From the temple, we took a train to downtown London, were given day passes for the metro, and were set loose!
Me and about 20 other people bought what is called the "London Pass" which got us into a lot of the touristy places for free. Me and these 20 people also seemed to want to spend the whole day together as a whole group (yikes), but as people got lost in the metro station (#prayforcoral) and we realized we all didn't want to do the same things, we broke off into smaller groups.
First stop was Westminster Abbey, as well as some sightseeing along the way:
I only stayed about 45 minutes in Westminster Abbey, but could have spent hours. So much history in there! So much royalty, extravagance... I loved it. There was a free audio tour there, so I picked and chose which parts were most interesting to me (mostly learned about coronations and the organ) and took some more pictures outside:
And then took some more pictures...
Then we went to the Tower of London! This was a very touristy place - people dressed up for pictures, overpriced food etc.. but it was fun to walk around and learn some stories about London back in the day.
But my favorite part was being able to see the ROYAL CROWN JEWELS:
First of all, I've never seen so many beautiful sparkly things in my life. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, or else I'd show you. Second of all, I felt weirdly patriotic for England. Especially near the end. Inside, it was dark, and quiet, with classical music playing. The jewels were lit up and beautifully on display. The whole exhibit was sort of designed to lead up to Queen Elizabeth II's crown jewels and as we walked down the hallway to her room of things, they had on the walls the words from the coronation vow and oath. They even had projected the video footage of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation back in 1952!! I'm not sure if you know, but she is the longest-reigning monarch the UK has ever had! At 5:30pm on September 9th, she broke her great-great-gma Queen Victoria's record. What a champ. Long may she reign.
We next went to London Tower Bridge, which is not London Bridge, but that's okay because it's cooler than London Bridge.
There is a place in London called Leicester Square. Many things happened in this place.
1. We bought tickets to see Wicked.
2. We took pictures by the Wicked posters because we (mostly me and my kindred spirit Amanda) were psyched out of our minds.
3. We went to a pub and got fish and chips. And drinks. And by drinks, I mean water. I saved the bottle. The fish and chips was pretty good, it was the first time I'd had some. It was what I expected.
4. While in the pub, I realized I didn't have my jacket with me... So me and a couple others went back to where we took pictures by the Wicked sign, where I left it on a post while said picture taking occurred. It was no longer there. It was the only jacket I brought. I've been telling myself that a British hobo took it and needs it more than I do. But now I had no jacket. That becomes problematic later on.
Our next destination was Buckingham palace! Saw some fun things along the way, because London:
Buckingham Palace was beautiful as the sun was setting. We didn't go inside or anything, but it was still beautiful!
I love this next picture. The random woman's face on the right cracks me up:
The last thing we had planned for the day was to GO SEE WICKED. All day me and Amanda had been singing songs from it and talking about it nonstop. (Also, Amanda is obsessed with languages and knows a lot of the songs in Dutch and German. Because she's also obsessed with Wicked. I know. She's legit.)
But there was a slight problem. All of us were craving ice cream... SO we we wander around London, staying close to the theater looking for ice cream...
...And we couldn't find any that was close by! We did find a McDonald's in the metro station, though. We kind of felt lame for going to a McDonald's at first, but then we looked at the menu and they had a bunch of desserts and food that we'd NEVER seen in American McDonald's before. So we got some!
And now, the time has come to see Wicked. I'd seen Wicked at Theater Under the Stars in Houston before, but I was quite young, and didn't know any of the songs going into it. Oh, how times have changed. I know the music forward and backward and was excited to see it live on stage! Because we haggled the price and got our tickets from a sketchy booth in Leicester Square and not from the theater, we had incredible seats for not very much.
You guys, the show was PHENOMENAL. I cried 3 times. Maybe 4. The cast was AMAZING. Emma Hatton as Elphaba and Savannah Stevenson as Glinda. Hatton was honestly one of the most incredible Elphabas I've ever heard. She is such a rockstar with a mindblowing voice.
FUN FACT: The lds church uses Savannah Stevenson (Glinda) to portray Christ's mother, Mary, in a video about Christmas and in pictures! How cool is that! Glinda and the virgin Mary! Same actress. See the video here:
Me and Amanda during intermission:
This was our last full day in London, and I think I spent it well in good company. So many happy memories in London. It's a great place.
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