This one is for the lovers....

...of London!



It was lovely and raining here. And it was lovely because it was so London and made me get all sentimental about how soon I have to leave what I will now be calling my second home.



Wonderfully productive Monday at work. Ended up staying about an hour later (shhh don't tell UK immigration!) than I'm supposed to but it was great because I was able to learn how to fill out all of the different forms for editing! Although my internship has had its tediousness and annoyances I had to laugh at my giddiness about learning how to fill out forms. It made me feel youthful that small new things like this really get me excited about life.



Also got to have a nice chat with my new friend Nasheen. She is a lovely British woman of Indian decent who is in a few days a week to help us (the development department) out on a curry cooking show we are working on. Since she has at least 2 cultures under her belt (and extensive travel) she is a wealth of information and just a pleasure to talk to. I'll be sad that next week we will be having our last afternoon tea together!!!



This evening was quite relaxing for me just started sorting out things to pack, takeaway and listening to the radio (2 months without TV = discovery of BBC radio podcasts which are great!). It was an excellent opportunity to reflect on these last 2 weeks. Traveling is always an odd experience because at first you are counting down the days til you leave with joyful jitters, then you hit a stage where you start counting how many days until you get home. When those numbers get smaller (only 12 more!) you start to feel this queer time warp of a feeling where you both want to speed up time and hold it forever still. But I supposed these experiences, thoughts and feelings are why I love traveling so much. I strive on the opportunity to be somewhere new and be connected wholly to everything around me and yet I'm essentially out on my own lost in the vastness of that same everything around me. It is utter felicity.



Wow I think I just a little too philosophical considering its my bedtime, huh?! :-)



<3

Do the Mary.

At her finest.

"The Mary"

"The Mary"

Being Tourist with Our Free Audio Guides!

4th of July Picnic......Mexican takeout and strongbow. delish.

Courtesy of Brooke!

Queenies and weenies.

Roomies on a bus!

Windsor Eye.

This little boy tried to convince us that London swans were nice and would eat of his hand. I was skeptical and slightly afraid for his hand.

Mutated Swan.

River Thames.

WWI memorial

College (high school) where Prince William & Harry graduated from.

St. George's Cathedral. Where all the major kings/queens are buried.

Crazy Mary. she was the meanest tour guide ever....possibly meanest woman ever. insulted us, insulted the other tour group, insulted mike Tyson, insulted lance Armstrong, insulted the police, insulted the queen, insulted her own country........insulted us again. yup way to go blue badge tour for certifying this one!!!!

These are some shots from Windsor Castle. Actually the flags flying (hopefully there is one in one of these its kind of late and I'm kinda exhausted) which meant the queen was there...which means you can't go into half the castle or see her. Personally I didn't care for it half as much as Edinburgh Castle because it was mostly show but the cathedral was quite impressive. And the town of Windsor is very lovely and hilly so we had a nice lunch and stroll around the sights! Beautiful way to spend 4th of July!!!

Hope everyone had an excellent Independence day...if you really celebrate it!!!! as expected its not a big deal at all over here (for some reason a lot of our students were appalled Britain didn't want to celebrate our Independence from them). but after the castle some of the girls and I went to Regents park to have a nice picnic which is always fun.

This morning (Sunday) I went to St. Anne's on St. Agnes Lutheran Church which was an interesting experience and the members were very warm and inviting to me which was gorgeous. Afterwards I took a stroll through the Barbican to see that and get a schedule for the coming week. Then i went and got a little lost in Camden. No worries its just a wonderful maze of people and things that I like to just go through....I always know where I am and have no idea where I am at the same time and there are so many beautiful people to meet along the way. Its idyllic.

Now its off to bed.....all this fantastic outdoors time is starting to singe my skin a bit so I think I should get some sleep to get ahead of my inevitable sunburn!!!! Only 2 more weeks left!!!!!

Last Night

Saying goodbye to some great friends.

Great Scot! In Photos

This is at the end of the day. So you can see how far up and over I hiked.

Castle-licious.

Park!

A mini monument in the park of the City! Neat!

Real working Kilt and Tartan factory. I bought a beautiful blanket here that I can't wait to cuddle up with during the Michigan winters!!

ANOTHER changing of the guard!!!! The Scottish guard were more friendly, after they finish ceremony and everyone claps they bow and thank everyone for their patience and interest and sit to talk with visitors. Very lovely people the Scots.

Rain Gear!

candid shot taking in the city.

Entering another museum in the castle walls. this is the military branch that is musical they've actually won tonnes of national awards for their music which is piped in through the whole thing. It was lovely.

The rain is coming!!!! Run inside!!!!

It was pretty grey and brown anyways so a lot of my shots came out better in B&W.

Welcome to the gunshow!!!

I really want to take up weapon training now. No joke I want to learn to sword fight....or at least fence.

The first of the Changing of the Guard. They stagger them so that everyone can see them and they aren't holding up the whole flow of tourism.

This is the hall where the records of fallen Scottish military men are held. It is really unfortunate you cannot take pictures in it because its one of the most bittersweet places I've ever been in. On the one hand it is really interesting because you can actually flip through all of the records of battles and soldiers dating back to the 1920's in some branches, even further. But the hall and tomb dedicated to the unknown fallen soldiers was heartbreaking.

So many stairs hiding everywhere!!!

Scotland!

This guy was wild. He like checks all of their uniforms to make sure they are right. The one on the right didn't have his belt in the right position and he got a reaming (I think in Scottish because I didn't understand any of it) while his belt was readjusted for him!

This well used to be the only source of water for the whole castle!

Chapel.

Edinburgh from half-way up the castle!

Cemetery for generals' dogs who died while serving with their masters in the castle

This is why I will probably come back from this trip more fit than when I left! This is set one of about 7 stairways to get to the top of the castle not to mention there is a good size set of them up to every bluff and building. Oh yeah and all of Scotland is one big giant trip uphill. In 5 hours I became the Scottish StairMaster!

If you offer to take pictures of couples together they are willing to take a snap of you! Yey!

Spying on the city!

Damn Scotland has the crazy lion for its symbol....Wales has the dragon. B.A.

Train Station!

So that was my few hours in Scotland. Totally worth the extra long train ride there and back!!! Crazy good times....it is always nice sharing experiences with people your really love but if you cannot then its great to explore yourself and share the pictures! Enjoy!!!

Lots of love from the 7th week in London <3>