London Calling...

Hmmm...so I've been getting a little lazy in my blogging habits...my bad. Let's just say that I have a really exciting life and am therefore entitled to be a bit behind...:)
So. The very last weekend of February, the whole group of us + Mad and Marion went to LONDON! for four days. London gets an ! behind it because it is one of the most wonderful cities I have ever been to - Rome and Amsterdam also in the running...
We took the train up (fact: if you go in groups of four or so, you can get much cheaper tickets! England supports communities and making friends...) right into London Paddington, home of, dun dun duhhhhhh Paddington Bear! Awwww (pause to reminisce on your happy Paddington memories...). All I can remember of the next hour or so is running everywhere yelling about southbound/northbound/eastbound/westbound/circle line/tube tube TUBE! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the London Underground.
We found our hostel right outside of the Great Portland Street Tube station - International Student House, complete with almost free breakfast, almost free bar, almost reliable internet, and almost hot water! Actually, I really liked the place. For all its quirks, I liked the atmosphere and everything was clean - and my room had hot water, I was willing to splurge on jam for breakfast and I didn't need the internet for anything so I was golden!
After our check-in, we hit the tubes and the streets to find the V&A - the Victoria and Albert Museum. I think they said this museum was intended to house pretty things - I'm sure they would include a smelly sock if it was all done up in lace and dipped in gold...regardless, we took a tour through the fashion section and then the British section so see the development of writing materials through the ages. Our guide was a hoot! And we saw lots of...tables. Good times.
Then the girls stuck up their noses and walked into Harrod's to do a bit of drooling! Harrod's, yes. Red carpets outside with doormen. Security guards inside. And Jimmy Choo shoes on the second floor! For those who don't know, it is a GIGANTIC super high class department store - Louis Vuittin, Chanel, Gucci, all those cool dudes...anyone want to buy me shoes for 500 pounds??
We found Jules Chicken for supper... (o, ps. we saw the most beautiful boy in the entire world - yes, that is significant;) just ask Carolyn...)our V&A guide recommended it, had some great food and then all got changed in the washroom - all the other restaurant guests were pretty shocked to see us come out one by one all dressed up - we were going to the opera!
Carmen the Opera was playing in the round in the Royal Albert hall. Everything in this area of London is named after Prince Albert (whom I just adore because we went to see The Young Victoria in the cinema...probably will never come out in Canada, sorry about your luck!) so the whole area is affectionately called Albertonia. Carmen is the story of a gypsy woman who is not particularily morally inclined who captures the heart of a (mildly irritating and pathetic) soldier. It ends sadly, but it was very well performed! Drama, drama, drama
Friday morning we headed over to the Museum of Natural History to pay a visit to Darwin. We stopped in to see the Dinosaurs...with all the 9/10 year old boys! There was a big robotic T-Rex and I saw it the same time as one of the little guys and we said "T-REX!!!" at the same time...no jokes! Who's the mature one...The Darwin exhibit was really cool, but very one-sided, as in evolution or nothing. That was a bit frustrating.
Then we went to the Parliament buildings and the National Portrait Gallery.
The portrait gallery was pretty neat - the Ditchley Portrait was there, and it was fascinating to see how the portrayal of people and style of portrait painting changed!
At the Parliament Buildings, we got a personal tour. Security was super tight getting in but that was it...you think they'd roll out the red carpet for us colonial types...but no. We saw the House of Lords (red, like our senate) and the House of Commons (green, like ours) - and the connections to our parliament buildings was acutely obvious. Kind of cool. But they were much more ornate and ancient, of course.
And that night, Phoebe, Emily, Chloe, Matt, Emily, Whitney and I went to see Wicked! The Musical. People, that is the best thing I have EVER seen! I laughed, I cried, I shrieked, I sang! It was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much fun.
Saturday we spent the whole day at the National Gallery, just spending quality time with della Francesca, Lippi, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Picasso, Monet, Constable, Turner...those guys. *Sigh* what a beautiful place. And then Phoebs and I watched Slumdog Millionaire on ths silver screen...great film. Brilliant.
Fun Underground moment: Carolyn and Melissa got stuck next to this ancient, totally hammered old man on the tube and he decided to sing to them and become quite emotionally attached. Not good. When they could, they moved over to where the rest of us girls were standing but he followed. So at our stop, me, who was pretty emotionally wound from Slumdog quickly jumped out of the train and I somehow imagined that this freaky old man got off the train with us so I did the logical thing- I screamed and ran. And this convinced the other girls that he was following so they screamed and ran as well! How to handle a crisis 101. Well done.
Sunday morning we meandered over to St. Paul's basilica for the service. I'll be honest, this was one of the most beautiful, fulfilling services I have ever been to. It also helped that we were in England's biggest church, a Christopher Wren masterpiece, sitting under the third largest dome in the world! We got very informative programmes so we could follow along, and everyone was so kind. There was also a beautiful choir complete with choirboys with voices like angels.
After the service we found a pub and had a solid English Sunday lunch complete with Yorkshire pudding. And then we took a walking tour on which we saw the Thames, London Bridge, the Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, The Scoop, The Belfast, the Globe Theatre, the Golden Hind, so much...
The thing about London is that when I say 'England' all the pictures that pop up in your head (I assume) are located in London - The London Eye, Big Ben, Westminster, etc. It's a wonderful city just exploding with history while being distinctly modern at the same time. I would live there forever...