Reconnecting and Reflecting

In exactly one week I will have been here in London for an entire month! I can't believe how fast the time has gone so far, and while I have done and seen a lot of things, I feel like there is still so much to do. This past weekend and week I was able to reconnect with family (my dad happened to be in town for business) and I started to reflect on what I want to accomplish in the next three months. So here's a little recap of what I've been up to lately...

Last Thursday, Nicole found a Groupon deal for a London Underground scavenger hunt. A company runs these scavenger hunts that send you all over London by tube using tricky clues and riddles to find certain landmarks at different stations (you had to take pictures of everything in order to get points). Bonus points were awarded for snapping a pic of an old couple dancing or a group of people smiling on the train. Out of the 23 teams that were playing that night we got 4th place!! Not too shabby for a bunch of Americans. We got a bunch of cute London Underground themed prizes - and bragging rights, of course! 

A group selfie to commemorate our win...we were "Team USA"

On Friday morning, I met my dad at his office in Canary Wharf to meet his team. After class we met up again for dinner  and got to chat about everything I've been doing so far. It was great not to have to cook - and since it was on his tab I even ordered dessert ;) The next morning, we toured the Houses of Parliament, which was SO amazing. Our tour guide was great and I learned a lot about British history and politics - especially all of their quirky traditions that are still around today. You weren't allowed to take pictures inside but the artwork and architecture was unreal. We got to see the queens actual throne (!!!) where she goes to open Parliament each year. 

Ran into this stranger outside of Big Ben!

Huge stained glass window at the end of the Great Hall 

Afterwards, we headed to the Tower of London to take a guided tour led by a Yeoman Warder. These guards actually live in and guard the tower - you have to have 22 years of service in the military and reach a certain rank to become one! The warder who lead our tour was hilarious (you can check out his twitter @billybeefeater). It was so cool to see a fortress from such a long time ago - it's hard to comprehend how something is that old and still exists today. One of the main attractions at the tower of London is the collection of Crown Jewels. Some of the crowns they had on display dated back to the 1600s and some of the gems were so huge that they didn't even look real! 

Heading in to see the Crown Jewels

The memorial which marks the place where many famous beheadings occurred - including Anne Boleyn's!

The walls of the tower - that cage in the back houses six ravens which, according to tradition, guard the fort

We got a great view of Tower Bridge (on my bucket list: climb to the top)

Peeked over the wall to see this cute (and very British!) sight

Had to snap a selfie with our tour guide

Later that night we got dinner at a pub and saw Kinky Boots the musical! It was an awesome show - very high energy and exciting. Overall it was just a really great day spent with my dad and I'm so glad he stayed for the weekend to hang out with me!

On Sunday a few of us headed out of the city to Windsor Castle. The area around the castle is so quintessentially British - there were so many cute shops and homes. Since it was a Sunday, the main gallery at the castle was closed but we got a free year of admission with our ticket so I will probably go back to see it at some point. It was still really cool to see a part of England that was more in the countryside, as opposed to the city that we're used to. 

So British!!

A peek inside the castle gates 

Standing guard...

A beautiful chapel on the grounds of the castle

In town we found this crooked house - it was built in 1718!

This Monday was MaryP's birthday (she's one of my friends here on the trip!). Our macro professor took us out for a round of drinks at a pub near our school - definitely a first for all of us! Later we celebrated by getting £5 crepes from the crepe place across the street for dinner. They're huge and SO delicious, plus we like the price :) On Tuesday, Nicole and I took the Santander bikes for a spin and biked to Victoria Street to get her phone fixed (there was a bit of an incident last week which resulted in a shattered screen...). It was super fun to bike along the river although it was a little rainy towards the end. We want to bike through one of the parks around us this weekend. On Wednesday we headed to the Saatchi Gallery, a modern art gallery just down the road from where I'm staying. It was pretty small but there were some really interesting (and some very odd) pieces. 

Since we didn't have class today, a few of us did a bus tour that we got a free ticket for during orientation. It really put into perspective where everything is in relation to each other which was extremely helpful! Then we headed to the Imperial War Museum. We only had an hour before they closed and we spent the entire time in just one exhibit on the Holocaust. We all agreed that we definitely had to go back again since there was so much more to see! Before heading back to our flat for the night we stopped at Hamley's, a ginormous toy store on Regent Street - it reminded me a lot of FAO Shawarz in New York. We had such a fun time trying out the different toys and games. My favorite part was probably the life size Lego statues of the royal family at Will and Kate's Wedding :)

Had to ride on the top deck

Huge real war aircraft and missiles hanging from the ceiling in the War Museum 

Just like the real thing!

I have a few exciting things already planned going into the weekend that I can't wait to share with you! As I'm realizing how fast this trip is flying by I've made it a goal to completely maximize my time here. I sat down the other day and made a master bucket list of all the things I want to see and do  before I leave (it includes everything from going to afternoon tea to visiting the Olympic Park). I can't wait to start checking things off!

Oh and my next trip is booked! Heading off to the land of kilts and bagpipes next weekend...Scotland!! Stay tuned...