The Smoke – nickname for London, apparently, because it’s so foggy. Oh and one time it burned down.

Hello there faithful readers. Sorry I haven’t updated in, oh I dunno, a few ice ages. For some reason I felt like I didn’t have anything to talk about in this here blog unless I was travelling, but that just isn’t true. I’ve had tons of crazy adventures here in Londontown that I have to fill you in on, just in time for Berlin & Paris next weekend (and thus, another travelling blog) woohoo!

 Maybe I should divide this into categories, since I have lots of ground to cover… gotta stay organized.

 First… Visitors!! Not only am I the triumphant champion of forcing people visit me in the middle of Amish country, I even managed to wrangle some people from the states into seeing me trans-Atlantic style. First, I saw my cousin Samantha (to be fair, she was visiting her boyfriend, not me, but who’s counting) who cooked up a scrumptious feast J In the process we discovered the most hilarious kitchen accessory known to man… a one-piece double handed oven. Or hand-snuggie, as I fondly refer to it. Picture necessary:

We had a great night and I wish we could have spent more time together!

Next, the great Katie Boland arrived on the scene to show us insider tricks of London since she’s pretty much a pro at the city, in general. We jumped on the chance to order in Thai food and hang out in a REAL FLAT, so Saturday night we ended up hanging out in the Boland flat and watching The Departed. Accidentally awesome evening. I also really enjoyed getting tea at the Orangery in Hyde Park (finally!! Real high tea!! We did it!) 

I got a tea called HoosBoos or something (that’s so wrong. I don’t remember. I couldn’t pronounce it at the time, either) and we all piled up on scones with cream & jam, tea sandwiches, éclairs, and tarts. YUM. That Sunday was actually the sunniest most beautiful day to be in the park, so we were all pretty pleased with our London status for the afternoon. Hopefully my friends and I proved that we, too, are becoming London experts.

Now some updates on… Touristy achievements!! Most recently we visited the Churchill Museum & Cabinet War Rooms, which is the underground complex where the British planned their involvement in World War II. I found it really interesting how the day the war ended, everyone pretty much up and left their desks and strolled on out of there, leaving everything in the map rooms exactly how they had been for the past 6 years of war. In 1970 someone remembered about all these subterranean goodies, and started to properly preserve them. Good idea. Even though Churchill only spent 3 nights in the War Rooms, it was still really awesome to see his designated bedroom as well as all the maps and phones used by the British while London was being bombed to bits all around them.

We’ve also been to the British Museum, which contains all these collections of ancient Egyptian and Roman relics that England decided to steal from their rightful positions. I’m glad they did, because I had the best time seeing a bunch of mummies (at different stages of preservation/decay, I suppose. Mmmm.), statues of Pharaohs, and… THE ROSETTA STONE! I didn’t realize how tiny the languages were chiseled onto the actual slab, but like so many things this semester; I’m thrilled that I got to see it, face-to-face. Or, my-face-to-Rosetta. You know :)

 

Okay I’m tired of this post. Stay tuned for more about London tourism and our Easter break! Cheers!