Starstruck!

Yesterday morning I woke up at the crack of dawn to go to Westminster Bridge to have a poetry session with about 1/3 of my class. We read "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge" by the Romantic poet William Wordsworth. I don't usually do these types of things, but it was a very pleasant experience. It was only 7:30 in the morning and 75 degrees out. I enjoyed a cup of tea and even wrote a poem! When Big Ben chimed 9:00, we met the rest of my class at Parliament. We didn't have class in the morning because we took a tour of the Houses of Parliament instead. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside. Sorry!

Oliver Cromwell and Parliament.

We passed security and are waiting for our tour guide!

After the tour of Parliament, a few girls and I took an audio tour of Westminster Abbey before class at 1:00 pm. This is the statue of Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus at one of the side entrances of the old Gothic church. I was disappointed we weren't allowed to take pictures in here either because we saw the coronation chair that has been used since 1308 and the burials and memorials of many kings, queens, soldiers, poets, scientists, and more!

All dressed up for dinner and Les Miserables.

A special treat for dessert!

NICK JONAS! We were all excited.

He actually has Type 1 diabetes and created the organization, Change for the Children Foundation, to raise money and awareness for diabetes. Who ever knew!?

Photocredit: Megan Holst.

Anyways, the show was amazing : ]

Cricket < football

We woke up early yesterday morning to explore some northern parts of London.

Going to Hogwarts!

Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Crossing.

The Telecom Tower counting down the days to the 2012 London Summer Olympics.

There were beautiful rose gardens in Regent's Park.

We enjoyed a nice breakfast and tea in Regent's Park.

ABBEY ROAD!!!

We saw a cricket game and stayed for 15 minutes...we wished we could have seen the England and Germany football game instead, but it was a fun experience!

We walked through Kensington Gardens on the way home from the cricket game since the tube station was closed. These are the pretty fountains and ponds of the Italian garden.

Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens. Barrie, the author who wrote the story about Peter Pan in 1902, was inspired by his relationship with a family that began in Kensington Gardens. In the story, Peter Pan flies out of his nursery and lands beside the Long Water, which is where this statue stands.

Voala!

I wish school was on the weekends here! It is so crowded everywhere on the weekends, but we decided to go do touristy things anyways yesterday...

Wall to wall people on Portobello Road in Notting Hill. Every Saturday there is a huge market where venders on the street sell antiques and food.

Some very old classic books.

Look at those old cameras!

We are pros at public transportation now!

The original London Wall behind us!

Everything is small here!

One of the earliest electrically driven public clocks. This one was installed in 1852 and it always shows the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). This is a 24 hour clock so the hour hand marks noon at XII at the bottom of the dial and midnight (0) at the top of the dial. The time shown is accurate to 0.5 of a second.

The Prime Meridian - standing on both the East and West Hemispheres at the same time!

We saw a performance, called Voala, at the Royal Artillery Square near Greenwich. Imagine sky-diving combined with water ballet and thats what it was!

They were attached to a crane that took them soooo high!

Wimbledon!

I accidentally deleted my few pictures from yesterday, but all we did was go to Piccadilly Circus and see the play, 39 Steps. The play was a comedy based on Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 film. There were only four actors in the whole play, but they played over 100 parts. It was very creative and entertaining.

We don't have class on Fridays so we woke up very early today and went to Wimbledon! We waited four hours in the 80 degree weather, but it was totally worth it! I had strawberries and cream and watched a men's single match and a ladies' double match.

The mass amount of people. We got there at 8 am and I was the 6339th person in line. They only let in about 7,500. People were there even earlier than us to stake out their spot and camp out for the NEXT day. They were very dedicated.

The queue is a big deal I guess...they even gave us a 35 page brochure titled, "A Guide to Queueing for The Championships."

The group of girls that I went with.

It was very very very crowded. This is the first match we caught a glimpse of - I am not sure who they are. Right behind them is the center court covered in pretty flowers and ivy.

Court 17 where we watched the ladies' double match.

Kanepi/Zhang and Hsieh/Kudryavlseva

The score board where I recognized a player's name - Sam Querry! He is from Thousand Oaks, CA and was actually coached by my tennis coach for a couple of years when he was young. He has won his first two matches. Go Sam!!!

Court 5 - Mayer (Germany) vs. Yen-Hsun Lu (China)

We were for cheering for Florian Mayer, but unfortunately he was hurt and had to retire early from the match.

We thought the ball girls and boys were so funny. The players are treated very well here -they get shade between each game!

It was definitely worth the time and money! We had so much fun.

London Underground and at Night

Yesterday was a catch up day on homework unfortunately, but in the evening we went to our second play, called Ditch. It took place in the Old Vic Tunnels, which is located right below Waterloo train station. This is what we experienced: http://www.hightide.org.uk/news/video-feature-on-ditch/. The play is about futuristic England: http://www.hightide.org.uk/news/brand-new-trailer-for-ditch/.

Waterloo Station. We heard trains pass above us the whole time during the play.

Inside Old Vic Tunnels

The Stage.

It was such a warm night (probably 70 degrees) so we took a walk across Westminster Bridge.

The London Eye at night.

"What's done, is done." - Lady Macbeth

I finally have a free moment! Here is what I did yesterday.

After school, my British professor took our class to Temple, one of the main legal districts of the capital and a notable centre for English law. This is Temple Church. It is the church of Inner and Middle Temple (Inns of Court), two of England's four ancient societies of lawyers. It is also a location of the movie, The Da Vinci Code.

Next, our professor took us to the London Museum. This is part of the original wall of London, which was built by the Romans in about 200 AD.

Taking a break and enjoying some tea and muffins.

Our theatre professor met up with us at this pub before the play. It is one of the oldest pubs in town, rebuilt right after the Great Fire of 1666.

With its world-famous dome, St. Paul's Cathedral can be seen from everywhere!

Millennium Bridge (shown in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince)

Group shot of some of the girls!

The Globe, a reconstruction of the original, where we saw Macbeth.

Some people made the brave decision to stand during the whole play with their head sticking out of this black tarp, where bloody witches and ghosts lurked beneath. It is supposed to represent the 7th level of hell of Dante's Inferno.