Babsers in Britain: Catch up time and LOTS of pictures

Between classes on Thursday some girls and I decided to get another walk done so we headed over to Hyde Park. The day was absolutely gorgeous, although windy. We definitely got some good pictures though. We didn’t have time to finish the walk before our religion class so we had to hop on a tube, transfer tubes, and then literally speed walk back to the center for class.

Thursday was Ashley’s birthday and she wanted to get a treat and ride the London Eye after dinner. Instead of taking the tube we decided to take a bus (yes, I faced my fear of buses and got on a double-decker) across the Thames. When we got there we found out that it was closed until Saturday for annual maintenance. Disappointed and freezing we walked towards Big Ben and got on the tube to go to High Street Kensington where we knew there was a Ben’s Cookies. Ben’s Cookies was also closed so we headed back down to the tube and Ashley decided we should just go to Pizza Hut and get pazooki.

I love Fridays because we never have class. So on Friday we took the train out to Hampton Court Palace, which is Henry VIII’s palace. Again, January is a good time for crowds to go places, but a bad time because of all the maintenance work. The Great Hall was closed for maintenance but the rest of the palace was open to visitors. The house itself was pretty incredible but what I loved the most were the gardens. I wish it were spring when the flowers are in full bloom but even in January the gardens were breathtaking. I will point out that in the two and a half weeks I’ve been here I’ve seen 3 people from the Harry Potter movies: Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort), Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley), and the stunt double to Peter Pettigrew. Ok, so maybe he isn’t a huge part of the movie but hey he’s the stunt double, it’s the next best thing to the real actual actor. By the time we left Hampton Court I was pooped. Sarah, Becca, and I coincidentally got onto the same train as the Masons so we rode back with them.

After dinner everyone was super tired so I decided to stay in and work on my sacrament talk. Rachel Mason (Matt’s daughter) then came and got me to see if I wanted to watch Tangled with her sisters and Ellie (Nick’s daughter). I’m so glad the Mason’s are the directors this semester. Their families are so great. They have the cutest kids and their wives are awesome. Anyway, so Aylea and I went to the Mason’s flat to watch Tangled. It was actually really nice because we got to sit on a comfortable couch in an actual living room; it felt somewhat like home. I was glad to be able to relax and just watch a movie with little kids. It made me start to miss the Dee kids really bad.

Yesterday I surprisingly accomplished a lot. I woke up and Sarah, Aylea, and I went and did the City Walk, which we never did because I had kitchen duty when we were suppose to do it. We finished that and then met some girls to go to Portobello Market. I love Portobello! There are so many cool things there to look at. Next week I am definitely wearing fewer layers so I can try some shirts on. After Portobello I went to pull money out of the bank and to my surprise it wouldn’t let me. I tried two different places to no avail, uh oh. After freaking out about my credit and debit cards Sarah, Becca, Caity, and I wanted to finish the Hyde Park walk and do the South of Kensington walk. We passed the V&A museum, the Natural History Museum, Prince Albert Hall, and the Hyde Park LDS chapel. Instead of taking the tube back we grabbed a Ben’s Cookie and walked through Embassy Road back to the center. After a little break I went to Notting Hill Express with Emma, Christi, Caity, Courtney, Sarah, and Taylor to try some kebabs. They were pretty good but definitely not my favorite. The rest of the night I just worked on my sacrament talk, which I gave this morning. Thanks to dads help my talk went pretty well!

Upcoming this week is the National Portrait Gallery, Dover, and Canterbury!