4 Day Recap

If you don’t blog about something does it even happen…? I kid I kid.  But buckle your seatbelts (mom..because let’s be real you’re the only person reading this) because you all are in for a treat…and by treat I mean some info about historical stuff and major recaps of all the amazing food. Oh and it’s going to be super long.  You love me.

Saturday:

WIMBLEDON.  Well…kind of. We’ll get to that.  So Friday night we had all planned out our posh Wimbledon outfits because, hello, it’s classy. Some people (ahem) told me I wouldn’t need my mint tweed coat but AHA I knew I’d be doing classy things.  So we are all prepped out and feeling wonderful.  We arrived at the Wimbledon train station at around 8 am and found out that there were 10,000 people in line for tickets.  TEN THOUSAND. And the nice man told us we probably wouldn’t get in until 6.  So we decided that we’d walk around Wimbledon village and the outside and come back later in the week for an actual match.  We had breakfast at thee poshest (not even a word) place ever and were worshipping our lives.  Then we walked around the shops and after battling with myself and going back into the store a few times I bought myself a great barbour esque quilted coat.  I’m obsessed. And the whole village was awesome and it was fun being there in the wake of Wimbledon excitement.  And two British girls told my roommate Kelsey and I that we looked like we were from Wimbledon, which was probably the greatest compliment ever.  It was the tweed I tell you.

Kate and Pippa?

Classy breakfast

After that we headed back into London because a girl in our group, Robin, had been randomly invited to a garden party at Lambeth Palace.  Um hello.  We were stoked out of our minds to go to some classy party.  We show up and it’s some weird, Irish fundraiser? No. Looked a little sketch.  So we wandered around the Thames, walked around Parliament and Big Ben some more (because you know these are just normal activities now, what?) then headed over to Hyde Park. *Side note: We are so annoyed with tourists, which is dumb because technically we are tourists.  But we all just feel like we live here and everyone is impeding on our space.*  We were dying for some French fries and a Cadbury McFlurry.  So we went to McDonalds…don’t judge. Then we sat in Hyde Park and ate.  Well we must have been exhausted because we all fell asleep for about 30 minutes…surrounded by McDonalds trash. Started our morning in the classiest place, then went to sleeping in parks haha. We ended our Hyde Park day (after a traumatic search for a bathroom, seriously there are no bathrooms in London) at the Peter Pan statue.  I got a little sentimental because a.) I LOVE Peter Pan, probably top 5 Disney Movies.  I can’t pick just one, it’s just like picking favorite children and b.) I’m turning 20 in 6 days!! I don’t want to leave my teen years! Ever! But I secretly do… it’s a touchy subject.

After we went to a BOMB pizza place.  It was amazing.  And I ate a whole pizza, but that’s normal right? Then Abby and I frantically searched the streets for a treat.  We both have a problem where we need sweets at least once a day.  Good thing I’m walking so much… We settled for Magnum bars, which isn’t really settling because they are delish.  And what’s up with everything closing so early here? Don’t they know woman need ice cream at 10 pm? Well after we passed some girls from our group on a run (whoops) we watched Parent Trap! Because it has London-y parts and is just a great movie.

Sunday:

Bored yet? Ok so our ward is in the South of London.  They split us all up because they don’t want all 32 of us overwhelming one ward and the wards around the area look forward to having the BYU students come and help out a bit.  So my roommates and I were assigned to a ward that starts at 10:30.  We leave at 9 because we have to transfer tubes, switch to a train then walk a bit.  It definitely made me appreciate having church so close.  I thought driving from King Henry to the HFAC was a stretch.  Our ward was small, but not too tiny and was really diverse.  I love it.  Our Bishop is Russian.  In Sacrament meeting we had an Elder from Fiji speak, a ward member and then a boy in the ward who gave his farewell.  He’s going to Atlanta! Seriously, the people in GA are going to go crazy over him.  He’s a black guy with a British accent and gave an amazing talk.  He’ll be a great missionary.  After Sacrament, we got callings.  Kelsey and I are teaching the youth Sunday School class.  We are excited and kind of just plan on feeding them candy and talking about life? Joking… sort of. After church we relaxed for awhile! Then we went to the boys for dinner.  They’re so cute and are having an apartment of girls over for dinner every Sunday.  We stayed for a long time and discussed important things like the Bling Ring and the Kardashians.

Monday:

Monday was the greatest.  Really though. We had class from 8:30-12:30 and during that time we got brownies, Diet Coke and candy bars.  It’s fine…we just needed something to get through class.  So then we headed over to where we were supposed to start our London Walk for the day.  We had lunch at this place that had tons of yummy vegetables and potatoes and meats, which are all things I feel like I’ve been lacking (and overloading on carbs).  Then a group of us kind of veered off and did our own longgg walk.  And by long I mean we just stopped a ton.  Our first stop was TK Maxx which is the British version of TJ Maxx.  Then we walked to Piccadilly Circus which is London’s version of Time Square.  I’m kind of bummed I don’t have pictures of it but there was so much construction going on that the pictures wouldn’t of been very good.  We stopped around various theatres to get the jist on student tickets etc.  Then we went to the National Portrait Gallery which was unbelievable.  We had just learned a lot about the Tudor era during class that day and seeing all the portraits of the royals was awesome.  We loved seeing the pictures and then knowing the backstory.  And FYI I’m pretty sure Elizabeth I is my favorite royal so far.  She was never married and just strung along all these suitors that were in love with her…and she was a good ruler! She didn’t want to be undermined by getting married.  Anyways we oohed and aahed over Kate Middleton’s portrait that was just added.  We love her too much.  It’s a little creepy.

After that we went towards Covent Gardens.  We stopped at Amorinos which is the best gelato EVER.  Ok I exaggerate a lot, but I promise you I am not exaggerating right now. And they shape it like a rose! And let you choose as many flavors as you want! What! I got Speculoos, Salted Carmel, Chocolate and Turkish Pistachio.  Then we wandered around the streets of Covent Gardens.  I could spend days there, the shops are amazing, and I could spend thousands upon thousands.  Good thing I didn’t do either.  Well while in Covent Gardens you must get Laduree right…? So we did.  It’s my goal to try all the flavors while here.  So far I’ve tried: Chocolate, Chocolate Coconut Marshmallow, Salted Carmel, Venezuelan Chocolate, Raspberry, Pistachio, Vanilla and Lemon! Yay! So after we quickly finished our walk, because at this point it was like 5:30.  We saw Somerset House, Australian House, BBC headquarters, LSE School of Economics and lots of statues.  It was bomb.  We love reading the books and finding out fun facts about everything.   After the walk we went grocery shopping because we decided we had to stop eating out so much.

The best gelato! With my fave person!

Neals Yard in Covent Garden

Laduree round 3...in a week

view from waterloo bridge!

gals

Tuesday:

Hampton Court. Well so getting there was hilarious.  Our directors told us to leave our flats at 9, transfer some tubes, get to Waterloo station to catch the 9:36 train.  We left a little late and were rushing (sprinting) through the tube stations.  I had horrific flashbacks to the Denver airport.  We missed the 9:36 train and were a little frantic.  We asked a random worker and he said he thought we could take another name.  We trusted him full heartedly and jumped on the other train.  After a few connections we made it to Hampton Court and BEAT everyone on the 9:36 train.  Holla.

Hampton Court was awesome because it was all about Henry VIII and we had learned about him the day before.  It is HUGE and a little eery.  But they had some cool exhibits and even a guy dressed up as King Henry walk around.  They also had an exhibit called “Secrets of the Royal Bed Chamber.”  We had seen signs for this all over the tube and we were exited to see it.  It wasn’t that great but it had some cool facts.  It was mainly about the routines that Royals go through and how they never left their beds…what a life.   Oh and it talked about how James II and his wife (forgot the name) may have faked the birth of their child just so James could have a male heir.  There’s a lot more details than that but I don’t feel like writing it all haha.

JARED

selfies with King Henry VIII

being royal and stuff

THESE EXIST! and are BOMB

goat cheese, onion and mango panini? Best thing I've had so far

A quick dedication:

To candy bars.  The candy here guys, THE CANDY. Cadbury, Crunchies, Lion, Bueno, Richter, AMAZING.  We get candy bars everyday.  So bomb.  Crunchies are probably my favorite, they are like honeycomb if you know what that is.  And all the Cadbury ones are just so good. Oh AND peanut butter kit kat... basically a normal kit kat but FATTER with a layer of pure peanut butter on top  So yes.  That’s all. 

Liv and the Peanut Butter Kit Kat

xox