TinyTravels.com

Here are pictures from what we have done so far. Today we went to London Tower, Tower Bridge, The Design Museum, The Globe theatre and The Tate Modern. I know most people already know this, but the English really did behead a lot of people. Our Beefeater took us into a chapel about the size of a four car garage and told us that when they went to renovate the chapel, under the floor they found 1,500 headless bodies. With the exception of Ann Bolyn, she had her head in the crook of her arm, and some King’s brother who they had to sew the head back onto so they could have a portrait painted of him. Out of the 1,500 they could only identify 33. We thought the Tower would be just that. One tower. It was in fact the old palace. The Beefeaters and their families still live there. On Monday the first female Beefeater starts working at the tower. The British woke us up again today. By the British I mean the four Brits that are sharing our hostel room with us. How do they wake us up you say. They slam the door to our room, they let the faucet run for a long time and they hold pretty long conversations. Then they leave for breakfast and come back and hang out in the room for about an hour. Today we decided to just get up when they do and leave. I went into the room pretty late last night and let the door slam, before going back to where Jessica was. The British go to bed around 10:30. That was kind of pleasant.

-M and J

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what a day.  it started out with our rude english roommates making a lot of noise and waking everyone up in our room at 8 am.  that was pleasant.  we decided to go eat breakfast while the british were getting ready.  jessica and i enjoyed a wonderful breakfast consisting of bread with jam and butter.  i had some corn flakes with non pasturized milk also.

jessica now:

we saw a lot today even though we had a late start due to the time change and staying out late. we saw:

1.  big ben and the westminster palace.  the palace is now where parliment meets.  we took a tour and learned alot but were more confused at the end.  she explained a lot about government here but it only let to more questions.  we came to the conclusion that the parliment does thing sonly because they are tradition and because it makes sense.  the inside was quite over the top.

2. westminster abby.  whatever!  pretty but we totally didnt appriciate it.  we didnt know who almost anyone buried there was.  after we had our first pub food and it was good. 

3.  buckinghame palace.  this was strange because londoners were just walking by as if it was nothing and all we could think was”this is  a palace and there is a queen inside.”  so weird to think someone deserves all they have because it’s their devine right.  but most londoners probably dont think this anymore. 

 4.  went to a great bar called jerusalem tavern.  we’ve tried beer from this place in the states but being there was so much better.  it was tiny a full.  i had a grapefruit beer. then we wandered around the neighborhood, islington.  it reminded me of los feliz and parts of brookyln.

anyways we cant figure out how to get pictures on this thing.  so we are without again.  sorry.

we had a lay over in amsterdam and jessica cried while landing there, she was just too tired and excited.  we then got our connection and got on the tube which cost 16 dollArs just to get to our hostel.  we walked around for a bit and also fell asleep in hyde park (what hippies).  we saw a sunglasses hut, how sad!  london is not that different than la just older and a lot more expensive.  every other store is a gap. we walked for a while then napped in our hostel.  woke up and dragged ourselves out.  first we found a pub near our hostel called prince albert.  it was very english and nice, they played pink floyd.  then to soho where we found a bar called freedom, where the lady servers were very nice, especially the one from brazil.  then on to the gay bar where the horrid mariah carey was playing.  we got out as soon as possible.  got a glorious hot dog and came back to the hostel.  we are staying at the very tip of kensington garden in bayswater.  tomorrow we will see a lot more but today we were too pooped to make a real effort.  pictures will come in the morning.

our plane departs in 4 hours. i am all set. i have stuffed everything i could think of in my tiny backpack. i probably have way too much. as much as i have been preparing for this trip i dont know what to expect. my heart is racing i am so excited.

ahh! the other day my buddy, lexi, spruced up my hoodie with a cute panda bear. its very cute. i am gonna miss seeing her everyday along with everyone else at camp. numerous times this summer i hated the kids. i thought they were the biggest brats but yesterday as everyone was saying their goodbyes i was sad to see them go. cody cheered me up when we made foil hats together. his made him look like a swammi.

well i guess the next blog will be more exciting. it will be written in london, hopefully with a pint in hand.

I was supposed to go to the play Jessica is the Assistant Director of tonight. It started at 7 p.m. and I woke up to a phone call and Jessica saying, “Where are you?” I told her I was about to leave, not realizing what time it was and that I had turned off my cell phone alarm. She said “You know it started an hour a go?” Then she hung up. I think she is mad. I had better not screw this up tomorrow night. That is the last night of the play.

Manuel

i cant sleep. i still have so much to do but i cant really get it done because i have camp from 8 in the morning til 11 at night.

i just wanted to do this mostly as a test. hopefully the blogs written in europe will be better.

jessica