London- A few of my favorite things...

So...London was really fun.  Minus the bus ride there and the overnight bus ride back, we had a blast! . Even though I have been to London before, it was fun to see all the sights again and we were able to find a lot of new things to do that I hadn't done before. Here is my top 10 list of my favorite things I did while we were there.

#10- Hyde Park- Spending time with the Swans

There was a pond in Hyde Park that had a lot of swans, and if they thought that you had food for them, then you were there best friends. Leigh had a mission to touch on of them and that was a spectacle fun to watch... They look like an army of swans in the picture- Quite Intimidating!

#9-  Walking around the Historical Sights- Tower Bridge

We did our own little walking tour to St. Paul's Cathedral, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, and other sights.

#8- Red Phone Boxes and Red Double Decker Buses

Since we had an unlimited 5 day oyster card, we could jump on any bus and ride it...anywhere

How many people can you fit into a London phone booth? If you don't recognize the 4th girl in there with us, let me introduce Michelle- a friend of Bethany's who works in the same classroom as her. She joined us for a couple of days.

#7- Finding Leigh's Earring...

The story starts with our mission to find Ben's Cookies at the Covent Garden Market. We were walking there and after shopping and walking for two hours we headed back to the Tube the same route that we got there. As we were meandering slowly, I looked down and saw an earring and said, "That looks like it could be Leigh's earring..." Casually, Leigh said, "Oh, maybe it is." She reached in her purse only to find one earring. It actually was her other earring...All we could think was--- "That JUST happened!!!"

#6- Big Ben- Amazing both day and night...

#5- The British Museum-(Tree of Life)

At the British Museum there was a piece of art in the African Sculpture that really moved me. The "Tree of Life" was made by four Mozambican artist, and is made by decommissioned weapons. During the Mozambique's civil war, which lasted from 1976 to 1992, millions of guns and other weapons poured into the country and most of them remain hidden or buried in the bush. The project is an attempt to eliminate the threat presented by the hidden weapons. Mozambicans are encouraged to hand them over in exchange for items like bicycles and sewing machines. In one case a whole village gave up its weapons in exchange for a tractor. Once the weapons are decommissioned, they are cut up and turned into sculptures by the artist. AMAZING!

#4- Getting my hair cut...FOR FREE!

So we were shopping in Whiteley's mall and this french girl who couldn't speak much English came up to us and asked if we could help her. I told her I would try and she said that she was a hair student and that she could cut our hair for free. She has to cut 4 peoples hair each day for this Salon she was trying to get permanently employed at. We all ended up getting our hair cut. It took hours, but we were all excited about our hair. I chopped off over 10 inches. No big deal! I haven't had hair this short since 6 years ago! wow. Looking back this was a crazy thing because she really couldn't speak English and we were trying to tell her how we wanted our hair.  Luckily is was a success!

Our finished hair cuts! We saved 68 pound each!....technically

#3-Night Photography

Tower Bridge

View of St. Paul's from across Millenium Bridge

#2- Seeing Wicked on the West End...

I had never seen "Wicked" and it was really awesome. It put a new twist on the "Wizard of Oz" story that I was so familiar with. I really loved it. We almost missed it though because we were at the wrong Apollo theatre and so we were running up and down the escalators on the Tube. Leigh was even doing it in heels!

#1- Seeing a service at St. Paul's Cathedral

My favorite thing that we did in London was go to a evensong service at St. Paul's Cathedral. We were there early enough that  we got seated in the choir loft. It was amazing to hear the service that close to the men's choir. The only unfortunate thing was that they boys were on half-term so they were not singing in the choir. Therefore, the men sang. It was still amazing, and that church is amazing! I had already been there years ago, but this was a different experience that was really special. 

Sadly the organ concert at Westminster Abbey did not make the list. I think that 2 organ concerts in 1 weeks time was too many. Westminster was luv-lay though...