August 4 2009

Fun day! Today we woke up and went to Buckingham Palace! Wow! I loved it! It was beautiful! I’d probably have to say that out of the elaborate palaces and such Buckingham is my favorite! It was very ornate but it was a good ornate. It wasn’t as busy as all the other ones we’ve been to. I loved all the colors in it too! There were actual color schemes instead of every color they had in one room. I really enjoyed it! After that Erica, Scott, and I walked around and had some fun taking pictures! We found some of the guards and took pictures with them! How cool is that? And funny story! So we were taking pictures and we let the guard know what we were doing so he didn’t attack. And Erica wanted one that looked like she was kissing him so we positioned it so it would look like it but he was little compared to her so she tried to get closer. And the guard, who isn’t supposed to move or talk, said to her, “You might as well just kiss me, it’ll be a lot easier”!! Ha ha! It was hilarious! So of course that’s what she did! The smirk on his face is hilarious! I loved it! And we also played in the red telephone booths! So fun! While we were walking around we saw a bunch of guard looking people so we ran over to see what it was. They were filming some sort of guard marching band. I don’t know what they were filming them for but it was fun to see them! Then we came back to the flat and just chilled and did some more homework. Dinner tonight was at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen! Erica and I went. It was good! We got a yummy burger, fries, and a chocolate shake! It was so fun! And now I need to pack to go home! It has been such an amazing experience! I cannot believe how fast the time has gone! I am so incredibly grateful for this experience! I hope I will never forget it all! I truly have loved it!

August 3 2009

Today was a work day! We woke up and Erica and I went on a nice run to Hyde Park. It was very pretty! There’s a lot of grass and trees and flowers in it! And Princess Diana’s castle is in it too! There is also a good sized pond with lawn chairs around it. It was a lot of fun! And while we were there Julia and Amanda ran into us, literally! So that was fun to all be there running through the park! We ran stairs with them up to a monument. That was a workout! But it was fun! Then we all ran back to our flats together. It was so nice to go running! It just feels so good! Then we went to our flats and blogged and blogged and blogged some more! After we made ourselves sick of blogging we paid a visit to Harrod’s. It was awesome! And man that is one expensive store! The designs in it were so cool! They had different rooms and sections of things and each one was designed differently! It was so cool! We went to the food courts and got a strawberry dessert thing. It was interesting but good! The whipped cream and strawberries on the top were my favorite! And it came in a cool little box that will make a nice souvenir! Then we came back to the flat and blogged some more! Work, work, work!

August 2 2009

We went to church again today! Oh how I love to go to church! You really don’t realize just how important it is and how big of a part it is in your life until you can’t go. It really is such a strength that helps me get through the week. I am so grateful for it! It was fast and testimony meeting today. It was really good! Man, some of the things that people are going through are so sad. It makes me so grateful for the things that I have been blessed with! And it stresses even more the importance of learning from all of your little difficulties that come along and also just how important it is to continually put your faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ so you can make it through and get the most out of it. I feel for them and for their families. I know they will be immensely blessed for being so strong and enduring through it all. The Relief Society lesson was on the power of music. Music really is so powerful. It can bring the spirit or send it straight away. I really have felt that recently with the musicals that I have been to. Those were great! Next week I’ll be going to church in Utah! How exciting! What a superb Sunday!

August 1 2009

It’s August! Man time is flying! I can’t believe it! Well, today was fun! We got up and got tickets for Wicked! Since we are students we got good seats and a really good deal on them! After getting tickets we went back to Portobello Road and did some shopping. Man it was crowded! Then we came back, took a little nap, and did some homework. Then we went to Wicked! Oh man I loved it! The music, costumes, set design, everything were all amazing! It really was incredible! The actors/actresses all had British accents, but what’s funny is it didn’t really even faze me. I’ve gotten used to hearing it everywhere that is seems normal to me. My favorite is to hear little kids speak with an accent though! Oh I love it! It makes me so happy! I think I’m going to miss hearing that when I go home! Anyways so Wicked was awesome! It was fun to go with Erica and Courtney! Oh and on the way home we passed the tiniest little car! I don’t know how anyone could fit in it! That’s not the first I’ve seen either! It would be fun to try to cram lots of people into one of those! Anyways, so this was another fun day in London!

July 31 2009

Wow! So the other day when I said I was living in Pride and Prejudice, well that defined today! First we went to Haddon Hall. It was awesome! It dates back to the 12th century and was the home of the Manners and the Vernons. And it actually was empty for 200 years between 1700 and 1920! So it has been kept in its original condition fairly well. It’s the most primeval house that we have been to the whole trip. At first I didn’t really like that it was that way, but by the end I loved that it was! It was so cool to see the wear marks in the stones in the steps from centuries of walking on them. You could just get a feel of what they would do and their traffic patterns. Our tour guide said that they didn’t have very good teeth back then so they would have to cut up their food so they would be able to eat it. So in the kitchen are holes that were worn into the countertop from all the cutting and grinding of their food. It was all really interesting! And, like I sort of mentioned before, Pride and Prejudice was also filmed here! The part when Elizabeth gets the letter telling her that her sister just ran off with Mr. Wickham was filmed there! Parts of Princess Bride were filmed there too! But our tour guide said that it’s hard to recognize because of all the props they used. So after our tour of the house we went out to the gardens. Oh man I loved them! Everything was so green! It was overcast so all the colors were so intense! And there were hills of grass and trees that went on forever! The feel of it was so awesome! It was just so calm. And it really felt like I was in Pride and Prejudice! So fun! After that we made our way over to Chatsworth. This is the home of Mr. Darcy! Oh man it was awesome! The inside was very pretty! There is a music room on the second floor with a door that has a violin and bow hanging from a hook by a ribbon painted on it! It looks incredibly real! I would never have known it was a painting unless someone told me and I still had a hard time believing it! It was incredible! But yeah it was beautiful! We also went outside on the grounds. They are huge! There’s a maze, a rock garden, a kitchen garden, a sensory garden, some ponds, a huge water feature, a waterfall, grass, and tons of trees, the list could go on forever! It was very pretty! So in the house is the statue room that they show in the movie! And they even have Mr. Darcy’s bust in it! Oh that was so fun! They have the statue of the girl with the veil over her face! It is beautiful! I love that one! So yeah I was Elizabeth Bennett for the day! I loved it! After we got home we went to this weird thing that was playing at the National Theatre for free. It was projected onto the side of a building. I’ll do my best to describe it, so there was a couple of people that made some music (drums and such) and some one that was “singing” to it. It was more like talking with some occasional note changes in a musical way. This singing was telling a story about Fly Boy and the robot. So while he was singing they put up these cutout silhouettes on the projector that they moved around. It was so weird! But so hilarious because it was just out there! I don’t know if I’ll ever understand modern art. It made for a good chuckle though! So yeah it was a fun day!

July 30 2009

We went to Bath today! It was so cool! The town was fun but the Roman baths were even cooler! They date back to 76 AD! Yeah, old! An audio guide came with admission to Bath and that was very interesting! I had done a report on it in elementary some time and had forgotten most of what I learned so it was so fun to have all that come back to me and to actually be there! It is so interesting what they were used for! They started out in a changing room then moved on to another room where they servants would rub oils and fragrances all over them. They then made their way to a room where the floor was raised up on stacks of bricks and they would blow hot hair from a furnace through the stacks so it heated the floor. They said that the floor would be so hot that if they didn’t have sandals on it would burn their feet. So they would pour water on the floor to create a steam room. After they were all sweated out they moved on to another room where their servants would take a sharp, blade-like thing and scrape their skin to get off any dead skin, dirt, sweat, and hair. Then they would take a dip in a cold water bath for a bit. After that they moved on to the central bath. This is the biggest of all of them. The water comes in from a natural spring called the Sacred Spring. So it’s a nice temperature! The central bath was pretty much just a place to socialize and do business. One interesting thing, the emperor was asked why he bathed once a day and his reply was because he didn’t have time to bathe more than once a day! It was that important to them. The Sacred Spring I mentioned is a natural hot spring that they built a big bath around. They call it the Sacred Spring because they thought it to be a gift from the Gods. People would actually throw prayers and curses into it. There was also a church there that they called the Tholos. So it seems as though they tried to combine their social lives and business with their religion. I found that very interesting. So yeah, there’s a little history lesson for you. It was so cool to be there! On the way back Erica, Jeanette, and I stopped at the grocery store and on our way back to our flat we got on train going the wrong direction but the next stop was the last one for that train so it was ok. But when we got to the next stop the train conductor person got on the speaker and said that it was the last stop and to make sure that you have your personal belongings – your luggage, your laptops, your loved ones (said in a “romantic” voice), your lunch boxes, your rubbish. It was so funny! Then at the end of his announcement he said, remember to keep smiling, a smile is worth nothing until you give it away. So remember to keep smiling!