Day 2 and 3 of the Brit Experience

Day 2

Greetings and Salutations!

These are the things we did on our second day in London. First off was the National Portrait Gallery that we both feigned interest in for about ten minutes, all the old English Kings look very similiar all sideburns and grizzel. There was however a portrait of Princess Di which elicited a fair bit of sighs and swoons. Next up was Buckingham palace for the changing of the guards and also to see were Will and Kate had their first kiss :). The place was absolutly packed so me and Grace decdied the best plan of action was for her to climb on my back and describe to me what was happening while taking pictures. Needless to say we made quite the scene with Grace holding onto my neck so hard I was gagging while yelling "The king! the king! I see the king! (there is no king of England which Grace now knows)"

After the changing of the guards excitment we took part in our first London rain which is wet and cold and very like Lancaster rain. We went to Westminster Abbey which was incredible and after I pulled myself together having become slightly teary-eyed over the wedding that took place there we had anouther radio tour which are the best.

I was determined to see the feeding of the pelicans at St. James park which our guide book told us was pretty great and after walking over every inch of that park which was okay because it was really pretty with flowers and foliage and the like we found the pelicans but alas Lonely planet led us astray and there was no feeding.

On our way back to the hostel we took our time exploring stores such as a Dr. Martins one, Toms one, and miscellabeous vintage shops. We decided to go cheap with dinner and cooked it our hostel which turned out to be the best idea ever because we met really fun people while cooking since everyone is going in and out of the kitchen.

The highlight of the day for both of us was definitetly that evening when we went out with our roomates one who is a fanatical football fan (yes we call it football now). We watched the game at a bar and the energy was palpable. The game was England vs. Sweden and people kept coming up to me and grace and asking if we were swedish with minimal dirty looks.

Pros and Cons

-Graces fear of pigeons and the all too friendly ones in St. James Park

+ Befriending our fantastic roomates (a 19 year old french girl and 30 year old Argentinean)

-My extreme sadness over lack of Pelican feeding

+England Won!

-our disgusting cooking we are no homemakers

Lots o' Love

Liz (and Grace)

 

Day 3

Grace here! Just wanted to check in again and try to keep up our every-other day blog schedule going.

Today, our day started out with the below-par breakfast provided by the hostel. Then we headed out to the House of Parliament for a tour. After some minor problems on the tube due to a closed line, we made it to the tour. The tourguide was so knowledgeable and the architecture and decoration was absolutely beautiful. It was interesting to learn about the evolution of parliament- from being a complete monarchy to sharing power with the House of Lords to the House of Commons, where most of the power now lies. We took in some of the history and some of the more modern political issues. We really enjoyed the fact that in order to vote, members of parliament actually have to be there and stand in either the "nays" hall or the "yays" hall. In very important bills, they will bring the MOPs in from the hospitals in beds in order to sway the vote. (Another fun fact- the "Big Ben" bell tower was originally just named for the bell because after they brought it in, they joked that it looked like Ben, one of the staff people who was short and portly, and thus came the new name, which has evolved into the name of the clocktower).

After that, back to the tube it was to get to Notting Hill-yes, where the Hugh Grant movie was shot. It was a sweet neighborhood, with a throbbing mass heading to the famous Portabella Market, which was almost a mile long of antiques, vintage clothes, lunch foods, produce, flea market, etc, etc, etc... We wandered around for a while, Liz found a leather jacket, we picked up some souveneirs for friends, and got a magnificent lunch! I was starting to get cranky from shopping and having to look at the same type of jewelry for so long so Liz very motherly promised me that we could get ice cream and sit down after we finished. After my withdrawal from lack of ice cream-my intense addiction- I was super excited. Ended up getting frozen yogurt instead, which left some to be desired but was still a lovely mix-up.

We enjoyed keeping a little French baby on the tube ride smiling back home. I then went for a nice long run along the River Thames while Liz napped. Then we prepared our dinner with our newly bought produce, meeting some fun hostel-mates along the way and trying Vegemite, which we do not recommend!

We were sad to see Santa, our sweet French roommate move back home today, but it was such a joy getting to know her! We are continuing to love the London culture and atmosphere and feel so at home here, minus the fact that clubs are entirely legal ;)

Sorry for just giving an overview, but Liz kind of hogged the computer time...

+ Discussing the British government with a guy in our hostel from Reading

- Downtown was very crowded today because it was the Queen's actual birthday

+Our homemade meals are improving

-Coffee at the hostel that leaves my coffee-conossieurness some to be desired!

Tata for now,

grace (and Liz)