God Save the Queen!

I have been so busy these past two days that I haven’t gotten the chance to blog about my adventures! I am enjoying my last few days that I have in London and trying to get the whole experience. I’m really starting to feel comfortable here and acting like a local! Yesterday I met the girls in Hyde Park to eat hotdogs in the grass and exchange friendship bracelets me and Lily had bought from Venice. We sat and exchanged stories of our weekends in Venice, Paris, and London and trotted into Kensington Gardens to find the Peter Pan statue. It was a gorgeous day outside with no cloud in sight and it was nice to enjoy the warm weather. My body has needed the rays of sun to keep my skin a golden bronze.

Me and Brittany ate Yo Sushi where different rolls travel around the tables on a conveyor belt. I have not touched sushi in three weeks so it felt good to get in touch with my raw side again. We shared salmon sashimi, wakame salad, a spicy roll, tuna sashimi, and some really awesome chicken fire cracker rice. Afterwards me and Brittany had to meet our class at CNN to have a meeting with Richard Quest who hosts his own business show on CNN. He was a very frank man, but very knowledgeable about the business and honest. We got a tour of the newsroom so I was definitely excited to actually see people at work. We were in the control room watching them record a sports feature program and it was cool to see the interaction between the talent and the production crew.



We took the metro to Portabello Road after CNN and Britt and I walked into some really cool vintage stores, antique shops, and cutesie boutiques. I wanted to buy things but I refrained from doing so, considering I need the last bit of money I have to last me until the end of this week. We walked down the whole road and found ourselves in a very sketchy area so we hustled to find the closest tube. We had to make a lot of transfers, and by this time we were sweating as if we were in the sauna. We finally got back to South Kensington and met Courtney and Daniella for some Indian food at a place called Bombay Bicycle. We ordered sides and appetizers to share and I finally got my craving for naan! This morning we had to get up early so that we could see the Queen! She was opening parliament today so there was a procession from Buckingham Palace all the way down to Parliament. I grabbed a sandwich from Pret Manger, hopped on the metro, and found my way to St. James Park all by myself! I followed the crowd and ran into some girls from the study abroad. We perched ourselves along the barracks they had up and there was a band playing and soldiers everywhere. When they began to play God Save the Queen we knew she was coming, and sure enough her carriage passed right by us. I got a clear shot of the Queen and she waved at us! It was such a surreal experience and I got to catch a glimpse of her again when she was returning back to the palace. Such an amazing experience.

We gave into our American habits and grabbed McDonald’s. We sat at Trifalger’s Square which was really pretty. There was a big fountain, lion statues, and a lot of pretty sights and we settled down on a few steps and ate our lunch. We then had to meet our group across the Thames to catch our tickets to London Eye. Before we could grab our tickets we had some free time so we laid in the grass and watched the London Eye go around and around. We finally got to board and fell into the fast track line. All of my friends ended up in the same pod and we just enjoyed the views of London from our bubble on the Ferris wheel. I grabbed a twin ice cream cone from a vender nearby when we got out and then we all relaxed in the grass again. We then decided to hit up Abbey Road where my friends and I strolled across the street to get the classic Beatles shot. I was excited I finally got to see it since I didn’t get to go last time I was in London.


I rushed home after to grab dinner with Jenn at an Italian restaurant and we got a black cab to Victoria Theatre. I finally got to see Wicked and it was a fabulous show! The singers where incredible and the whole show itself was outstanding. I finally get to check that musical off my list. Tomorrow I think I’m doing a lot of by-myself things. I am going to go find souvenirs, tour some cool spots, and maybe grab some tea somewhere! I signed up to watch Les Miserable tomorrow night so I am excited to finally get to cross that show off my list too! I’m very tired so I will be heading to bed soon!

Pip pip, Leah

Video of the Queen: