only did the Beatles record here but Edward Elgar used it as well. The wall outside the studio is basically an epitaph to the Beatles, excluding the few dummies who decide it's funny to write Dave Matthews forever or Led Zepplin is better. I most certainly had to get out my pen and write the most fitting phrase I could think of. I think it is very appropriate.

After we had taken several pictures outside the studio and through the gates, we noticed the gate down the road a little farther was open. So we actually could go up to the front steps where Brittany and I took this photo:

Baker Street is only one tube stop from St. John's Wood tube stop where Abbey Road is. This was our next stop for the day. Pretty much every child that grew up watching Wishbone knows who Sherlock Holmes is. And those a little more familiar with Holmes will know his fictitious residence is at 221B Baker Street. 221B Baker Street does not exist. However, a museum was built on Baker Street as close as possible to where 221B would be. The museum costs 7 pounds which we did not want to pay. Luckily the museum is prepared for cheapskates like us and provide tourists with Holmes' hat and pipe and Watson's hat. It was time for some more photos:

I don't even want to think about how many pictures this poor "cop" (not sure if he's a real cop) end up in the background of every day. I liked that he posed for the second one of ours...it makes the picture more authentic.

After this picture was taken Lisa Ann and I lost Rachel A. and Brittany, and Jenni headed home. After searching for about 5 minutes we decided it was pointless and headed to Harrod's. Just think Saks 5th Ave but better. This is the kind of department store that rich people fly from other countries to shop at. There are cops at the doors, Tiffanys, Cartier, Rolex, Bulgari, etc. inside, Princess Diana's wedding ring on display, the most delicious food you've even seen, and extremely helpful sales people. When you buy something they will charge you in pounds, Euros or US dollars. They also ask if you need directions and provide you with a map of the department store which has 5 floors and two Harrod's gift shops inside the store. I have never heard of a store that has its own gift shop. I bought the most delicious piece of cheesecake I have ever had, and it comes in pretty little boxes. Basically I felt like a character out of Gossip Girl there (if only I had the money of one).

Besides the cheesecake I also bought something else special for someone, but it is top secret so no pictures on here!

Finally, and maybe most importantly, I went to see the Peter Pan play in Kensington Gardens tonight. I have loved Peter Pan for a really long time, and it was exciting to see it on stage for the first time. The theatre was in the round with projections around the upper screen. Basically, the play made you feel like a kid again, and that is certainly a good thing every once in awhile. My favorite part was when Peter Pan told the audience to whisper (in a quite fairy voice) that we do believe in fairies.

Oh and just some London news that might be of interest. The tube (the entire tube) will be closed until Friday morning due to a strike. I am really curious to see how different things will be with the most important mode of transportation completely disabled.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6465619.ece

Come summer there'll be so many roses...you'll be sick of 'em

We took a bus trip on Wednesday. The highlight/destination of this trip was Canterbury. We didn't actually make it to Canterbury. However, it was still a fun trip. We went to Brighton. For the Jane Austen fans, Lydia runs into and subsequently runs off with the infamous Mr. Wickham while in Brighton in Pride and Prejudice. While there we went to King George IV's pavilion. It was decorated in a Chinese influenced style inside, and was very interesting. As fun as it was to see yet another palace, my favorite part about Brighton was the beach! It was a really nice day, and I only wish I had a bathing suit! But alas I did not so gazing at the beach from the Brighton Pier, where celebrities such as the Spice Girls have filmed videos, had to suffice. We also went to Bodiam Castle. It looked like it was floating. I don't know too much about this castle, but I did learn one interesting tidbit. When people tried to invade the castle, upon entering through the first gates there are holes in the ceiling, and the people defending the castle would pour hot oil or tar onto the invaders through the holes which are aptly called murder holes.

The next day Brittany, Lisa Ann and I went to the London Eye. While it was a nice experience, I would only recommend it to those who have to take freezing cold showers for nearly three weeks, had professors who pitied them and then offered to pay for it. To make a long story short, it was worth the two pounds I actually ended up spending but not the 17 pounds it actually costs. In a word, the London Eye is anticlimactic. I did take some pretty awesome pictures though.

After the London Eye Lisa Ann and I followed our fearless leader Brittany Ann to Regent's Park (more specifically Queen Mary's Rose Garden) where we had heard the roses were in bloom. This was quite the eventful excursion. As my fearless leader would say, on a scale of 1 to 10 we were lost. We were inside Regent's Park, we just couldn't seem to find the large circular garden area situated directly in the center of the park. Finally, after consulting three maps and wandering over pretty much every area of the park for at least an hour, we found Queen Mary's Garden. It was worth it! The roses were definitely in bloom, and it was beautiful. I took a ton of pictures, but I will only share my two favorites.

Once again, if you are interested in seeing more (which I highly recommend) I suggest a Google image search.

Just a few random, not necessarily London related, things.

My wonderful friend Jessica posted this link on my Facebook wall on Monday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ9afRgToxE

It was quite a nice surprise to come home to that night!

I'll be the first to admit Twilight is certainly not the most well written, believable, etc. series out there. BUT I will admit I enjoy it. I have a handful of friends from high school that I still keep in touch with. Sadly, I only get to see them a few weeks each year. One of my favorite memories with Jessica, Michael and

Whitney from this past year was going to see Twilight with them when I was home for Christmas. It was extremely fun. The key to enjoying this movie for me was not to take it too seriously, and the reason we had so much fun is because we found it extremely humorous. While we were laughing and chortling throughout the movie, I don't think the teenagers in the audience shared our opinion. They actually gave us several dirty looks which, in my opinion, only made it that much funnier. I'm pretty excited for HP 6 premiere this summer and then New Moon in the fall.

With my time in London swiftly winding down, I have been thinking more and more about going home to Tennessee. I haven't been there since December (and only for about two weeks then), and I can't wait to go home. It's nice that I have something to look forward too after London because it makes me much less sad to leave. I can't wait to get home and spend time with my family and my friends, working at the pool and golf course (making money instead of spending it all the time), and just kick back and relax a little. Not taking classes will give me some time to focus on doing some stuff I want to do. There are lots of books piling up that I want to read, and hopefully I'll get around to some of them. I also want to take some time this summer to start playing the piano and fiddle again. Cooking for myself and getting to choose what I eat will also be nice. I need to get out of the habit of eating dessert all the time, too, and start getting back in to the habit of going to the gym every day. Two months in London taking a break from normal life is quite enough in my opinion.

And here are a few quintessential London shots that I haven't uploaded yet:

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So here a few highlights of the past couple days:

I've been attending a small church ward that is about a 45 minute trip via walking, tube and train from where I live in Kensington. It's called the Crystal Palace Ward, and I help out a little bit in the primary. This past Sunday was our last day going there. While I will certainly not claim that this was a life changing experience of anything, it was very interesting to see how the LDS church works in an area with so few members. I grew up in the Maryville Ward in Tennessee where one ward covers a city about the same size as Provo so I'm used to being in the minority, but this place was very different. While my home ward numbered in the hundreds this one was probably lucky to have 40 or so attendees. In addition to that, most of them seemed to be converts. I can only imagine how hard it must be to try and live as a good member of our Church when there are so many things fighting against you. I truly admire these people and their amazing strength. Like I said I teach the primary which is so small that the number of adults pretty much equals the number of kids in the program. Lauren, another girl from the program, and I worked together to teach the junior primary Sunday school class. The kids were very sweet, and I had a lot of fun. In the front row (from left to right) are Thomas, Rachel, Harrison and Bradley.

Bradley was the oldest, and I am so grateful he

was in the class. He was very talkative and always willing to participate, sometimes saying the opening and the closing prayers. I honestly think teaching would have been much more difficult without his input during the lessons Lauren and I taught.

Another thing I realized while working with the kids is how much I miss my job at the elementary school. Spending time teaching Thomas, Rachel, Harrison and Bradley made me remember how much I LOVE working with these kids:

Even though I'm a little sad I won't be going to the Crystal Palace, the next two Sundays are going to be amazing. This coming Sunday President Uchtdorf is coming to speak at Stake Conference. I'm only going to be able to watch this on broadcast, but he is also speaking at a YSA fireside that evening that I can go to. Then the Sunday after that our group is going to attending eucharist at St. Paul's Cathedral. I think that experience is almost necessary while I'm here in London, so I'm definitely looking forward to it.

We went to a ballet at the Royal Opera House on Monday. This was my first full length ballet. It was called Ondine, and it was similar to the Hans Christian Anderson version of The Little Mermaid. However, I like this adaptation better simply because the unfaithful man dies in the end rather than the sea nymph stabbing herself in the heart due to grief. The costumes were beautiful, but the music was a little strange. I felt very cultured. I got all gussied up in an awesome new purple dress I had purchased from Primark for 13 pounds earlier that day.

Tonight I went to see Les Miserables for the second time. Believe it or not the cheapest tickets in the theater are either the very back or the very front so Brittany, Alexa and I decided to go with the 20 pound front row tickets. I have to say that I basically love this show. The music is beautiful, and the Jean Valjean in the current London production is perfect. If you have never been in the front row of a show you should try it out sometime. I have a little bit of a crick in my neck, but it was very interesting to sit so close. You could see every performer perfectly. I could actually see tears running down Fantine's face when she sang I Dreamed a Dream. Of course sitting so close has a little bit of a draw back. Performing in a musical that is all singing takes a lot of effort, and singing with clear diction--I noticed--requires a lot of spitting. They should warn you that the front row is the splash zone and possibly provide you with a poncho like at The Blue Man Group, and if you know anything about the cast of Les Miserables the last person you could want to spit on you is M. Thenardier. Unfortunately, that is just the person who showered both Brittany and me with spit during one of his particularly rousing songs.

It is strictly forbidden to take pictures inside the theater, and if you even try you get called down by the ushers almost immediately. Therefore, pictures outside the theater will have to suffice. If you are really interested I suggest a google image or Youtube search.

And tomorrow it's off to Canterbury:

Of England they to Canterbury went, The holy blessed martyr there to seek who helped them when they lay so ill and weak.

Adventures in Scotland Continued...

So this piece of weaponry is also located at Edinburgh Castle. It's called Mon Meg, and this massive gun in capable of firing 300 pound cannon balls up to 2 miles. Right after I took the picture this man inthe picture stuck his entire head into the cannon and shouted hello. It echoed very nicely and was much cooler because of his accent. I wanted a picture, but unfortunately I was not quick enough and he didn't do it again. You'll just have to use your imagination. We also went to this restaurant called The Elephant House which is important because:

On the third day in Scotland we went on a bus trip and visited Stirling Castle (which I'm still not entirely sure why it's so important),

the William Wallace monument and Inchmahome Priory on the only lake in Scotland. It was yet another hike up a steep hill and a climb up nearly 300 stairs to reach the top of the Wallace monument.

And if you're not entirely sure who William Wallace is just refer to the picture above, and that should help. However, people from Scotland supposedly don't like Mel Gibson's Braveheart too much as evidenced by the defacement and eventual removal of the William Wallace statuemodeled after Mel Gibson.

Here is a picture of the Wallace Monument from Stirling Castle:

After we finished looking at this stuff we headed to the priory. It was a beautiful day in Scotland. Every Scottish person we met made sure to tell us how unusual the weather was. This is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful places we've been so far.

We took a boat over to Inchmahome Priory on the island. The whole place was green with lots of sunlight and it smelled wonderful...like heather.

Finally on our last day there we just walked up and down the Royal Mile. I did some shopping and ate a banana and toffee muffin from this wonderful place called Chocolate Soup. Luckily this glorious cafe isn't international because if I could go there regularly I would probably quickly weigh about 1,000 pounds...which would be bad even though the food is oh

so good. And to top the day off while I was shoving

the last bits of the muffin in my mouth we heard drums and penny whistles, ran out to the street to see what the ruckus was, and it was a parade!!! It was a little disappointing because it is the first parade I've ever been to in my life where I did not have any candy thrown at me. But there was lots of Scottish music including drums, cymbals, penny whistles, and even a few accordions. There were also a lot of badly dressed old women, almost a brawl, and lots of men with tattoos. And these guys did a little dance for us when the parade had to stop for a bit.

And of course I cannot go to Scotland without sharing one last picture:

Whit's 'at caad in Scots?

I AM SOOO EXCITED!!!

I just back from Scotland, and I loved it. It was beautiful. Edinburgh is a much more manageable town to see than London. Don't get me wrong I love everything about London, but at times it is overwhelming because there is just so much to see. I feel like I got to see everything I wanted to see in Edinburgh in just a few days, and it was good to be able to leave feeling like I have not missed anything.

And partly I'm excited because:

My very first picture is finally uploaded!!! This is Scotland. This hill you see is the top part of what's called Arthur's Seat and we hiked up the entire thing(this pictures is just the very top)...and it was definitely a hike. This is the

very first thing we did after arriving in Edinburgh following the 4 1/2 hour train ride (which was rather miserable seeing as I had a backwards facing seat). So after a good long up hill hike I celebrated making it to the top like this:

and this:

All in all it was a fun day.

The next day we visited Edinburgh Castle. Unfortunately the day before I lost my Explorer pass to get in to this castle. Luckily, the guy was very understanding when I explained my situation he let me in anyways. Once we got inside the gate we asked the man at the audio guide booth if there was a map of the castle. He said yes but they are only in Gaelic. However, I decided to take a map anyways because the nice man made sure to tell us the numbers were in English and would lead us to signs that were in English.

This castle is where Mary Queen of Scots lived and had her first and only child

,James VI, who became King James I of England. We also learned some interesting things about the American Revolution and how prisoners of war were kept in the castle dungeons. To the left is a carving of a boat and an early American flag that a prisoner made in a door.

And if you can't read this delightful sign to the right it says "Because the Americans were officially regarded as pirates they received only 1 pound of bread per day". Everyone else got 1 1/2 lbs of bread per day. By far my favorite part of this castle was this exhibit in one of the small museums about the Scottish army. There was an exhibit that explained how during a battle a woman had fled the city and left her small child with the father. This might not seem like too bad of an idea. However, the father was a soldier and not long after the mother left he had to fight. Having nothing else to do with the child he simply put the baby in his knapsack while he fought in the battle. What you can't see in this picture is that on the ground at the father's feet he

is just about the stab a man with the knife on the end of his musket. But you can see the baby in the bag under his right arm.

That about sums up day one and two in Scotland, and I will update the rest of the trip tomorrow when hopefully, though doubtfully, the internet will be working faster. It has already taken much too long to upload just these few pictures.