A Walking Tour, Westminster Abbey, and The Tower of London

Busy week! In addition to four hours of classes four days a week, we had excursions three straight days in a row. Regardless, I am still having fun exploring London (and keeping up with my classes). Here's what I have been up to these past few days.

Monday: Walking tour around various parks and attractions. We went to Green (Queen Elizabeth II's residence) and Hyde Parks, followed by Kensington Gardens. The gardens are simply wonderful, and we even saw Queen Victoria's palace. Other sights we saw were Buckingham Palace, the Albert Memorial, Royal College of Music, V&A Museum (somewhere I would love to go before I leave), and the Natural History Museum. After the tour, Kelly and I walked through Harrods and admired the fashionable clothes and shoes. My favorite section was the evening gowns. Too bad it's so expensive ):

Tuesday: Westminster Abbey. We peeked into St. Margaret's Cathedral, which is next door to the Abbey. Unfortunately, we could not take pictures in either places so the only pictures I have from this day are the exterior of the buildings. We saw where famous people--royalty, poets, authors, and even musicians--are buried. After the tour, Kelly and I went to Sainsbury's (local grocery store) to get stuff to make nachos for dinner and other food/household needs for our flat. Because we had a lot to buy, the walk back from the grocery store was intense. Next time we will send at least three people out for big grocery runs!

Wednesday: Tower of London. We started the day off at Tower Hill, the site of public executions. While we were at the Tower, we saw the Crown Jewels (the one place where we could not take pictures), Bloody Tower, armor that the kings wore, and instruments of torture. We also saw the execution site of Anne Boleyn (the second of Henry VIII's six wives), one of the few prisoners to be executed in private at the Tower. Very intense, but fascinating. Afterwards, a group of us got yummy fish and chips.

We did not have excursions today or yesterday, so these two days have been "catch up on homework days." They don't call it "study abroad" for nothing, but the six credits I will earn will allow me to finish my psych minor in the spring and not have to take English classes the second semester of my senior year (unless I really want to :D). Four of my flatmates went to Ireland for the weekend, so I will be doing homework and catching up on some much needed relaxation.

Next weekend Kelly and I are going to Paris. We are not quite sure what we are going to do, but we want to go to Versailles on Saturday. I am very excited to put my language skills to good use, and I am going to try to speak mostly in French with the locals. Kelly does not speak French, so I have been teaching her a few phrases this past week.

On a final note, I took A LOT of pictures this week. I will try to post some this weekend in a separate entry.