Group Pictures from London

These are all the group pictures that were on my phone.

Day 12: Free Day and Travel home

It was sad waking up and realizing that it was my last day in London. Today was packed with stuff to do. Danny, Steph, Dana and I went to the Tower of London. It was really cool. They had tons of historical items and the Crown Jewels. It was really cool to see armor and swords from the early 1300s all the way to the weapons and armor we use today. We went into a room that had all of the medals that were handed out to soliders all throughout british history. We then went and saw the Crown Jewels. It was amazing how many diamonds were inside the crown. I think if I remeber right they said that the crown adds 2.5 pounds to the Queens head when she wears it. The scepter was also outstanding, pretty sure it was the biggest dimond i have ever seen. Before we left the Tower we went to the Bloody tower. The bloody tower has a very strange history. Two princes lived in there and went missing. No one is too sure what happened, but there are a few conspiracy theories. They did find two small bodies in the  castle during renovation. So i suspect fowl play..... Dana and I took the tube to Hyde Park Corner and got out and saw the edge of Hyde Park. It sucked because it was raining, so we did not get to see much. It was what I expected walkways the lead into open grassy areas and tree filled areas for shade on a sunny day. It is an area for people who live in the city to escape the city life an relax. I was really hoping to see the Serpentine, because that is where the Marathon swimming was held for the olympics; but the weather did not really coorperate. We hopped back on the tube and got off on Leicester square and walked to the National Portrait Gallery, baiscally because it was the only art gallery i could remeber being mentioned. It's what can be expected from a portrait gallery; it was pictures of people. Some of Kings and Queens, and other of famous people around the world. I looked at their website the other day and saw that they had a Native American display while we were there but we did not walk around enough to see it. We only spent like a half-hour in there, mainly because we have been seeing portraits all week, and were crushed for time because we still needed to go to Harrods and Camden town. I think next time I will definitly go and check out the National Gallery. I like landscape artwork better than portratits. should have thought that one through...... So we got back on the tube and back tracked to Harrods. It was a ridiculous store filled with tons of brand name items. We never made it to look at all the cheese, (sorry Dr. King), but we were able to find some wine to take home to Dana's mom. We then hopped on the tube for one last journey to Camden Town. It was not as bad as the first time, and we were able to get all of our souvenirs.  Dana and I went back to the hotel so we could get ready to go see Phantom of the Opera. We got ready and went to dinner with the group before the musical. We had Pizza Hut, which for the record is not as good as American Pizza Hut. Phantom of the Opera was outstanding and I really did enjoy it, but I think I liked Wicked better. The musical finished around 10 and we went back to the hotel to pack. I finished packing about midnight and slept for about 3 hours. We left the hotel at about 4 in the morning. The flight was much better than the first one. We actually got to choose what we wanted watch. We were delayed in Chicago cause the plane had some issues, but once they got that solved we were on our way home. In Rapid City Dana and I stopped at Best Buy so I could get a keyboard for my iPad. We finally made it home at 730 and I was asleep by 9. I miss London but I'm glad to be home. 

Here is some Pictures from friday.

 Traitors Gate at the Tower of London.

 A dragon sculpture from inside the Tower of London.

 The only picture we were able to get of the Crown Jewels.

This last picture is Steph trying to lift up a back pack from the military.

Day 11: The Legal walk

The royal corts of justice

Today we went on the Legal Walk of London. This gave us a chance to see where the top lawyers (barristers) train. There are four inns which are kind of like colleges. They apply and must must attend the inns twelve times before taking their bar exam. The for inns are called Inner Temple inn, Middle Temple inn, Lincoln inn, and the Grey's inn. After we saw the inns we went to the Royal Courts of Justice; which is their main court if appeal. There we got to sit in at a trial. We came in at the end of one where the judge was giving the opinion (decision). Then we saw the start of a second case before leaving. It's kind of hard to explain what happened because I got confused in the first one, and the second one the judges told the appellants lawyer they were prepared to rule in their case. After we left the court we went and saw the Metropolitan Police Museum. It was really cool. We got to see a lot of artifacts from the early policing days. London was the first city to have a uniformed police in the early 1800s. They also showed us a copy of the investigation if Jack the Ripper. It was also the last time we would get to see Constable Richard. I would like to thank him for everything that he did for us while we were here. Our day spent with Constable Richard and Phil last week was my favorite day. After that we went back and I relaxed till Dana got back. She got back about 8 and we went and grabbed some dinner. Tomorrow is our last free day and then we will be home!!!!!

These are the wigs that the barristers and judges have to buy. They only cost about 600 pounds.

Lincoln's inn

Day 10: free day

Today was a pretty relaxing day. Dana left at 530 for Scotland. So I had the day to choose what I wanted to do. Danny and I decided to go to Westfield mall, it was probably the biggest mall I have been to. We walked around it for prolly about 3 hours and even had Burger King lol. I miss the fatty American food lol. Burger king even tasted like the ones in America. We then went to covent garden mall which was kind of like an outlet mall and street vendors. I wish I would have snagged a picture, but there were these "street preformers" who sat in mid air and appeared to be flying. It brought a whole new meaning to illusion cause these guys were like three to four feet of the ground. We also went and found platform 9 3/4 so we can take the girls there Friday. There was a really long line so I did not get my chance to push the cart..... I'm exhausted from walking so I think heading to bed. Tomorrow we do the London legal walk. 

Free day: Paris trip

Yesterday we had a free day so we used it to go to Paris. Honestly Paris is not as great as I thought it would be. It seemed to be really dirty, but that is how most big cities are I guess. New York is the same way. It also was cold and rainy which did not help. We saw Norte Dame first which was pretty cool. It was different from some of the other cathedrals because inside was not filled with light; but instead really dark. Next we saw the Arc De Triomphe which is a massive monument for the soldiers of the French Revolution. It also creates the worlds biggest round about. Which has eight lanes depending on how people are driving.

After that we saw the Eiffel Tower. It was pretty cool but we were not able to get in it because it was a 45 minute wait just to get tickets, and well I'm not a big fan of hieghts either.  

We then were going to go to the Louvre, but it's closed on Tuesdays for some reason. 

So we walked back to Notre Dame and had dinner. When we got back to Notre Dame it was surrounded by police. Apparently someone went up to the alter and committed suicide. It was a sad situation, but from what I read in the news it was apparently a political suicide.  

Danny, Steph, Dana, and I went and had some authentic French food. I did try snails but just a small bite. I didn't really like them and I think I'll pass next time they are offered. Danny on the other hand stuffed down four and thought they were delicious. 

One last thing about yesterday; we went to a McDonald's and I used the restroom there, but instead of using a toilet we had to pee on a wall. And it went down the wall into a drain. It was really strange. Today we have another free day and are probably going to take some time to relax. 

P.S. this is what the Hangover is called in France. 

 

Day 8: Old Bailey Crown Court & lecture from King's College Professor: Dr. Thomas MacManus

We left the hotel at 830 this morning and headed to the Old Bailey Crown Court. We met our guide and he gave us a short history if the court. It used to be a prison as well as an area were people were publicly executed. After he finished we went in and watched a case. It was different them the magistrates court that we saw last Tuesday. The lawyers and judge wore wigs, but not the huge ones. They were very small and flat. We listened to a rape case but it was going really slow and we were not to sure what was going in in the case. 

After we left we went to the international studies abroad office for a lecture from Dr. Thomas MacManus. He discussed with us some of the differences between law in the U.K. and U.S. for example the U.K. does not have a constitution that they follow. They kind of just follow tradition. The other interesting thing he told us was that citizens have the power of arrest (citizens arrest) and the power to prosecute that person. There is much more but it would be a lot to type on my phone. I have most of what he said saved in my phone so i can use it when I write my reflection paper. Tomorrow we go to Paris!!!! Should be exciting!!!! Sorry there is no pictures we were not able have cameras with us today.

Photo I stole from google of the Old Baily Crown Court. 

Day 7: Stonehenge and the Roman Bath

Today was a day filled with travel. We left the at 8 and headed to see Stonehenge. We got their around 930. Dana and I did not plan to go in and do the tour, but it only cost 8 pounds so we did it. It was about what I expected. Last year we did a lot of discussion on Stonehenge in my Art Appreciation  and Intro to Humanities classes so I knew a lot about the area. They have different theories of how it was created but I still think it was aliens ha ha. 

After that we went to Bath which is named after the Roman baths. It was a nice city with tons architecture from the Roman Empire. We entered into the Baths later in the afternoon, and it was really cool. They just happened to find the baths under the floor, and have done a nice job presenting them to the public. They kind of look like giant swimming pools. The difference is that these baths come from water that us heated way below the earths surface and rise to the surface; kind of like hot springs. One if the most interesting things is that you are still able to see the ruins from the old roman village. There is not much left but the objects they found are quite astounding. The only sad part about today was we only had an hour to go through the baths, I could have spent another hour our two in there listening to the audio tour. 

We got back in time for dinner and bed. Tomorrow we go to Old Bailey Crown Court. 

Day 6: Parliament and Westminster Abbey

Today we toured the Houses of Parliament. It is an extremely large building. One of the first rooms we entered was the queens dressing room. It is where she gets dressed to open parliament in the begining of May. We then went into the House of Lords, which is one of the law making bodies of their legeslative branch. Lords are either heirs or they are appointed. Their camber is mostly red with the exception of the queens thrown which is gold. The queens thrown is where she gives her address to congress .We then walked across the building to the House of Commons, which is the other law making body. Their primary color was green. The building is extremely old but has twice been rebuilt. First after the Great Fire in the 1800s they rebuilt all of parliment and added the House of Commons. Then the House of Commons was destroyed in the late 1940s because of the blitzkrieg bombings. After the war it was rebuilt. One thing I found interesting was that neither on the houses had desks for their congress to work on. The reason for that is they believe that their congress should be able to defend their point without looking at information in front of them. They did just decide to let iPads and other tablets, which according to our tour guide caused a small fight, but in the end they allowed their members to use them. Another difference was that they have an adversarial system. Basically they sit across from each other to argue their point, in America we sit in a semi-circle so our congress does not face each other. Their systems similar to ours, in the fact that both houses vote to pass the bill and the queen signs it into law. 

After we finished up at congress I went with the education group to go see the Westminster Abby. It was a very interesting place. It is a church where a lot of kings and queens are buried. The architecture is amazing and the tombs were also well designed. After that Dana and I walked to Buckingham palace and she took some pictures, and I stopped at a book store and picked up the first Harry Potter book.

The reason is because it is called Harry Potter and the philosophers stone. After that we went to Camden street which is just a bunch of little markets. Honestly it was also the most creepy part of London I have been in. But they have a lot of cheap items and I may go by one more time to look around at the deals. Tomorrow we go to the Roman baths and I should get to see Stonehenge. Sorry their is not to many pictures, most of the places did not allow photos.

Day 5: Oxford university, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Warwick castle

Today was filled with traveling. We left the hotel at 8 and headed to Oxford. Oxford was really interesting, and is an extremely old college. Our tour guide took us all over the university but we had to be quiet because the students were taking there exams. He showed us areas that were filmed in Harry Potter and where they got the idea for the great hall. We also saw images from C.S. Lewis's Lion, Which, and the Wardrobe. Such as the lamp post and Mr. Thomas. A lot of Oxford revolved around the story of Alice and Wonderland. Throughout the town and the university were things that Alice actually saw. This inspired the book by Lewis Carol.

After that we saw Shakespeare's birthplace in Strafford-Upon-Avon. I did not get and pictures but I did get some good fish and chips. We then left and headed for Warwick castle which was a lot of fun. It was kind of like a medieval times in an actual castle. We first went down into the dungeons. It was really dark and you could still see the scratch marks on the walls. They also had some of the devices they used to detain criminals. Danny, Steph, Dana, and I went and climbed the castle walls. It was really cool but I'm not a big fan if being that high up. Once we got down we saw some of the birds they used for bird shows.

When we got back to the hotel we decided to go to the London Eye below are some if the pictures I took. 

We finished there and got some food at a Mediterranean restaurant; it was really good. Tomorrow we go to parliament which should be pretty good!!!!!!

Shirt I bought at Oxford!!!

Day 4: Metropolitan Police and Scotland Yard

Today was one of the best days that we have had so far. It starred earlier than usual. We left the hotel at 8 to meet constable Richard and constable Phil. They took us to Downing Street which is closed of to the public, becasue it is where the British Prime Minister lives. Constable Richard was able to get us in to see the house of Prime Minister David Cameron. We had the chance to take some pictures and then went to see Buckingham Palace.

We first walked past Buckingham Palace and walked down a street to one of their police stations. There we were able to get a drink of water and orange sqaush. Note to self orange sqaush is nothing like orange juice. It tasted more like tang. Remeber the juice with a monkey on it. Yeah me neither. At the Police station Consatble Richard and Phil gave us a surprise. They were taking us to Buckingham Palace, and we were going to be able to enter the gates and watch the changing of the guards from the palace steps. It was a blast, but the changing to the guards took about an hour and my feet hurt a little from standing so long without moving.

 

After that was finished, we went and grabbed some lunch. I got a bacon cheeseburger which was very different. The bacon was more like a large slice of Canadian bacon and the burger itself did not taste like the burger I am accustomed to. After that we went into Scotland Yard where we listened to a presentation given to us by constable Richard and two other constables. They talked with us about London, policing the London marathon, especially after the Boston marathon the week before. He discussed how they had to adjust everything just five days before the race. They also talked about the security for the Olympics, and finished with some U.K. vs. U.S. humor.

After that was finished we headed back to the hotel and went to a Ethiopian food. It was pretty good. I had some chicken and rice and it was delicious. Tomorrow should be another good day. We travel with the education group to Warwick castle and Stratford-upon-Avon.