Abbey Road is in my head and in my heart...

The PLAN was to leave by 8:00 for Abbey Road. Well, I got up late (woopsies) but luckily so did everyone else. We got out the door by 9, so not too bad. We decided to do Abbey Road "girl" style -- wearing dresses corresponding with the Beatles outfits on the album cover. it was awesome. Well, except for the time when we were taking the picture and this guy tells us we are at the wrong cross walk...so we walk down to another and start taking our pictures. Then EVERY car/person that sees us points out that we are at the wrong crosswalk. Wow. Thats really embarrassing. Oh well. Back up to the right one and took our pictures. It took a little while but was totally worth it. Then we walked by paul's house, or so we think. After Abbey Road we went to borourgh market--- which is amazing!! Gourmet food but at a market....and its like costco where you can try stuff but with amazing food. Mom and dad met us at the Market and we had lunch. Dad wasnt feeling good though so he went back to the hotel to get some rest and Ashley and I walked Mom to london tower and then went home. Once I got home I had a bad experience and had to immediately leave the house. LExi and I went shopping :) I found an amazing thermos for my hot chocolate next year when I am freezing in the snow in Provo. After that I met up with Ashley and mom and dad and we got Fish and Chips down the street before going to Phantom. Phantom by the way was the most amazing performance ever!! The singers were TEN times better than the broadway album! I was so elated by the performance. The costumes, set, everything was so amazing. After Phantom we attempted to get Strawberries and Cream. But my favorite place wasnt open so we just went to this random in Covent Garden. Too bad they gave us AMERICANIZED Strawberries and Cream. Um whatever! The strawberries were amazing though and then I saw the most amazing make up store ever called B Never too busy to be Beautiful. I so have to go back there. They have jeweled make up brushes! Could life get any better? I submit that it could not! When I got home I ended up having a sleepover with the girls... we were supposed to watch FRIENDS but ended up all falling asleep mid conversation in the classroom. Haha. Good times.

Abbey Road










Borourgh Market





Tower Bridge


Phantom


B Never Too Busy to Be Beautiful

How do people survive without cell phones???

So the original plan was to meet Mom and Dad at the Mary Poppins box office at 11:00am. However, Ash and I got the tickets at 10:30 so we decided to email dad that we would meet them at their hotel at 11:30. Ash and I headed to the changing of the guard (could there BE any more people there???), and then to Sloan square (where I thought their hotel was). After searching through the square I remembered that their hotel was BY sloan square but the tube stop was actually Knightsbridge. So we get back on the tube and go to the Sheraton Tower in Knighstbridge. Too bad that wasn't their hotel. Back on the internet (5 pounds for 30 min---eww). We find out its the Belgrave hotel. So back on the streets looking for this hotel. This time I have my determined, frustrated walk... which is superfast. Poor ash could hardly keep up! We circle Belgrave square twice (which is NOT small) and ask at least 10 people where it is (half of them have no idea). Until I finally ask a police officer and he laughs and pionts us in the right direction. It still took us 2 more attempts after that to find it (honestly why are hotels hidden amongst the Embassies, anyway?) So we walk in, so excited to finally be there when the conceriege tells us "Oh are you Kiley and Ashley? Go to Mary Poppins Box office" NOOOO! I scream. So back to the streets, to the tube, to Mary Poppins box office where we find mom and dad. thank goodness. After that we grabbed Pasties and then headed to the British Museum. Then to Harrods where we saw the best Christmas display ever (did I mention its only 137 days until Christmas??) Then we past all the BEAUTIFUL cars (honeslty, this is more ridiculous than Beverly Hills, 5 Phantoms in 5 minutes? Could my life GET any better??) We grabbed dinner at Harrods and went back to the hotel. Then off to the play. Mary Poppins was AMAZING and our seats could not have been better (4th row center!). We all loved the show and had a great night. OH and on the way to the tube we saw the most fantastic looking Transvestite singing Kareoke ... I had to look twice to make sure it wasnt a real girl ... trust me it wasn't. haha. We went back to the center and heard all about how amazing Phantom was from the girls so we decided to get Phantom tickets for the next night. I love living in London! Shows every night!

Changing of the Guard...






I LOVE CHRISTMAS!




My Walk by all the pretty cars...

Wednesday. Last day of freaking class.

Thank goodness! No more class!! Oh wait, we have finals Monday. Hmm. yeah. Anyway, after class the girls decided we wanted cookies from Harrods so we headed over there and got dessert. We shopped around a bit (Anna and I showed them where our favorites were...) Then Anna Kim and I headed to Regents Park. Oh Man. This is my favorite park in London. It is so serene and beautiful. Its big, but still smaller than Hyde Park or St. James and is so much more intimate. There is a beautiful lake (well its beautiful as long as the pot smell isn't there haha), and then the rose and tropical gardens are amazing. We kept looking at flowers and saying "what is that?!" It was so beautiful. We also saw the largest bees ever!! We would get close to examine a flower and there would be bees humming everywhere and then I would look at the flower and the biggest bee ever would be pollinating! It was incredible, but of course I got freaked out and stayed away!! We took lots of pictures though ... I will probably take some of these and enlarge them for my room this fall. But until then, I will post them for all to enjoy.
After Regents we met up with Lexy, Patrice and James and headed to the Thames to the London Eye. We got there at 8:30, right before it was closing so we our group on the eye was small and the sun was setting. It was so beautiful. It was also cool to see the whole city and point out certain places, like our house, and places we have been to. I was also excited because its the biggest Ferris Wheel in the world!! I love ferris wheels! After the eye we watched Big Ben light up, and then walked around the city enjoying one another's company. It was such a mellow fun night. We totally started missing London already though...

BRIGHTON= BEACH ... I THINK NOT!
So we keep hearing that the beach in England is Brighton. Thats where everyone goes for Holiday. So when we found out we had an excursion to go to Brighton we looked up pictures to see what it looked like. We were horrified. This could not be a beach-- the sand granules in the picture are so large you can see them in low resolution! We were in trouble. Anna and I tried to get out of it, but our professors made us go.
I even tried to sleep in, but Lexi woke me up. Thanks Lex. On our way to Brighton we stop off where the Battle of Hastings was. I wasn't too familiar with this battle, but apparently it was a key battle of the Normans conquest over England. The coolest part of it was when William the Conqueror stabbed the Saxon king Harold in the eye with an arrow. There is a huge plaque where this supposedly took place, so naturally we re-enacted the scene ... yes we are dorks, but i would rather look at it as making the most out of a situation.
So on to Brighton. We went to George IV elaborate Beach house ... it was pretty gauty but totally beautiful. After that we headed to the beach. Just to see what it looked like. OMG. I couldn't believe the SIZE of the "sand". Its honestly not even close to sand. It is ROCKS. Larger than pebbles. Literally ROCKS. (see pictures below). We laugh as we saunter onto the "beach" and take a few seats looking out into the ocean. We relaxed there for a while and then headed back into town to check out the shops. Thankfully the shopping was great and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves there.
Brighton Smighten. Not too impressed.

Monday ... MY DAY.
After classes on Monday Anna and I had a failed attempt to go check out a new market, so we headed toward Harrods. We got a little turned around on the tube so we ended up walking in a round about way--- but we loved it! We walked through these local neighborhoods and found the COOLEST shops and omg the most beautiful wedding cakes at these Pasterie Stores! We had to stop at each one on the street and distract the workers so we could take pictures. We resisted from buying out half the store and just stuck to window shopping but we will be heading back soon enough to get our share of delights! We also couldn't help but look at tea cup sets at every store after we went through this awesome Tea Shop...
Finally we get to Harrods and go straight to the Food court. We took our salads outside Door 11 and ate our lunch quickly before going to explore Harrods. We pretty much covered the entire store; which is amazing. I think my favorite parts of the store are the Luxury Room (with all the designer bags....), The Christmas Store ( I love Christmas!) and the baby section...with Chloe, Burburry, and Dior Baby Clothes! Out of control but oh so cute!!
After Harrods we headed home, grabbed a blanket, a picnic dinner and headed to Regents Park to get grass seats for the Open Air Theater. Unfortunately we got there late and couldn't get tickets, but it worked out because we laid out our blanket and had our picnic next to the theater, with the music in the background. Regents Park is beautiful and I loved the scenery as well as the company. Our picnic was fabulous and Anna pulled a "kiley" and made me put the blanket out after she forgot to take a picture during our meal.
It was such a relaxing and "regular" day for me. I wish I could stay longer in London to partake of more days like this.

Back from Paris life goes back to "normal" in London for just 10 more days. I attend church, and then head to Westminster to attend Evensong. I was supposed to meet Mom and Dad there at 3:00PM. Although this was the plan, i knew it would not be the case. Hoping they were just running late, I begin to worry how we will get in contact with each other if something were wrong. However, as soon as I walk out of Westminster, they were there at the gate! Its amazing how 1 or 2 people can make a place feel like home. Ashley met us a few minutes later, and then we proceed to show them London.
Its not very exciting to show jet lagged people a city. Instead of "ooing" and "ahhing" over every cool thing they just nodded and kept walking. I have to admit I was a little disapointed by this. We took them by Downing street (where the Prime Minster lives), up to Trafalgar Square (The National Gallery), up to Covent Garden and then to Leisters Square. We covered a lot of ground. We also ate at Wagamama's, which was highly encouraged by a family friend back home. We loved it!! After dinner we headed back to Kensington and got mom and dad ready to leave for Ireland. It was so good to see them and I can't wait for them to get back from Cork withi some energy so they can fall in love with London like I have!

I love Paris in the Springtime...
I hate to admit it, but I just dont have time to really blog about Paris so I'll just let the pictures do the talking. I had a fabulous 3 days in this city, although I was more of a tourist than anything else, which really doesn't let you fall in love with a city. Fab art and Fab food though. I can't wait to go back and discover more!






































Saying goodbye to Paris with Phantom of the Opera on my shuffle as we pull out of the train station.