A Day of Tours

Pictures: Kensington Palace, me and Jill at Saint Paul's Cathedral, the roomies at Saint Paul's Cathedral, me and Ashleigh pretending to feed the birds.

Today we went on a bus tour of the city, and a walking tour of Kensington. It was a really long day, but I feel a lot more knowledgeable about the city I live in now.

The bus tour was really fun because we saw all the famous tourist spots like Parliament, London Bridge, The Tower of London, Big Ben, The London Eye, etc. Although it was interesting it was also a little bit frustrating because we couldn't get out to see anything, we just drove past it all. Taking pictures of buildings from inside a bus was not really all that fun. We did stop in front of St. Paul's Cathedral for a little while and took a bunch of pictures there. We were all a little bit slap happy, especially me and Ashleigh, so it was a good time. The steps of St. Paul's Cathedral were where the famous "Feed the Birds" song was filmed in "Marry Poppins." Unfortunately there were no birds. We pretended there were, though, for the sake of a picture.


The walking tour was fun because it was the first time we'd been in to Hyde Park. We went and saw Kensington Palace, and the Albert Monument- some famous locations in Hyde Park. I can't wait to explore the area more because it had some gorgeous gardens and some really nice wooded, green areas. Our tour guide told us about a children's park that you can't get in to unless you have children with you. Apparently it's Peter Pan themed and there's a pirate ship and everything. We're going to steal Josh MacHamer's kids and get in there sometime.

After that was over me, Jill, and Ashleigh went shopping in the shopping Kensington district which was quite a unique experience. I didn't end up buying anything there because everything was way out of my price range, but it was cool to see all the shops there and look around. The fashion in London is incredible. People in the stores and walking around the town dress much nicer than we do to go out and run errands in America. I really like the style here, but I feel like everywhere I go I look frumpy in my jeans, sneakers, and t- shirt. The women literally wear dresses with tights and heels, full faces of makeup and perfectly styled hair; and the men wear dress pants, dress shoes, collared shirts, and vests. It's impressive and intimidating. I didn't bring any of my really nice clothes here, most of my stuff is super casual.

After we looked around the shops (including an American Apparel, and Urban Outfitters) we found the most awesome place to eat. WHOLE FOODS. It's kind of a pricey grocery store, but they have an upstairs food court with every kind of food you could imagine and all for really really cheap- around 5 pounds a meal. We were really excited that we found it, and we're pretty amped to go back and try all the other food.

After that we went and saw the most amazing play I've ever seen in my life. I want to go back and see it again. It was called money, and it took place in this little warehouse that they turned into a theatre. If I tried to explain what it was about I would totally confuse you, because it was a little bit hard to follow and kind of absurd, but believe me when I saw it was incredible. Visually stunning, well acted, and really thought provoking and interpretive.

Tomorrow we have a free day, and we're going to go back to Camden to buy some cheap clothes, which for me includes a wind breaker/ rain jacket since I freeze here at night. I brought warm jackets, but the wind goes right through me. I want to look at some London touristy things too to see if I can get some gifts and stuff. Otherwise we'll just be gearing up for school on Monday, which is going to suck a little bit. I have to remind myself that this isn't just a vacation, and that I do actually have things to focus on.

That's all for now :) Cheerio!