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| Where's my owl?? (p.s. my scarf says I'm Slytherin, but what sayest thou?) |
I arrived in London no more than 2 weeks ago and I feel like I have lived the worth of 2 lives already with 7 more to go. I have found myself in a weird paradox in my life regarding my time spent. You know how time flies by when you're having fun and it feels like no time has past at all when it ends? Well, I surprisingly don't feel that way at all. Is it because I'm not having fun? Not at all. It's all about the fact that I have lived and experienced SOOOO MUCH stuff that it honestly feels like I have been here forever. I guess my life back home is rather boring so once I hit the streets of England and begin to live my sub-conscience tells me it's been worth 3 years of my previous life.
As for what specifically is the "SOOOO MUCH" I was referring to will probably anti-climatic to you all or maybe they're just a bunch of those "you had to be there" moments, but whatever they are to you they were amazing to me. To make a quick abridged list of all the things I will just say I have; seen 9 professional shows, toured the Royal Middle Temple, Temple Church, Shakespeare church, Globe Theater, Shakespeare exhibition, the Museum of London, London Library exhibition, found 9 3/4 platform at King's Cross Station, visited the London Temple (including a very nice walk through the England countryside), found an old friend whom I haven't seen for 3 years on her mission here, toured all of the freakin' tower of London (crown jewels and torture chambers included), ate at numerous English restaurants and discovered the worst and best of the European people all the while being a full-time student keeping up on class and homework plus all in the small frame of only 2 weeks. So if you're wondering why my blog posts are few and far between...well, THAT'S WHY! There's just all too much and too little time. But enough with the text, let's get with the pics!
The Mousetrap murder mystery play. The longest running play of all time.
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| I think they will eventually run out of numbers. |
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| The whole group after the show. |
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| Our fine dining. |
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And our VERY fine dining :)
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The next big thing we did was visit the Museum of London. While there weren't too many things to get all photo crazy about, there are a few I would like to share.
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| The lamp post transplanted from Narnia. |
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| The quite amazing Michael Caine Exhibit |
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Irony.
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And English culture equality for both man and beast.
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The next few things I did after that were see 3 incredible productions that is impossible for the tongue to describe. Please enjoy;
MATILDA THE MUSICAL!
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| Unbelievably amazing. Family fun has never been so much effing fun. |
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| And the colorful stage. |
WICKED!
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| Pictures were surprisingly legal at this theater :) |
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| Waiting for the show to start with style. |
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"Look how great these seats are" is what's written all over that sinister face.
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THE TEMPEST!
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Next was The Tempest at the famous Globe Theater. Standing room only, seriously.
Unfortunately no other photos were allowed. |
With the influx of shows that have now entered my life in just these 2 weeks, I garnered a vast cultural and brag-able experience. But it certainly does not end there. Again I was defeated when we were not allowed to take pictures anywhere inside the Library of London which held some of the most ancients texts to ever be put on display. But I enjoyed it nonetheless and looked forward to my next and probably one of the most exciting parts of my London stay; THE TOWER OF LONDON! Not only did this include the prisons and housing of many of England's historical figures (Anne Boleyn, Duke of Gloucester, the Princes in the tower, Henry VIII and many many more), but it also had the crown jewels on display as well. But yet again there was a ban on any photography of them. But the whole time all I could think of was the catchy tune of an old musical;
"Our pockets hold a watch of gold that chimes upon the hour. A wallet fat, and old man's hat, the crown jewels from the tower!" Yeah.....
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| Curiosity. |
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| Naturally the battle of Helm's Deep |
Now yesterday was Saturday and it was a special day because some of the girls and I got to make the trek out to the London Temple to pump us up with spiritual steroids to keep us going. It's a funny thing though because the "London" Temple sure aint in London. It was about a 2 hour tube and train ride to where we were gonna take another bus. But as the day would have it it turned out the bus we were looking for did not run anymore. So we all knew we would have to take the hour long walk from the bus stop to the temple if we wanted to go at all. But what seemed at first to be a curse became a blessing very quickly as we got to stroll through "legitimate" England with lush green fields and pastures teeming with roaming animals and a peaceful stillness. After a while the walk did get a little tiring, so I decided to play a little song on my ipod to get us going again. Listen to it for yourselves;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frto4dOVg00. Awesomely awesome.
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The beginnings of The Fellowship of the Temple Walk
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We eventually made it and had a wonderful time and took advantage of the most amazing temple grounds I have seen. But no need for me to keep it to myself, you can have a look to;
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| Obligatory Temple sign picture. |
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Solemn.
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Last but not least was an amazing reunion that happened today. There is a good friend that I have not seen for 3 years. This is due to me serving my mission and then her leaving on her's and coming to, you guessed it, LONDON! If I was just any old tourist or visitor I would not make the effort to see her, but seeing as how I actually live here and am no different than any other member I saw it fit to seek her. Luckily today was a stake conference where I knew I could see her. Before I came to England I had her parents give me a package to deliver to her. So I packed it up and headed off to the reunion. To say the least she was quite a bit shocked and speechless at seeing my suddenly after 3 years of absence and much more having it be across the world. But smiles were made and laughter was laughed as it happened. This is my friend Sister Ruth Reneer. She is a talented and devoted woman with solid testimony to declare. She has been out for a while and she will continue to do great things here in England.
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Sister Cuvochi (I think that's how you spell it), Sister Reneer, and me...naturally.
Oh, and don't forget Jesus in the back! |
Well, that's all for now folks. Of course there's more that happened than just one blog post can share, but this will have to do for now. But of course I'm not gonna leave without giving just one sense of British humor that I came across today;
I saw this bloke chatting up a cheetah; I thought, "He's
trying to pull a fast one".
I saw this bloke chatting up a cheetah; I though, "He's trying to pu
Ha...ha...ha...
Quite poshly,
- Lancaster Spear
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