Tower Bridge

I couldn't believe how warm it was here today in London - 47' (7'C) and sunny! Everyone from my UWSP group did something outside today. A few of my friends and I did some exploring on the south bank of the Thames River. I learned that the London Bridge is not the Tower Bridge, as the Tower Bridge is the big fancy one. The London Bridge is also a bridge connecting the north and south banks of the River, but it's nothing spectacular. My professor last Thursday explained to us that the nursery rhyme "London Bridge is Falling Down" is actually based on when the Vikings literally pulled down the London Bridge in 1014. After crossing the bridge, we found this gorgeous glass covered marketplace (Hay's Galleria). Then we walked down by the River to Tower Bridge, which we later walked across to get back to our hall. Past the bridge was this cool little alley way that had a bunch of cafes, flower shops, and nice restaurants. We saw a guy making pasta in a window which was really interesting. I also found my new favorite tea shop, Teapod, where I got a cup of the best Rose tea I've ever had! After walking over the Tower Bridge (which lit up as we crossed it, talk about perfect timing!), we walked around the exterior of the Tower of London to get to our tube station. I really want to go back and go inside the Tower!

Tower Bridge

The Shard: The second tallest building in Europe - 72 stories tall! The 72nd story is an open-air observatory that will open in a couple weeks. Too bad tickets are almost $60! The building was completed in March 2012. My cousin Nate would love this!

Hay's Galleria - another place that looks like I've walked into the Harry Potter set :)

This fountain reminded me of Disney's Treasure Planet. It looks amazing when it's on and the water is coming out of the boat everywhere, but today it wasn't.

I love how London just builds within the city. The Gherkin, a London icon, is in the middle (it looks like a giant glass egg) and an old Revenue/Tax collecting building in on the riverbank in the front of the Gherkin.

City Hall

Tower of London

Another Harry Potter deja vu!

This man was making pasta in the window

Tower of London (1894), Tower of London (1064) and The Shard (2012)

Here Comes the Sun...

Our class got out early today (Jan 24) so we decided to go on an adventure to find Abbey Road. 30 minutes later, we were crossing that famous crosswalk. It was really fun watching all the people stop in the middle of the street and pose. It was a kind of busy street, so it made me nervous stopping in the middle but it was totally worth it!! I will put the picture of us crossing the street up later when I get it from my friend :)

I couldn't go in! This was as far as I could go

To think of how many hugely successful music artists have recorded in this studio is just amazing! This is a part of music history

I couldn't get my cousin a record from Abbey Studios, so I wrote his name on the graffiti wall instead :) I thought that was just as good, since it'll be there until they paint over it!

We all had to sign the wall, how could we pass that up?!

And this is where it all went down!

This was so cool! We were walking back and there was a street musician playing on the corner. Waiting for the signal to cross the street I looked up and saw that this was John Lennon's house! How ironic that after going to Abbey Road, I accidentally find his house :) Too awesome! (sorry for it being so blurry, the sidewalk was packed!)

Dickens Walk

For my London in Literature class on Tuesday (Jan. 22), my professor took us on a 3 hour "Dickens Walk" through London. It was pretty fun! Here are some highlights:

Cutest snowman ever!

Handwritten letter by Charles Dickens

Kitchen

Original copy of Nicholas Nickleby

A writing desk in the Library

Another writing desk

A creepy piano from the drawing room

Dickens Dreaming

A suit made for Dickens when he visited the Queen

Some of Dickens' possessions when he died...including a copy of the Mystery of Edwin Drood

Dickens' bedroom

Some collectables and original copies

Snowy Regent's Park

This morning I woke up to more snow! The best part about the day was the sun, finally! We haven't had much of that over here lately. After my class got out today at 1pm, I decided to go for a walk through my back yard, Regent's Park. It was so beautiful, covered with the snow that had fallen. I ended up getting a cup of coffee at a cafe in the park and sat in a window seat and watched the kids make snowman and finished my Oliver Twist reading for my class tomorrow. My favorite thing I saw was this huge St. Bernard dog running around in the snow chasing the geese - way too funny! Here are some pictures I took in all the snow beauty: