im back!!

HELLO!! i am back home (to my home away from home, dont worry mom, i will come back!). i am very excited to be back in charlbury and to see everyone again and hear all the amazing stories from everyone's adventerous reading break trips!! and i am sure that everyone is curious about my trip with jodi to scotland and ireland. well, i have come back with plenty of stories and pictures to show you! unfortunately, there is so many that i will have to space my blog postings or else no one will ever have enough time to check it all out! so....our break actually began with a group trip to london for two days. we all had such a wonderful time!

Day 1 in London:

first thing thursday morning, we jumped on the crowded train to head into london, switched over to the tube which made us very very late for our morning at the parliament buildings. regardless, when we went in, we entered into the oldest part of the buildings which was 1000 years old. crazy cool for sure! this is the room:

then, we were given the opportunity to sit in on the house of commons and the house of lords, which is apparently something that not even alot of british have the opportunity to do, so it was quite thrilling. after, we had an interesting lunch with three mp's discussing british, canadian, and american politics. when we approached the topic of americans influence on canadians, things got a little heated! it was very fun though!

After, we were given the afternoon to do what we wish, so ree, tim, alisha, beth, mark, jodi and myself went out to explore the city of london. this is what we found:of course we went to see big ben!!

we made our way down to trafalger square. i wasnt sure of its significance, so i asked jodi and her reply was: "i dont know...its just like a square". hm, sometimes i wonder about her...

in trafalger square, we went to the national art gallery and saw gorgeous works from all throughout the years. some of these paintings are utterly incredible and can never compare to our 'modern' art. honestly beautiful!

i went to buckingham palace twice - although it was less grand then i anticipate it too be. we looked everywhere for the gaurds with the big fuzzy hats but found them no where - a little disappointing. and sorry cindy, but the queen had urgent business and missed our tea date ;)

on the steps of buckingham palace, i think contemplating how cool it would be if ree's boyfriend could discover how to become a cloud and fly over london to visit her...and of course what it would be like to be the queen. you know, the usual conversation that girls have!!

Day 2 in London:

we went to the globe!! how amazing is that!! it was so beautiful. i mean, i know the original burnt down, but this was still a surreal experience. our tour was a wonderful lady who told us all about the type of theatre, staging, and audiences in a production at the globe. it was incredible!

after our trip to the globe, we were officially on our reading break. most of us had decided to spend the day in london, and so we toured around. this is the london tower where king henry the 8ths wives were beheaded and apparently a lot of other people too. it was too expensive to go in, but luckily laura had the other day with her dad and gave us all the information - for free!

westminster abbey is indescribable. honestly - it is breathtakingly beautiful. when we arrived there, visitors hours were over but we were just in time for evensong. listening to the choir in this holy place of worship was an experience like no other. it literally gave me goosebumbs. beautiful.

to conclude the day, weary and exhausted we made our way to st. pauls cathedral. also indescribably. it is larger and more grand than you can imagine and better than i could ever describe. no picture could do it justice.

that concluded our trip to london. so much fun! after, we were all ready to embark upon our journeys. jodi and i were walked to our bus station while laura and ree wished us goodbye. it was crazy how much i knew i was going to miss everyone.

so, jodi and i jumped on the bus at 11:00 that night and prepared for a nine hour bus ride to scotland! that, i will save for another time. this has been long enough and i really need to keep learning my lines for our play. the production is this friday night and i have a huge part!! stressing!!