If every day is as wonderful as these past few have been, I might just pass out from overload of awesomeness. Today we had our first free day where we go to go and do whatever we wanted.  The funny thing was that most of us had so many things that we wanted to do, but we sat around trying to decided exactly which one we wanted to do. Thank goodness there were other people made a decision and I joined a group of about ten people to go to the London Eye!  

We decided to take the bus instead of the Tube which was....not such a good idea.  It was fun to be able to see what we miss when traveling underground, but it was such a slow and hot journey that I don’t know if I will do that again.  Though I did get to ride on the top of a double decker.  (Not quite as cool since this one had a roof.  Boo).  We hopped off at Piccadilly Circus which was pretty cool.  It’s like London’s small attempt to be a little like Time’s Square.  One thing that I love about London is the mix of the old and new architecture that they have. There are some buildings that we see that have been around for hundred of years (the BYU center included) and others that are new.  There are even those that are old buildings with new buildings put on top!  How cool!  We made our way over to Trafalgar Square which was also amazing.  We saw the National Gallery as well as GINORMOUS LION STATUES!  Once again, it was all amazing.  And then Parliament snuck up on me and I had another one of those, “Oh my gosh, I’m in LONDON!” moments.  We saw the tower that holds Big Ben (Big Ben is the bell inside, not the actual clock tower.  Mind blown).  We gawked and took photos, and then made our way over to the London Eye.  

For those who don’t know, the London Eye is a giant Ferris Wheel that is made to be awesome and let you see most of London from a very high height.  They showed us a special “4D” movie before hand to tell a bit about it and show off cool effects.  It rained on the screen and we got wet.  THIS. IS. THE. FUTURE.  We then hopped on the Eye and took a ride up.  The.....capsules.....(sure, that’s what I shall call them) were spacious, made of glass so we could see, air conditioned and very wonderful. The whole thing took about thirty minutes and we took so many photos!  Afterwards we got Wonder Waffles (store) and then went over to Parliament and Westminster Abbey to gawk some more.  It was all very wonderful (there seems to be a lot of that in this trip).

My group wanted to go shopping though I was exhausted, so I went back to the center on the tube...by myself.  I felt so accomplished!  We had dinner, I studied some more, and then we went and saw Henry V at the Globe.  We had the groundling tickets, which meant that we watched the whole play while standing in an area right in the front of the stage.  The people at the front of the groundlings could rest their arms/heads on the stage.  It was a really cool atmosphere, I mean, it was the GLOBE!  The play was great and was easily the best Shakespeare play I have ever seen.  My feet/legs got really tired, but it was worth it.  I am so excited that we will be going back to see some more plays later.  (12th Night and maybe Richard III).  Afterwards we all made our way back to the center.  

Tomorrow we have a big day ahead of us as we have our first travel day.  We leave early in the morning for Cantebury and Dover.  So I don’t have the time to upload all photos tonight (our internet struggles).  The globe should come tomorrow.  I’ve got a bunch.  :) 

 Piccadilly Circus (baby British Times Square)

 First phone booth picture! These things rock!

 I named him Aslan.  He is huge and he is mine.  Also, National Art Gallery in back.

 Me, Haley, random girl and Ben.  We are pals.  

 Inside the Eye!

Ooooooohhhh! Parliament!