The Motherland

Here are some pictures from trip #1 to London:

The changing of the guards outside Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

Jaclyn, Katie, and me squished in a telephone booth. The weird thing is it started ringing while we were inside!

Our first glimpse of Victoria Tower (Big Ben is actually just the name of the main bell housed within the tower)

Victoria Tower/Big Ben

Parliament

The London Eye

The river Thames

Parliament

View from the London Eye

Buckingham Palace (middle right) from the eye

More of the beautiful view from the eye

Me on the London Eye

The river

Parliament from the Eye

Street performers

A street performer who played his guitar when someone gave him money

Me enjoying the view of London from a bridge

The Sherlock Holmes restaurant (Karen - can we go here?!?!)

The Tower of London

Tower of London from another angle

The Bloody Tower
Two young princes were allegedly murdered here after Parliament declared them illegitimate. The main suspect is Richard III. Richard had eliminated them from the succession, but they were still a threat to him as long as they were alive

A raven inside the tower
The legend says that Charles II tried to have them removed but was told that if they ever left the Tower of London, the White Tower, the Monarchy, and the entire kingdom would fall.

Some buildings inside the Tower of London

A guard inside the tower

We went to King's Cross station and saw Platform 9 and 3/4!!!!!!!!

Trying to get through to the platform

There was definitely some Harry Potter mania on this trip

Oxford!!! (Katie and I took a bus there an hour and a half out of London in order to fulfill our duties as Harry Potter groupies

Christ Church College at Oxford (where the movies were filmed)

Some more of Oxford

It was so beautiful and we were so very jealous

Oxford again

The cloisters in Christ Church College that are used as hallways in Harry Potter

The staircase used in Harry Potter

The infamous staircase

Sadly we weren't allowed to climb it... the dining hall which they use as the Great Hall in the movies was closed to visitors because students were actually eating there

The top of the staircase where the entrance to the dining hall is

The courtyard at Christ Church College (which is in HP as well)

The big courtyard

Oxford Divinity School which doubles as the Hospital Wing in HP

The restricted section which is Oxford's Bodleian Library

We were allowed to take pictures but Katie sneaked a few

More of the library

Madame Tussaud's!! Posing with Daniel Radcliff

David Beckham

James Bond

Jim Carrey apparently thinks I'm hilarious

Johnny Depp

Racing Lance Armstrong

I met Britain's royal family. Me with Prince Harry.

Prince William

Shrek and Gingie

Katie, Jaclyn, and me with the current French president: Nicolas Sarkozy
We printed this picture out in black and white and put it up on a wall at IES and it looks like we actually met him... it's pretty sweet!