London

For our 4-day weekend trip, we went to London! Initially, we were planning to go to Italy, but so did all the other kids in our program... The train station staff is almost crazy now that we're all scrambling to go to the same places. But London was totally worth the long trip, and we've saved Rome for our last big weekend here.

This trip, we met up with my roommate Abby who is getting her LBAT in Paris this summer. We flew Ryanair from Frankfurt-Hahn and Abbey took the Chunnel. It was awesome to have her with us! Hopefully next weekend after Normandy we will stop in Paris and visit.

We managed to cram in most of the main destinations--usually we got a quick photo as we walked by. We hit Big Ben and Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Little Ben, Saint Paul's, Trafalger Square, Picadilly Circus, the Soho district in general, the British Museum, the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge, London Bridge, the Hard Rock Cafe, and last but not least, the London Eye.

A little group of us opted to go inside Westminster and the Eye, and to eat at the Hard Rock, and I'm glad to have seen it all. So thank you, Parents, for forgiving the extra pounds I spent for that little extra bit of history. ;)

Westminster was really cool, and I almost liked it better than the Museum. I mean, Sir Isaac Newton's grave was there! And all the poets (minus Shakespeare himself) and other scientists (like Charles Darwin) and royalty--this tiny collection of human beings shaped a significant chunk of the way we see the world today... It was beyond my ability to feel the reality of standing feet away from the dusty bones of such minds and creators.

Buckingham Palace was interesting. While we got there for the changing of the guard, it was hard to really see anything since there were so many people. However, I got some neat videos of soldiers marching around and horses and stuff. It was kind of funny to learn from Mom that the Queen was over in the States while we were in London over 4th of July weekend.

It was really cool and kind of bizarre to see the art and historical artifacts in the British Museum that (for years and years) I have seen in school textbooks. It's always strange to see the real thing after all you had was a photo to go on. It almost desensitizes you (as with the Mona Lisa) so that when you finally see it, you don't know what to think.

The Rosetta Stone was there in all its glory, and I was excited to see the Aztec double-headed turquoise mosaic serpent. The 13000-year-old reindeer sculpture was pretty impressive. But it was crazy to see the almost perfectly-preserved 5400-year-dead guy in his little glass box. I wonder what he would've thought if he'd known that millions of people every year would flock to the UK to get a glimpse of his remains.

The Hard Rock Cafe was intense. Prince's flowy white shirt caught my attention, and so did Madonna's leather jacket. I practically jumped for joy upon encountering Elton John's pink sunglasses on the way to the bathroom. There was a Jimi Hendrix box in the center of the restaurant, and we saw Eric Clapton's guitar over the main bar, the very first guitar ever donated to the HRC.

I was disappointed to miss when the rest of the group disappeared into the Vault underneath the store--there was a lot of cool stuff down there. But I'm happy with stealing their pictures later. :) The food was absolutely delicious. I got a California Burger and a fruit smoothie, and shared the nacho appetizer with the group. I almost had a heart attack, but it was amazing.

The best part was the HRC playing two versions of the Star Spangled Banner since it was Independence Day! The second one was Whitney Houston singing it at some sporting event. It was goosebump-inducing. And everybody (well, probably all the American tourists) clapped at the end. It made me a little homesick...

Right before we got on the tube back to the train station, we stopped by the London Eye, and a few of us went up in it. It was the biggest ferris wheel I've ever seen, right over the Thames and looking out across the whole city. We got some impressive pictures, and then we had to say goodbye to Abby before we headed off towards home. All in all, we got a lot done and it was a great trip.

This week we're taking a GTL field trip to the European Parliament in Strasbourg. More on that soon. Next week, a few of us are heading to Normandy and back through Paris. Only a few more weeks left! Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry