A London Smorgasbord

LONDON is AMAZING!!! Yesterday Reags and I, and her two cool cousins, Alex and Connor, went on a crazy adventure around the city. We hopped on the tube and headed straight for Westminster and Parliament. It was so cool to come out of the Tube and be right there on the Thames river, Big Ben staring me right in the face (and yes, it did take me a minute to even realize that’s what I was looking at). We walked all along Parliament and also went over to see Westminster Cathedral which is incredible. I couldn’t get over it. So so beautiful. We didn’t go inside, I decided to save that for another day, but the façade is amazing. It was like a dream come true walking through all of these places. I also discovered the coolest gazebo I’ve ever seen right behind Parliament. Ok, so it’s probably not really a gazebo and I actually have no idea that it is or what it’s used for, but it was cool. There were tons of old men playing futbol (soccer) there too and it was so funny to listen to them. I just love listening to people talk, especially old men with gray hair and glasses and little kids. They’re definitely the most entertaining because you feel like you’re in a movie. Reagan and I have been trying to get the accent down but I don’t think we’re very good…people look at us funny when we say stuff. But back to what we did. From Parliament and Westminster we walked through St. James’ Park and then saw Buckingham Palace. I’ve decided that I’m going to run for Queen of England. It’s always been my goal to beat Mikala out for the position of First Lady, but yesterday, as I was looking at the huge palace and big circle and fountain in front of it, that’s all for the Queen, I decided that it totally trumped the White House and that I’d make a much better Queen anyway. She’s getting pretty old, somebody is going to have to take over. I know it’s not traditional that people run for Queen, don’t try and explain that to me, because I really think there can be exceptions made if I’m persuasive enough and...I think that’s now my only real goal for the next two months. I’d appreciate your vote. Thank you.

Besides that life changing decision, we also did a little shopping in Kensington yesterday and walked down Embassy Row (I don’t really know what it’s called but it had lots of really cool Embassies on it so that’s what it gets to be). H&M is like a dream come true here too. Today I found at least twelve things that I can’t afford. We also went to the Victoria and Albert Museum today which was super exciting and full of really cool stuff. Reagan’s aunt came with us as well, which was really great, because she’s a classicist and knew everything about anything. I loved being there. I can’t wait to explore the rest of the museums. Oh and the London Centre is great too, and all of the people here. I’m super excited to get to know all of them better. It was quite exciting and really funny watching all of them arrive today with the totally glazed over look and then try their hardest to stay awake until 9 pm. They were tired…and it was entertaining…especially during the meeting.

On a final note…tomorrow is probably going to be the best day of my life. The schedule is…wake-up, walk, Wicked and waffle. I think I’ve been dying to see Wicked my whole life and I really can’t wait. That’s probably all, I’ve definitely seen a smorgasbord of London so far and can’t wait to see even more and to go back and see everything in a little more depth.

(So just to secure your vote for me as future Queen of England I've included a picture to show you just how good I can look in front of Buckingham Palace. And this is the only one I had on my camera...Reagan had the rest :)

The Weasley Brothers

We made it! Alive. Safe. Sound. And almost sane. Fourteen hours on the plane is a really long time. Here’s the story. Our plane landed in Heathrow, we walked out of the plane on those cool stairs like movie stars in sunglasses who wave at their fans (but there were no fans waiting for us) and we got on a bus (my first experience of driving on the wrong side of the road) and I think our bus driver, who I appropriately named Freddy, was a little bit crazy because we almost slammed into another bus. Instead he hit the brakes and we all slammed into each other. There were some angry people. Anyway, that’s not important, the most important thing is that I think I met the Weasley Brothers. Here’s how it went.

These two boys with bright red hair were sitting behind us on the plane and they were pretty funny the whole time but when we stopped and they stood up and started talking to each other it was even better. Here’s the conversation. Try it in an English/Irish accent, it’s much better.

Fred: “Did you call mum and dad?”
George: “No, I don’t have any battery. Leave me alone, I’ll call them in a minute from another phone.”
Fred: “Well then, are you going to be a grump all morning?”
George: “No, just until I can get away from you.”
Fred: “I don’t want to see you again until Thursday”
George: “I don’t want to see you until Thursday either but we have to practice on Tuesday."

It just continued from there. It was so funny. What a way to be welcomed to the UK. After we got on the plane we went through customs, where I made several new best friends, but Reagan was nearly rejected because she sounded like she didn’t know what she was doing or where she was going. Which she didn’t, and neither did I. We passed though. Got the stamp. From there we tracked down our luggage and caught the Tube into the city. It was a long ride and I suddenly got really tired. It was beautiful though! So green! It was rainy and cloudy and really, really beautiful. From there we found our way to Reagan’s aunt’s flat and went straight to sleep. Six hours, it was wonderful. I still haven’t seen much of the city. That’s tomorrow’s big adventure and I’m excited. We did eat some pretty good food though and definitely tried some Happy Hippos. I’m a fan of Kinder. That’s all for today. I’ve gotta go play a mean game of golf, with princess cards, and maybe eat some more flatbread.

Departure and a Truly Inseparable Trio

The day is finally here! Reags and I are on our way to London. This day has really seemed so far away for so long that it feels a little surreal. Or maybe that’s just the 14 straight hours on a plane…not sure which. I guess it’s been a pretty good travel day. Ok, that was a lie, it’s probably been the best travel day ever, and I never thought I’d say that flying all the way across the Atlantic. Here’s what’s made it so great.

Jane Ann got married yesterday and left for her honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico this morning. The wedding was awesome and I loved every minute but it was quite an interesting experience watching my best friend get married. Super exciting and so good but accompanied by some pretty weird emotions. Anyway, the day was great. Reagan and I, and really all of the roommates, have joked with Jane Ann about coming on her honeymoon with her ever since she got engaged. About a week ago we realized that we’d be flying out of Salt Lake at about the same time so we figured we’d probably seen each other in the airport or something, which would be fun, one more final goodbye before we went our separate ways across the world. When we pulled up to the airport this morning I called Jane Ann to ask her if she was there and to get a feel for what the chances of running into her would be. Here’s how the conversation went.

“Hey Jane, you’re married! Um, what time do you fly out?”
“Um, Gabe, what time do we fly out? 12:45?”
“Sweet so do we, we’ll run into you for sure! Where are you flying to? Do you have a layover?”
“Ya, I think we have a layover in Houston”
“HAHA! Jane! We’re on the same flight!”

Not only were we on the same flight but Jane and Gabe sat right across from Reagan and I. Even after all of the joking I never thought that we’d actually end up accompanying Jane on her honeymoon…but I guess some things are just meant to be. But we did say goodbye in Houston…after giving Jane and Gabe the option of switching us destinations, London would be a fun honeymoon too right? Basically, I think that gives us the right to say that we really did go on Jane and Gabe’s honeymoon with them, even if we decided that it would be for the best if we parted ways in Texas. I guess we truly are an inseparable trio…with the new addition of Gabe. I don’t think it could be better.