Chicago!

Hey guys guess what!? Mr. Sun decided to make a visit today!! It felt so weird seeing sunlight and feeling warm...it seems like it's the first time I've seen real sunlight since arriving here. So I tried to stay outside as long as possible today. My day started off as usual with some Biggest Loser Yoga. Then I went and got some groceries and got ready for class. Today we went to the Natural History Museum. I walked there from AIU and got to walk through Hyde Park. It was lovely. I had already been to this museum before but this time was cool because we focused on the architecture of the building instead of the actual contents in the exhibits.

Hyde Park + Sunshine...great way to start the day

Sweet tree on my way through Hyde Park

The Natural History Museum

Tree on the ceiling of the museum

After the museum I rode the tube back to the flat (as it was already dark) and had some dinner. Then my roomate Monica and I headed to Leicester Square to try and get cheap tickets to a theatre show tonight. When we got to Leicester Square, the man at the ticket booth told us if we wanted to do student standby, we had to go to the actual theatre...well we hadn't researched any theatres before we went so we were in for an adventure. Armed with her tiny map of London, we chose the Cambridge theatre because I had remembered seeing it online and thought that's where Chicago was playing. After walking in the wrong direction for about a mile, we realized we were headed toward the Curzon, not Cambridge. We got on the Green Park tube and headed back toward Covent Garden...the place we should have went from the start.

We finally arrived at Covent Garden and found the theatre...and what do you know, they actually had student standby tickets available! We got 2 tickets in the dress barn section for 30 pounds each. We were both pretty excited that our plan worked out and our navigational skills got us to the right place in time to see the show. Chicago was amazing; I wasn't quite sure what to expect because I didn't really know the plot of the show but the danicing and singing was incredible. I had seen the "Cell Block Tango" performed by my sister's caberet show a few years ago so I recognized that song immediately.

Chicago in London? Heck yes!!

Overall I would say it was a pretty successful day!! Now I am going to try to go to bed at a reasonable hour (the past 3 nights I have been kept up by the rediculously loud techno music thumping from the room below mine). Tomorrow I have the day off so I will probably try to get some homework done and run a few errands!

Cheers!

-Halez

Today was a very British day

So last night was super fun! Me and 3 of my flatmates, after a long day of touring the countryside, decided to go to a real british pub. It was called Sailsbury's and was located right near the Leicester Tube station.


When we arrived, we walked in the door and the place was packed! It was eactly what I had in mind for a night out in London. People were gathered around the bar and I could tell the environment was great. We weaved our way in and out of crowds and found an empty table in the back room. It kind of felt like we were V.I.P. because we had this back bar all to ourselves! The bartender was great and so friendly (probably one of the better services I have recieved thus far). He even took this pictuer of us!

Anyway, after a long day on my feet, I decided to treat myself to a little drink. What did I get? Meet my new BFF, cider black.

Cider black is a mix of hard cider (from tap of course) and blackcurrent...it is amazing. It tastes like juice! Love it! I also ordered some houmous which came with crusty baguettes and it hit the spot. After dinner the girls and I walked around for a little bit until some of us realized we kind of had to go to the bathroom...really bad. So we got back on the tube and headed for home.

Now this morning, my roomate Kirsten and I went to St. Paul's Cathedral for the 10:15 church service. It was incredible! There was an amazing organ and the inside of the church was mezmorizing. The choir was made up of a majority of schoolaged boys and a few older men. There was one woman. The ceilings of the church were all painted in beatufil colors and gold. I could not stop staring. I felt like I was in a dream and could not believe I was able to attend church in such a beautiful setting. The service was a little different from what I'm used to but I really enjoyed it and would definitly consider trying to make it there every Sunday.


Now the rest of the day I will be typing papers...boo! I may take a little break this afternoon and head out to a coffeeshop to read my book "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" though. Other than that, I don't have too much planned.


Happy Sunday to all!


-Hale

Castles and Shakespear

Today began bright and early at 6:45 am. I got ready and me and 2 of my flat mates took the tube to King's Cross where we met our bus and tour guide for the day. We hopped on, found a seat, and settled in for the 1.5 hour ride to our first stop, Warwick Castle. I can't really tell you what the drive was like because I may have fallen asleep as soon as the guide stopped talking...oopsies! Anyway, we arrived at the castle around 10 am and were given about an hour and a half to explore the castle. I found out this castle was inhibited by earls and that is pretty much all I can remember. The castle was so beautiful and had a very midevil feel to it.

View from the castle wall

Walking through the gate...back in the old days when the castle was being attacked, the "soldiers" would pour hot oil on the attackers...if they were ambushed and didn't have oil, they would use poo, urine, and any other substance they could find. How nice!

I've always wanted to try to get the sword out of the ground

I would have to say the castle was a little odd though because there were all these waxy figures inside the rooms and it kind of made it feel fake. But the views were beautiful and the castle itself made me feel like I was in a fairytale. We had to climb 530 steps to reach the top of the castle walls and we could see forever into the distance...it was exactly what I needed for the day, it was so lovely to get out of the city for a bit. Here are a few more pics of the castle!

Arm wrestling the wax man...guess who won?

Amy stealing pastries from the waxy's

My dream bed...so fairytalish

This is where you go if you don't finish all your meat at dinner...my mom would have spent many nights down here :) (I am totally kidding...you would have to do something much worse to be put in the dungeon)

View from the castle wall

3 of the 530 stairs we had to climb!

After Warwick we got back on the bus (after a little stop in the gift shop of course) and headed towards Stratford, the home of Shakespear! This town was exactly what I picture when I think of midevil times...it was so perfect. It was beautifully positioned next to the Avon River and just had a relaxing feel to it. We got to see the house Shakespear grew up in and the church where his body is burried. Then we got an hour to explore the streets and get some lunch. My friends and I went to this place called the Benson tea room. Our guide suggested we try the cream tea becasue Stratford is the best place to try it, so we ordered that. I also ordered the vegetarian english breakfast complete with beans, eggs, mushrooms, tomato, toast, and potato cakes. The cream tea was english breakfast tea with cream in it. It also came with the most amazing scone ever. You get a scone and then you put this creamy butterlike stuff on it followed by jam. My stomach was jumping with joy after this feast! Yours will be too :)

Shakespear's house growing up

Cream tea

My first cup of "real" english tea :)

Start

Finish

Best scones EVER!!

Stratford!





After lunch, we quickly went and found Trinity Church where Shakespear is burried. He is actually burried inside and you had to pay 2 pounds to see the grave to we skipped that but it was still so unreal being in the same church Shakespear once attended.

Inside the church

Trinity

Trinity Graveyard

After Stratford it was off to our last stop, Anne Hathaway's Cottage. Now like me, you are probably thinking Anne Hathaway from the Princess Diaries right? Wrong. We're talking about the Anne Hathaway that Shakespear married when he was 18, she was 25 (and 3 months preggers). We got to walk through her cottage and I still couldn't believe she had once walked on the same ground I was standing on. We learned the floor from the kitchen is still the same floor from when she lived there hundreds of years ago...Crazy!!! Here's some pictures from her house...

The Kitchen

A bedroom...the beds were sooo short! Half my body would probably hang off the end...

The Cottage

Overall, it was a brilliant day. It was nice to see the countryside of England for once. It was quite a long day though, and we sure climbed a lot of steps! I won't be surprised if I wake up with some pretty sore leggies. Tonight we are going out to a real english pub for some drinks and food. I sure hope they have cider black! I will update ya'll tomorrow on how that goes :)

Cheers!

-Lil Londoner

Milk Bar

Just a quick update! I scratched off another thing on my list of things to do/see today. I finally went to the MilkBar! I have wanted to go here since I arrived in London and 28 days later I can say I've accomplished the task.

MilkBar is said to have the best cup of flat white coffee in London so I had to check it out. It was kind of hard to find because there really was no sign for the place. The only way to identify it was the name being painted on the front window of the shop. When I found it I was releived because I walked up and down the street and couldn't find it...by this time I was ravenous.

My game plan was to only get a cup of flat white coffee, but knowing me, that was impossible. I also ordered a cheese and roasted red pepper toastie. The coffee came out first and was so pretty I didn't even want to drink it! Just by the looks of it, I could tell it was going to be yummy.

And yummy it was. I sat there for a while doing some homework and sipping my coffee and thought to my self..."I could get used to this." The shop's atmosphere was so relaxing (Kings of Leon was softly playing in the background) and to be honest I think it helped me concentrate on my assignment. After about 5 minutes, my toastie arrived.

It was very delicious and just enough to satisfy my hunger. After about 20 or so minutes of "chilling," I finally decided it was time to leave so I packed up my notebook and pen and headed out into the cold.

Abbey Road

Today it was very very cold...37 degrees is what my thermometer says but I think it's lying. I saw my first flake of snow in London today.

This morning I was awoken by some loud construction workers near the flat. I woke up, had some breakfast (pancakes, coffee, banana), and did some yoga. Then my roomate Laura and I started off on an adventure for the day.

First, we took the tube to King's Cross St. Pancras station to find Platform 9 and 3/4 from the Harry Potter movies. We had to ask 2 people where to find it because it was in a rather hidden spot. But we found it!!

We then continued on to Covent Garden to find this restaurant called Byron. They supposedly have really good "american" hamburgers. And boy were they right. I had a hanburger with gruyre (don't know how to spell it) cheese, an oreo milkshake, and some french fries. It was probably one of my most favorite meals yet...just what I was craving. It's funny because the burger came with a pickle but the pickles here are not the same as they are in the U.S. They are not very salty and I don't think they use dill either. They were more sweet but it was still pretty good. The ketchup is also different but I am getting used to it and actually kind of love it. It is sweeter and less salty, but I feel like I could drink it from the bottle...here's a few pictures from lunch!

My roomate Laura!

The burger :)

I finished everything on my plate and the waiter was pretty impressed :) About 10 minutes later I was kind of regretting eating everything though because my food baby felt like it was going to be born any minute...haha. So after all the food settled, we headed off to find the famous Abbey Road. We hopped back on the tube and got off at a place called St. John's Wood. After taking us in the wrong direction, we finally found the right way to the road. We also passed a street called Waverly Place on the way which made me think of the Disney show Wizards of Waverly place so I had to get a picture with that.

Then we came to Abbey Road and it was pretty unreal. I was just so amazed that the real Beatles once stood on the same street! We signed the Abbey Road wall, took some pictures and walked around. We were trying so hard to find the crosswalk from their album cover but could not find it! We were kind of freezing so we decided we would look it up and come back when it gets a little warmer/sunnier. But overall it was pretty neat! Take a look!

Signed the wall!

Unreal...

Peace. Love. Happiness.

Now I am going to take a baby nap as I am pretty pooped from all the walking. Then tonight we are going out to a club called Metra or Fabriq. Not sure which one yet but all I know is a lot of dancing will be going down:)

This weekend I am going to see Stratford and Warwick castle so I will probably update this on Sunday! Hope you all have wonderful weekends!!!

Cheers,

Little London Lady





Thriller Live!

Tonight I went to see Thriller Live! I would probably classify it as one of the best shows I have ever seen in my life. As soon as I returned home (after skyping my parents of course) I youtubed MJ and and watched as many videos of him as I could.

So before the show even started I could tell it was going to be a good night because as I was waiting for the theatre door to open as man with crazy hair wearing a sparkly silver suit started talking to me. The conversation went a little something like this...

Him: "Ever seen the show before?"
Me: "Nope. Have you?"
Him: "Nope. Where are you from?"
Me: "The United States. Wisconsin."
Him: "Ah, are you on holiday?"
Me: "I'm studying here for a couple of months."
Him: "Wonderful. Do you like it?"
Me: "I love it! It's quite a bite different than Wisconsin though!"
Him: "Yes, I can imagine."

As he walked away, I realized I had just had a real live conversation with...ROD STEWART! It was crazy!
Anyway, after my excitement settled down and I was able to regain my composure, I found my way to my seat and prepared for the next two hours of MJ. The show started off with a little Michael singing songs from the Jackson 5 days. He continually grew up (the singers changed) and it was fun to see how his music changed through the years.

There were 3 men who sang and 1 girl. They were all incredible especially this one guy named Alex Buchanen. He sounded exactly like Michael and it gave me the shivers. They sang so many songs including Billie Jean, Man in the Mirror, Black and White, Bad, Smooth Criminal (my personal fave), and of course Thriller! The dancing was amazing and I had a blast. It was really fun because they encouraged audience participation so the crowd was singing and dancing along.

I would highly recommend this show to any MJ lovers out there. I would for sure see it again! Like Michael said...."If you wanna make the world a better place take a look in the mirror and make a change."

Cheers,

"Celebrity" London Lady

I like trees

So today is Sunday and I have already been in London for 23 days! Crazy! Today was kind of a blah day for me so I decided to go to one of the Royal Parks and wander around. I thought I was going to Hyde Park but ended up at Kensington Gardens. It was really gloomy and a little rainy today but it felt kind of warm.

I did a lot of thinking on my walk today and realized that I need to make a list of things I would like to do/see while in London. I am in such a historical city and time is flying by so I need to get out and do more!

Kensington Gardens were beautiful. I took a lot of pictures of trees today because the trees here look so different from the ones at home...also I kind of have a thing for trees :) Take a look!

There were a lot of families at this park and I noticed a lot of people here like to ride Razor scooters! Ha, I thought that was kind of funny. The gardens also had a memorial tribute for Princess Diana. It was this big fountain like thing of water and it was absolutely beautiful. I also saw a lot of pidgeons and ducks today! And the flower gardens here had real buds on the plants!!! It was so exciting! Here are a few more of my favorite pics from the walk...

Princess Diana Memorial

Overlooking Kensington Park

Pretty little building



After my walk I returned home to make a list of things I want to do before my time in London is up. I decided the first thing I am going to do is go see a show...so I purchased super cheap tickets to Thriller Live! and get to go see that Tuesday night! I am really excited!

Now tonight I am going to finish up some homework and then head to this BBQ place called Bodean's to watch my GREEN BAY PACKERS!!!! I am so excited to watch the game and enjoy a pulled pork sandwich and milkshake. So I guess that is all for now!

GO PACK!!!

Cheers,

The little green and gold London lady :)

A day at the Museum

Lets see...where to start. Today I explored a whole new area of London. It was called South Kensington...home of the Natural History Museum and Science Museum. It was a cold gloomy day today so I decided to plan some indoor activities. My first stop was the Natural History Museum.

The building was beautiful (top picture). The first exhibit I walked through was the Dinosaurs. It was pretty cool to read all the facts and see fossils and stuff. I learned they lived 150 MILLION years ago and became extinct probably because the climate changed too fast for them to adapt to. I also learned the T-Rex has tiny arms that can't even reach it's mouth...hehe I liked this fact. It made me think of my sister, Molly for some reason.

After the dinos I walked through the human exhibit which contained information on how babies are born, how they grow, the brain, memory, and more. It was pretty neat. There was this tiny dark room you could walk in and it made you feel like you were in the mother's womb...that part kind of freaked me out! The final exhibit I went through was the mammel one. It was a lot of display cases of animals so it was kind of boring but I'm still glad I walked through it because I got to see my most favorite animal...the BISON! :)

Then I headed over to the next museum, The Science Museum! I was epecting it to be similar to the MN Science Museum but I would say the MN one is way better (and no, it's not because I am from MN). This one was super futuristic and stuff but I felt like it didn't compare in content to the one back home. The first exxhibit was space and atmosphere. I liked this one the best because it brought back memories of when my dad and I would go to the Science Museum when I was little and look at the solar system (he even bought me a solar system poster and those little star things to stick on my ceiling). Then it was the invention hall (I don't know the proper name but this is what I called it). It was full of things like the model t, the steam engine, supercomputers, and much more. It was fun to see all the stuff people used in the olden days...there was even a case that looked at how the cell phone has evolved...pretty neat.

The rest of the museum was kind of lame in my opinion. Everything else was just these interactive games/exhibits on computer screens so I got kind of bored. I hit up the museum store before I left but left emptyhanded...take a look at some of my favorite pics from the Science Museum!

This is an example of what astronaughts eat in space! YUM!

The "invention" hall

Motor Car (1895) 

This is the thing that would go on the top of the Lighthouse to create the light for sailors to know they were nearing land...land ahoy!

Model T (1916)

The black one is a Messerschmitt KR200 De Luxe (1960)

The red one is a BMW Isetta 300 (1961)

The green one is a Vespa 125 Scooter (1948)

Cray 1-A Supercomputer (1976)-the computer contains over 50 miles of wires!!!

Check out the huge gameboy on the right!! I miss that thing...speedy gonzalez anyone??

Fun cars!

This dress was made entirely from recycled issues of London's popular newspaper

So after the Science Museum (I felt very intelligent and well-educated today) I hit up Kensington Park. It was super cold but the park was amazing. I walked all over and found the Princess Diana memorial walk. There was also this really cool statute at the beginning but I'm not sure what it was for. Another thing I saw at the park was this crazy old man-he would run for about 20 feet, stop, and start practicing karate with himself. It was quite odd, but from all the sweat dripping down his back, it must have been a pretty good workout :)

Notice the man on the left-hand side in blue...that's the guy

Princess Diana

What you looking at SWAN!?



The day ended with myself stopping in a few stores on Oxford Street...I discovered my most favorite store in London today. It's called UNIQLO. It has super nice quality stuff for really good prices. I purchased a wool peacoatish type thing and a sweater...I think my parents might have to bring along an extra suitcase when they come in March...:) Tonight I think a bunch of us are going out to this bar called the Zoo Bar in Leichester Square...this time I am for SURE going! I will report to you tomorrow how it went:)

Signing off for the evening!

-Hale