History

Hello,

So last Saturday we go tour the Houses of Parliament (officially recognized as the Palaces of Westminster, because way back when there was a royal palace on the site that the building sits today). The Westminster tube station is amazing. Honestly, the tube station itself is super cool, like straight out of James Bond. But when you exit the tube, the first thing you see is Big Ben, its really cool. So as we're walking up the stairs, looking at Big Ben, super excited to tour Parliament, we realize the road is blocked off from traffic. As we exited the tube station, we asked one of the literal hundreds of police officers what was going on. (we were a little scared that it had to do with the conflict in Egypt, since the President had just fled to London the previous day, which did not make people in that region happy. However, that was not the case.) It turned out that there was a student protest against the increase of college tuition (tax rates here are much higher here than in the US, so when tuition went from £3000 to £9000 it caused a big stir). But anyway, because of the protest, which was entirely legal and peaceful, Parliament had been closed to the public since the morning, so we weren't sure if our tour was going to happen as scheduled. In the end, they opened up the House of Parliament to the public around 2.30pm (our tour was at 3), we got to go in. Just like all the other amazing looking buildings in London, Parliament did not disappoint at all. It was simply AMAZING. I know when people are like "it was indescribable, its hard to believe, but things here are literally indescribable. The building that exists today isn't actually that old, it was constructed in the 1800's, but it was just a designed to look like it was built a long time ago. When it was being planned, there was a contest for architects to design the building in a "gothic" style. There were 92 entries. The building you see today was the winner. But the site it is on has been important to the royal family for thousands of years.

As if Parliament wasn't enough for one weekend, Sunday brought even more fantastic stuff. We toured Tower of London and went on a "Jack the Ripper" walk. Both were very cool. On our way to Tower of London we walked across the Tower Bridge, which is very impressive. Tower of London is very unique, and is where the Royal Jewelry is held. To say the jewels held inside the vault are impressive is an extreme understatement. It's like looking at a crown in a Halloween store that's cover in huge plastic diamonds...except everything is real. The diamond at the top of the Queen's scepter is 530 carats. literally the size of an egg. Everything looked fake, but it was all real. unbelievable.

After Tower of London we went on a walk that covered areas that Jack the Ripper murdered people in. It was pretty erie but a fun time. The guided night tours are cool here because you get to see stuff you normally wouldn't see, and everything here looks really amazing at night (all the buildings I mean).

Monday and Tuesday were pretty normal days, had class Monday, worked on coursework Tuesday.

Wednesday we went out to see Abbey Road, which was very cool. There were a bunch of TV trucks in front of the studio, but we could still see it and walked across the famous crosswalk. After that we went to the London aquarium which was pretty cool...definitely better than the zoo. They all kinds of fish, sharks, sea turtles, you name it. They couldn't have any mammals because it's illegal in the UK to have mammals in captivity indoors, only if they are in an outdoor sanctuary. Still very cool tho.

Lastly, my mom and dad sent an awesome care package over...it was amazing. It was filled with Kraft mac n cheese, candy, barbeque chips, pop tarts, HOMEMADE COOKIES (literally everything I like from home, mom nailed! :)) Thank you soo much.

This Saturday we have to meet at 7.45 for our trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon...should be fun, I'll be sure to write about it later.

Cheers