Week 8

Week 8!

This week was busy. We had something going on basically every night.

Monday was typical class and homework (trying to get it all done because we were so busy). But. Monday night we went to Phantom of the Opera! It was a great performance and their voices were amazing.

Waiting for Phantom. We are so excited!

Tuesday we had a special treat at our BYU center. Elder Holland came to London to meet with some Islamic leaders in London and he needed to use our flat! It was fun to see the dining room and parlor get transformed for such a big dinner. We had to leave pretty early in the evening so we could get out of the way. Unfortunately we weren't able to meet Elder Holland because he came and left with the Islamic leaders, and even members of Parliament! Kayla, Christine and I found a restaurant called "Olive Garden", so we thought it is the same as in America. (More like HOPED it was the same) But it wasn't. Still good food! We had to be out pretty late to make sure the catering company could clean up, so we went into the city and did some window shopping and got McDonalds McFlurrys! 

Yes I ate this whole thing. Pizza is so thin here!

Only in Europe will you find Cadbury McFlurrys!

Wednesday we had a day trip to Canterbury. We saw the ruins of an old castle. So cool! We also toured Canterbury Cathedral, one of the oldest Anglican churches in England, and a Roman museum.

Just chilling on a castle wall.

Canterbury Cathedral 

Thursday we had class and did more homework. That night we went to St. Martin's in the field. St. Martin is a church, and they had a beautiful string ensemble perform a concert of classical music. It was so pretty!

Friday we had our London Walk around the financial district. Afterwards Kayla and I went to catch the changing of the Guards at Buckingham palace. The guard band even played the Pirates theme song! The movie "Safe Haven" premiered in the UK on Friday, so a bunch of us girls went and saw us some Nicholas Sparks!

Guards at Buckingham Palace

Saturday we got a tour of the Houses of Parliament. We saw where the queen goes to open a session of Parliament, and where each house sits. The architecture was incredible. Lots of gold. After that tour we hopped on a boat to take a ride on Thames river down to Greenwich. It felt so nice to be on a boat, and the view was so pretty!

London Eye from the boat ride.

Love to see the Big Ben wherever we go. :)

Kayla and I on the boat!

In Greenwich we went to the "Maritime" museum, it had a lot of explorers history and ships! The museum had a lot of interactive activities that definitely entertained us! We used Morse code, telephones, ship simulator, and even dressed up as pirates! After that museum we walked up to the Observatory, it cost money so we didn't go in. But Greenwich is the "center of the world" because it is at 0 degrees longitude. There is the prime meridian, if you straddle it then you are in the Eastern and Western hemispheres at the same time. So we faked our own line and straddled it. :) There was a really cute market in the center of town, and the BEST churros that I have ever had in my life. They were brazilian churros made right in front of you, filled with doulche de leche and chocolate sauce. Heaven. We took the boat back to Westminster pier and had our movie night for class back at the center. 

Ship in a bottle

Argh! We are pirates. 

Straddling our own "prime meridian"

Gorgeous view from the observatory

The first shop in the world!

Handmade churros made right in front of your eyes!

Best churro in the entire world!!

London Tower bridge from the boat. 

(This is the bridge that the Olympic circles hung off of)

Gorgeous sunset as we came back into the city

Sunday we were lucky enough to have Professor Christensen do a fireside for us about his career and mission. Allen Christensen has done so much in his life, it was really cool to hear his crazy stories in Guatemala!