London Day 6

Friday morning we attended a lecture on the British Parliament and Monarchy by Dr. Tutt. We learned about the power of the parliament and how the House of Commons and House of Lords are similar and different to the American political system. For the monarchy we learned how it has changed over time gradually transferring the power from the monarchy to the parliament leaving the monarchy now to mostly symbolic duties instead of political power. This afternoon we went shopping on Oxford St. It was a really nice day in London which led to an enjoyable day of shopping. We went to a 6 story H&M, the Nike store, and Primark. Primark was absolutely huge and packed full of people. Walmart on Black Friday is the closest comparison I have to the atmosphere in Primark. Friday night we attended the London Symphony Orchestra at Barbican Hall. The first half of the concert featured Beethoven Overturn: Prometheus, and then a triple concerto for violin, cello, piano and Orchestra which began with Allegro then Largo and was wrapped up a splendid rendition of Rondo Alla Polacca. To make it better the violinist was also the conductor. In my symphony attending experience I always find the conductor and entertaining feature of the program as they bounce and conduct the music. So add a conductor with long flowing hair bouncing while playing the violin and the triple threat of entertainment was hit if you ask me. The second half was Beethoven's 3rd Symphony which lived up to the high expectations of the first half.  Now it's back at the university to get some rest to explore the countryside tomorrow. 

Oxford Street.

London Symphony Orchestra. 

The symphony group. Left to right Emily, Emma, John, Rebecca, Taylor, me, Ben, Tyler, and Chris 

London Symphony Orchastra. 

London Day 5

Instead of attending a lecture or class this morning we headed over to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guards. It was a cool event to see for sure. The Union Jack flag was even waving today meaning the queen was home. When they were opening the center gates the right gate even got stuck which cause a little bump in the event for a brief second until one of the police officers was able to open the gate the rest of the way. The main police officer over the area we were standing was quite hilarious. Cracking jokes about his horse and explaining how we should try to get a view as good his. After the changing of the guard we walked through green park before heading off to Nando's for lunch. Again with the mangos, Nando's has a mango and lime sauce which was just delightful. After lunch we took a short break before heading off to Canary Wharf for the London museum tour. While at the museum we focused mainly on the Blitz bombing events. Much of the bombing actually occurred on the ports where the museum was located. Now Canary Wharf is one of the fastest growing districts in London and is one of the most sought after places to live. Afterwards we did a brief shopping trip and dinner at the mall near Canary Wharf before heading back to to the university to hopefully catch up on some extra sleep this evening. 

Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace this morning. 

Green Park with Rebecca, Emily, Tyler, Ben, Emma. 

Nando's <333

Canary Wharf district. 

Just a little floating church.

Canary Wharf district. The London museum is the short brown building all the way on the right of the picture. 

London Day 4

This morning from about 9 am through early afternoon we walked with Dr. Cowlard through the east section of London. Dr. Cowlard recently retired from teaching at Greenwhich University and has been touring students around London for the past 31 years. Needless to say he is extremely knowledgeable about this history and geography of the city which made for an excellent tour. 

This is the church where we started our tour near Aldgate station. Aldgate means old gate which refers to the old gate that sourrounds the actual City of London (inner parish only). From there we walked east out of the center of London. 

This is the parish we walked through. It is filled mostly with immigrants and is know famously where many of the Jack the Ripper murders occurred. 

There is a strong Bangladesh population in this area currently which is reflected in the styles of arches, lamppost, markets, and restaurants. 

This was just a random part of the tour I just though it was funny the house number was eleven and a half. 

You can't see much of London in Thai photo but today we got out first taste of London weather. The past few days it has been 65-70 and sunny and today is was 50 and rainy. 

This is one of the churches in the neighborhood. It was built due to the flux of immigrants in the area, many who brought their own religions. The church was built to convince the immigrants to join the Church of England. The steeple was built much higher than any other church steeple in the area which was used as a point of highlight to convince the immigrants the Church of England was closer to God. 

Now we passed back in to the central London parish. This is the Bank of England where most of the gold of the city is stored. 

Here is where we ate lunch it was in the financial district of London and was a nice break from the wind and rain.

This building is commonly called the walkie (like walkie talkie)because of its shape. An interesting story about it is on the side there is now a black cloth because the shape of the building when the sun is shining has actually burned through car side view mirrors when the sun is reflected back to the ground. Last summer many people would fry eggs on the road as well. 

This building is refered to as the shard and is the largest occupied building in Europe. The Eiffel Tower is technically taller but is not occupied. Last summer a few women climed through the ventilation system in the building and repelled down in a form of protest. Inside the building there is a hotel where the penthouse costs roughly £16,000 a night ( about $27,000). 

 On the right side of the photo you can see the upper part of the London Tower Bridge. And on the left the Tower of London where royals who were beheaded were excuted. 

This is the memorial for the merchants who lost their lives in World War I. 

And this is the memorial for the merchants who lost their lives in World War II. 

This evening Emma and I went to Lyceum Theatre in the Covent Garden district in the spur of the moment decision to go see the Lion King. It was absolutely incredible. We got really lucky getting seats for £15 when most advertised prices were £45 and up. Afterwards we headed to Starbucks where they had mango frappachinos. I am literally obssed with mango. 

Lyceum Theater. 

My ticket! 

Emma and I at the Lion King. 

London Day 3

Tuesday morning we traveled to The National Gallery. While we were there we focused specifically on four paintings.

Self Portrait in a Straw Hat by Elisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun

 

Marriage A-la-Mode by William Hogarth

 

 

The Execution of Lady Jane Grey by Paul Delaroche

 The Fighting Temeraire by J. M. W. Turner

My favorite of the four paintings is The Fighting Temeraire by J. M. W. Turner. The painting shows the Tameraine (large ship to the left) being pulled up the river to scrap the wood for furniture. The Temeraire played a distinct role in the Battle of Trafalgar. Overall the painting represented industrialization and social change. The ship pulling the Tameraine is more modern than the Tameraine the new ship is bringing in the change. Also in the painting the sun is setting representing the end of the era. Dr. Clinton also mentioned the change is like many college students lives, constantly changing. This painting resonated with me because the world is constantly changing and I specifically have noticed change in my own life within the last year. 

After The National Gallery we walked to Westminster Abby to meet up with Dr. Anne Richards who is a theologist for the Church of England. She discussed The Church of England in the 21st and the problem the church is facing. Since the Church of Enlgand is a State Church there are many social problems of not having a separate church and state like the US. Church attendance is also rapidly declining due to the more individualistic ways of the younger generation. The next topic was education in England. Like the US education has changed over time changing from more of an elite privilege to a more modern view of even college graduates can struggle with finding jobs. Not having a separate church and state also causes many social controversy between religious groups and how the school should be run.  

After the lecture we traveled over to the London Eye and the Southbank district for dinner. After dinner we hopped onto the Lodon Eye. It was really awesome to see the city in such a unique way and since was had spent the last three days exploring it was pretty easy to point where we had been. 

Horse Guard infront of Admirality Arch.

Info front of Big Ben Tuesday Morning.

Emma and I infront of Big Ben.

Westminster Abby

Westminster Abby

The view from the London Eye.

Left to Right: Emily Chris John Jennie Me Tyler Emma on the London Eye.

London Eye

London Day 1 cont. & Day 2

London has been absolute amazing so far. While we are here we are staying at the Westminster dorms. We have the cutest little flats with an amazing view! Sunday after we arrived at the University we went to explore the Covent Gardens district of London. After walking around for a few minutes I started recognizing a full section of the street. I started to think I was just going a little crazy, assuming it was the jetlag was getting to my head. Then I realized that it was the location that my DECA group picked for the location of our Five Guys for our International Business Plan my senior year of high school. Where the Chandos is where the five guys was for our project. After exploring the Covent Gardens we walked over to Waterloo bridge to get a quick view of the city. After walking till we almost fell asleep standing we went to a little local restaurant and got some good ole fish and chips before heading back to the dorm to crash (around 8pm lol). I really don't think I have ever slept so well in my life after surviving two weeks of minimal sleep at camp then going almost a full 48 hours on 2 hours of sleep I slept over 12 hours. This Monday morning I woke up refreshed at ready to go. This morning we had a lecture with Dr.Dobbs to learn more about London and our time here. After the lecture we headed to Kingscross station to see the 9 3/4 platform from Harry Potter. For lunch we had Pret which is a grab and go French sandwich shop. Monday afternoon I met up with Karolina a friend who was a foreign exchange student in America when I was in high school. She's attending university in London so she showed me around for the afternoon. We went to Piccadilly Cirus then headed down Oxford street to Buckingham Palace. After seeing Buckingham Palace Karolina and I headed to Costa (similar to Starbucks) for some coffee before heading to Harrods. If you have never been to Harods or know what it is it is probably my favorite place in the entire World. Think of the largest department store you can ever think of then add in a cute place on the bottom floor to get macaroons and a giant place to sample chocolates and tea. We then headed upstairs where they have a giant Disney boutique and cafe which was just absolutely adorable. We then browsed through the rest of the departments Harrods literally has every designer imaginable. After Harrods I headed back to the university where I met up with the rest of the group to go to dinner at a Wahaca a super urban "Mexican" place. Probably the farthest thing from Mexican food in the states but it was amazing. If only Texas had Mexican food like that maybe I would like Mexican food. I had corn chips with corn that had a mayonnaise sauce which sounds weird but it was soo good plus some broccoli with a garlic type sause. Now we are back to the university after our awesome day! 

My little flat for the next 11 days.

The view from the flat. 

Where we planed to build our Five Guys in London for our DECA project. 

Piccadilly square.

Karolina and I at Buckingham Palace. 

Buckingham Palace garden.

Costa coffee <3

Macaroons from Laduree. 

London Day 1

We arrived in London early Sunday afternoon. After running through London with our luggage we got to our dorm at the University of Westmister. The rest of the day we spent just walking around the city and learning the train system. And then of course had fish and chips for dinner to start our time in London off right. Tonight I will post a more extensive blog once I get my iPad attached to wifi and get the photos off of my camera.