Weekend with the British

Thursday was Belgian Independence Day so we didn't have class! Hooray. Beth and I slept in Thursday and packed and then took the metro into town to check out the festivities. At one of the big parks there were lots of activities for kids so there were kids and families everywhere which was fun to see. We got lunch and people watched. 

Celebrating Belgian Independence Day with my fries and mayonnaise

After lunch and enjoying the park, we saw mass amounts of people as the parade was going to be starting pretty soon after we left. Then we went to the train station and took the chunnel to London. Crazy that they dug a hole under water. Once we got to London we took the tube (London's metro) to our hostel which was right in the center of London so it was great. It worked out really well and seemed to work but was very interesting because it is above the Abracadabra (Russian restaurant and club) hmmm interesting. It was a nice hostel so whatever. After putting our stuff down we went out exploring and passed some main sights. Then we did the London Eye which is a giant ferris wheel and was cool because we got to see great views of the city.

Parliament Building from the London Eye

London Eye

By the time we got done with the London Eye and made our way back towards our hostel, it got later than we were expecting and realized we hadn't eaten dinner. We ended up eating a late dinner at a really good place near our hostel. I had risotto with mushrooms and spinach and it was delicious. We went to bed early which was amazing.

Friday morning we got up fairly early and went and had breakfast at Pret A Manger which is a chain all over London. They have grab and go type things but it was really good! I had porridge which is basically oatmeal and a mango smoothie. After breakfast we went to Piccadilly Circus and got West End tickets for Jersey Boys and then headed to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guards.

The flag meant the Queen was in!

Buckingham Palace

beautiful garden

After Buckingham palace we had lunch and then went to see Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. The Abbey was beautiful and it was fun to be exactly where Will and Cate were just a couple months ago getting married. They had a whole room where you could see pictures of the ceremony which was fun to see where everyone stood and sat and imagine being there.

Westminster Abbey where Prince William and Cate got married. 

Big Ben

Rode the double decker bus. Check.

We rode the double decker bus to the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. We didn't go in the Tower of London but we did see the info session video so we got the highlights.

Tower Bridge

After finishing up all the main tourist sights we walked to the Globe which ended up being a much farther walk than we realized. At least we got some exercise. We went and got out tickets and then had dinner nearby at a place called the Anchor. I got fish and chips! 

Please notice how big the fish in my fish & chips was. That's ridiculous. 

Shakespeare's Globe

We saw Anne Boleyn at the Globe. We had standing tickets but we stayed the whole time and we loved the play!

Lauren, I found you a red.

After the play we were exhausted after a long day so we went back to the hostel and went to bed. Saturday we got up and went to a similar place to Pret called Eat. Then we took the tube to Notting Hill to go to the Portobello Market. The market was enormous and really fun but it was packed! So many people. We did find some fun things and found some delicious homemade ice cream on a nearby side street. I love being in Notting Hill especially because of my obsession with the movie Notting Hill so I especially loved the market and imagined Hugh Grant was walking down the street as the scene was changing through the seasons. Ahh I must watch the movie when I get home.

After Notting Hill we continued shopping and went to Harrods. We spend a long time in there and ate lunch and had fun looking at everything. It is amazing you can buy designer clothes, work out machines, and meat all in the same store.

After Harrods we went back to Piccadilly Circus and had high tea near our hostel. I had a mango tea and a massive quantity of eggs and it was delicious. We looked in some more stores and window shopped before heading back to the hostel to regroup for the evening. 

So cool. Dress shoes with a vibram bottom (same material used on the soles of your chacos)

Thinking of you Mom!

When we went back out for the night we went to West End to see Jersey Boys which was wonderful. The voices were incredible and I loved the music. We found an organic burrito place next to the theater so we got dinner afterwards before heading back to the hostel.

Sunday was our last day in London and we had done most of what we wanted to do so we slept in most of the morning and then went to Oxford Circus which is a really big shopping district. We had traditional English breakfast and then got to go in several stores in the area. After a while we were tired because we had all our stuff with us so we ended up getting a drink and people watched before we went back to the train station and took the chunnel back to Brussels. 

English breakfast with tea of course. 

Sidenote, I love tea. So England was amazing.

Monday was another full day because it was our last big excursion for our program. We went to Gent/Ghent. It didn't start off the best because weather.com said it would be 68 and sunny. Since we haven't had very good weather in Brussels as it has been a very unusually cold and rainy summer, I decided I would wear shorts for only the 2nd or 3rd time all month. We got to Gent and it was cold and overcast. Unpredictable weather...always. We got to Gent and had a tour of the city. There weren't too many people because there is a huge university with 150,000 students but it is summer so none of them were there.

Train station done for the World Expo

Castle

After our tour several of us had lunch and I had ham with a wonderful mustard sauce and fries. I was still cold so I had hot tea which made the meal all that much better. They brought all our fries together so it came out as a massive bowl which was fun and they were probably the best fries I have had in Belgium.

After lunch some of went into the cathedral to see The Adoration of the Lamb. It is a really famous paneled painting and we have learned a lot about it in our culture class. Google it. It is beautiful. Beth and I headed back mid afternoon back to Brussels and of course stopped to get our daily fix of chocolate near the Grand Place. After going back to the house we went to the CUBC early evening to finish our paper that is due tomorrow and get some more homework done. About done with work until our finals on Thursday! Whoo. Excited for one last fun week in Belgium!