It is difficult to remember what happened a couple of days ago let alone two WHOLE weeks ago…it’s even sadder when you inquire after every member of your group presenting them with the question, “What did with do Monday the 8th?” and not one of them can remember…either that day has disappeared in all of our memories or we all slept through it…
So on that note I will begin with Tuesday the 9th of November ;)
Tuesdays, as you will recall, are our trip days!!! And this Tuesday we ventured onto Brighton! A beautiful little seaside town south of London famous for it’s social and party scene.
It was even a popular place to go in the early 19th century…if you will recall that in Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” her younger sister Lydia goes to Brighton on ‘holiday’ with her friend Mrs. Foster, who is the wife of the captain of the local militia… {Maybe a little more information than you wanted to know} but all of this to say it’s been a happening place for quite sometime.
Our first stop in Brighton {…oh yes I almost forgot…we took a train to Brighton…and our group got separated…in a rush half of our group hopped on a train only to have the doors slam behind them and the train pull out of the station as they nervously stared at the remaining students on the platform…luckily Stephanie and I had been grabbing some coffee so we were there to help remedy the situation. It was no big deal really; the first group had just gotten on an earlier train, and so we simply waited for ‘ours’ to arrive. Because theses trains are used so frequently by commuters they run much the same as the metro or tube system. There are no assigned seats you simply hop on and enjoy the ride}
So back to the story…our first stop in Brighton, after we all made it via the train(s), was the Brighton Royal Pavilion. The Pavilion or Pleasure Palace was built by the Prince Regent, later King George IV, in the late 18th century. AND it is large. It is gaudy. It is excellent. ;)
Built in the Chinoiserie, or Chinese, style the interior has carved wood made to look like bamboo; and wallpaper and prints similar to those found in China; but the grandest part of the Palace is the dinning hall…you walk in from the normal sized entry way, covered in subtle pink wall paper, into this massive domed room, complete with a grand crystal and glass chandelier held in the claws of a silver and red dragon…yes a silver and red dragon. It literally took my breath away; and there only a hand full of things that I can say have really had that effect on me; but now I can had this room at the Royal Pavilion to the list.
{this is the dinning room and it does not do it justice AT ALL but hopefully it will give you a little bit of an idea for how the room looks...}
The response I had was exactly what George IV would have wanted; it is how he designed the room and the entrance hallway. He wanted his visitors to literally be taken aback by the grandeur and sheer magnificent of the room. Our guide told us that some of George’s guests refused to sit at the dinning table under the dragon chandelier for fear that it would come to life…
Pretty awesome huh?
{here is a painting by one of George's contemporaries of the room...maybe you can get a better picture of the chandelier from this one....}
The rest of the building was nice, especially the music room, and the kitchen, which was state of the art in George’s time; he was so proud of it he would include it in his tours he gave to visitors.
The other interesting and unique part about the Palace is it’s exterior…it looks like a building that could’ve been taken straight out of India…it has a light stone exterior complete with ‘turnip’ or ‘onion’ towers; think the Tashmahal or the Orthodox cathedral in St. Petersburg Russia. Strange isn’t it? To have something like that in the middle of England…
After we toured the Palace it was time for lunch; and we just happened to come upon a deal to get a whole plate of food for 5 pounds! Which is awesome, so we headed in and of course I got fish and chips.
After lunch Stephanie, Lyndsey, Mindy, and I headed down to the rocky beach; it was freezing but we went down to the water and took a couple of photos. We actually met a group of men from Canada who hopped into one of our pictures with us…ha ha ;)
After Mindy got her feet all wet in the freezing cold water we headed up to the Brighton peer! Which reminded us of Coney Island or maybe the peers in California…except way colored and wetter.
We played a couple of games in the arcade, including Dance Dance revolution and Guitar Hero…yeah Guitar Hero in an arcade! Mindy and Lyndsey also rode a merry-go round while Stephanie and I took pictures! We felt like moms for sure.
After a little dance off between Mindy and me {the video is on facebook} we headed back into town in search of coffee. We were cold!
On the walk back we passed a barbershop and I jokingly told Lyndsey she should get her haircut…she has been talking about doing it for a while. She looked at me and said, “Ok. Let’s do it!” WE were so excited for her! So we popped into this little shop met the awesome hairdresser; he’s been cutting hair for over 20 years; and he’s lived and worked in London and New York…I know right?
A little wash wash a little snip snip and Lyndsey looked GREAT! She got a cute little bob cut! We were so proud of her and she looked good! Yeah for spontaneity!
After a little wandering we made it back to the train station; grabbed a coffee and headed to London!
Wednesday the 9th of November
This day was a lazy day.
It was my goal to find a restaurant for group meal so I headed down the road to this little French chain called “Le Pain Quotidian” which means “Daily Bread.” I sat down and had a coffee {which was awesome and if I haven’t said so before very rare…the filtered coffee here is very bitter and just not good} and checked out the menu. I told them we would be headed their way later that evening and the nice French manager said that was great!
She shook my hand and I headed across the street to look for a planner. The place where I went is called “Paperchase.” I’ve mentioned it before; it kind of a Hobby Lobby, but way nicer and with paper goods, nick-knacks, cards, paint, and expensive office accessories…ha ha They also have a Nero Coffee upstairs; and that’s where I went to have a seat after I got my awesome new cute planner for 2011…weird 2011.
Thanks to the new smart phone I have been using as Harding’s GA I was able to contact, Stephanie and Mindy, via facebook, and tell them to come join me at Paperchase. It was my goal to read, but after Mindy and Steph, arrived that just didn’t happen.
After we sat there for way too long we headed back to the flat to get ready and hang out for dinner!
Le Pain was awesome; it was a major hit with everyone; and it just has the greatest atmosphere. Wooden tables, huge plates and cups, low lights, candles—so French! ;)
After dinner a few of us decided we wanted to look at Christmas lights around London! We decided to start in South Kensington, which is in southwest London, not only because they were supposed to have lights BUT because they had an ice-skating rink!!!! And we wanted to check it out!
Once we arrived we became mesmerized…the ice, the twinkle lights, the swoosh-swoosh of the skates…and that’s when we decided that there was no time to waste…we had to skate NOW! Ha ha
So Stephanie, Mindy, Travis, and I paid our fee, got our skates, and HEADED ONTO THE ICE!
It was so fun! We laughed a lot…Mindy and Stephanie both feel while we were standing on the edge talking to Brad and Courtney {they did not skate} and these two Indian guys started laughing and taking pictures of them!!! I joking went up to them and was like, “Why you taking pictures of my friends???” and they just laughed and were like, “Don’t worry it is funny!” Oh my goodness.
I didn’t fall the entire time….until literally the last 5 minutes of our allotted skate time {we had an hour} I was teaching Mindy to spin on her skates and my feet just went up from under me and SMACK I landed to my butt then hit my head…it really hurt. A lot.
The little ice ‘safety man’ came up to ask me if I was ok, and he was like, “maybe you should take a break…” ha ha thanks dude.
We were all glad we’d skated…esp. since it was in London…under twinkle lights, next to the Natural History Museum! Hello best night ever! ;)
Thursday the 11th of November
This day was a great day….it was the day that I woke up at 9 in the morning…and left to go secure our spots at the WORLD PREMIERE OF HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART I……YESSSSSSSS
I was so pumped. I put on all of my warm gear: hat, scarf, jacket, gloves, boots…and headed down to Leister Square, which is RIGHT down the road from our flat about a 10 minute walk.
The students were in class until noon so I told them I would go and secure a spot for us! As I stood in line…it was a bit confusing of actually where to stand…I asked around and the workers basically told me anywhere would be ok…most of the ‘good’ spots had been taken by people who’d been camping out for over two days….two days….
So I just chose a spot and as I stood there I made some friends! One American girl named Penny, she is in school over here; and two English girls named Anna and Rachel, they are in school outside of London and both grew up around the area.
We became fast friends as people tried to push us out of our spots---we became each other’s protectors and also got to complain to one another about what was even going on!? They were setting up this elaborate walk through for the stars walk, for them to be photographed and talk to the press etc…the students arrived and couple of Penny’s friends arrived, but we still held together!!!
At one point it started raining…like hard core get yourself soaked raining…we got out our umbrellas and huddled underneath them…they worked pretty well unless the wind was blowing, at which point many of the umbrellas turned inside out and broke….yeah it was crazy! We were laughing and screaming…ha ha
Around 2 p.m….the stars were supposed to arrived around 5 or 6…we realized, in talking to other people and just common sense that where we had been standing all morning was eventually going to be cut off and only press were going to be allowed to stand there….so we got out of there as fast as we could and headed over to the opposite end of the square…Stephanie had been asking around and found out where the cars were going to drop the stars off at…so we made our way over to the drop off spot…hopefully we would have a better chance of seeing them there.
We made our way through the crowds and eventually my Harry Potter friends from that morning went their own separate ways from us…which was fine…because we got a pretty sweet spot RIGHT where the stars were going to be dropped off…there was only two very large men in front of us…yeah.
So we stood there; and we were rained on; and it was windy and cold; and none of us could feel our feet! But we waited and waited and waited….and then it happened…
Cars began to arrive….it was time. People started getting closer behind us…we were being pushed by about a dozen people…and then it happened
After 8 freaking hour of waiting…he got out of the car
Freaking Rupert Grint, aka Ronald Weasley, got out of his car AND WALKED TOWARDS OUR END OF THE LINE UP TO SIGN AUTOGRAPHS!!!!!! I was freaking out so excited! {I was not one of those girls crying freaking out but I was very excited to see Ron!}
He walked opposite of where we were standing, but I could still see him so that was fine!
Then another car pulled up…and it was EMMA WATSON!!!! She was here cute short hair and all!
She walked to the other end of the line up but we still saw her!!!
Then the Weasley twins popped out! We got to stare at them!
Then the man of the hour….HARRY POTTER GOT OUT OF THE CAR!!! WE SAW HIM WE SAW HIM! I could barely breath because so many people were pushing me BUT I SAW HIM!
About this time Ron was coming up our line…and then it happened HE WAS RIGHT THERE I WAS LITERALLY ONE FOOT AWAY FROM HIM! Ha ha {promise I’m not insane ;) }
Then Dracco Malfoy got out of the car! He’s so cute in real life! He came one foot away from me as well! Wow it was great!
We were freezing though…ha ha so we moved to another spot closer to the red carpet and the entrance to the theatre in the hopes that we would be able to see some more stars…but alas some of the girls were getting cold so they headed back…BUT Courtney and I held on for just a while longer…and via the big screen we got to see Helena Bottom Carter interviewed, Lucis Malfoy interviewed, Jenny Weasly, Harry, and Hermoine yes all of them we got to watch their live interviews from the big scream! So fun.
But we were glad to get home and get our frozen little feets warmed! It was a great day. An epic day. One to tell the grand kids about for sure….
“You know that iconic children’s movie that came out when I was a kid?...yeah I was at the world premiere at the beginning of the end in London England…bam” ;)
via Caroline Damron on Pinterest
{here's a picture of the famous 3 the night of the premiere!!! yeah i saw them ;)}
Friday the 12th of November
We were exhausted from our Harry Potter adventure…so we were very chill most of Friday…we did however venture out to inquire after the cost of Paris tickets!
We ended up not getting the tickets we asked about but some cheaper ones online!!! Whoo hoo
But after we went to the train station, Mindy, Stephanie, Lyndsey and I decided to go on a search for more Christmas lights!!!
We headed to Covenant Garden!!! Where the shops were closing, but we still got to see some lovely lights and displays in the shopping areas…we also got to watch a street performer get out of a straight jacket…oh London-thank you for street performers ;)
Then we decided, even though it was raining a bit, to walk back to our flat! It was not that far and it would be fun to explore the city at night!
We got a bit confused, but eventually came upon Leister Square! {where the premiere was} So after we knew where we were we popped into Pret a Manger…a made fresh daily ‘fast food’ place for some coffee!
We chatted and just had a grand old time before we headed back to the flat!
I love Friday’s in London! I love the wandering and the exploring and the ‘getting lost’ you can do!
Saturday the 13th of November
Ah Saturday. Another lazy morning…I’m sure I did but I cannot recall what….
But I DO remember what we did in the evening…this day was the “Lord Mayor’s Parade” day…when the new mayor of London is paraded through the streets in this traditional carriage type thing…and all of London comes out to watch and celebrate…I’d forgotten about the parade so I did not get to see it {plus it would have been crazy town trying to get a good spot…and I had pretty much had my fill of crowds for the month}
So even though we missed the morning festivities we headed out to watch the fire works!!!! We were going to go down to the river, which is where they were shot off at…but we did not make it in time so we ended up watching them right next to Trafalgar Square…it was a good show….but it was literally one 7 minutes long….
They need to take a lesson from America and have at least 20 minutes if not more of fireworks…come on people!!!
We were a little disappointed but decided to explore and head to the river anyways…the road was block off…and even though the fireworks were over there were HUNDREDS of people still hanging out and walking by the river! It was very similar to a state fair crowd or for all of you Little Rock people a Riverfest crowd…it was large!
So we walked down to Big Ben!!! He is so pretty at night ;) and then Mindy, Steph, Lyndsey and I decided {we’d lost Brad, Courtney, and Lauren} to walked back up to Trafalgar Square then to Leister Square then home!
It is a really nice walk at night…and basically we made a big circle from the flat to Trafalgar to the river to Ben then back up again…it’s all so close!!!
On our way the crowds were still very significant and they got even more so once we made it up to Leister Square…it was wall to wall people. We lost Steph in the crowd…tried to go underground to the tube but literally abandoned that plan as so as we got down there…you could barely move there were so many people trying to get down to the tube! We decided to head back up to street level and just keep walking!
After we B-lined it home we could finally breathe!!! Like I said I was done with crowds so I was SO READY to be out of there! Bah!
So that was our Saturday…it was good. I was crowded.
Sunday the 14th of November
Ah Sunday’s in London…we arose early in order to catch the tube then the bus to Wembley Church of Christ…it was a great Sunday full of baby watching {there are the cutest babies there}, singing, and eating!!! It was a potluck Sunday and the church members were so sweet and insistent that we stay and share a meal with them!
It was awesome to have a home cooked meal…not cooked by me…there was Indian food and salad, and desserts BAH so wonderful!
And as we left…we realized it was our last Sunday at Wembley…which made us sad and also confirmed just the end of the semester was coming BUT before we left the parking lot we saw Brad sitting outside by this kid who is always helping to pass our song books and attendance cards at church…I always remark to Steph that I think he’s the coolest kid ever!!!!
And I finally introduced myself to him that morning SO when we saw Brad with him I was like, “Darren…what are you doing sitting here with this guy?” He smiled as he ate his bread and ham…”I don’t know I was just sitting here eating and he came up and talked to me…”
Darren had been eating outside…and Brad saw him so he had decided to keep him company…we all started talking to Darren about why was he eating outside? We thought he was so cool. I always saw him passing out the pens….
I said, “Darren you’re so cool! And you’re always so good about passing out pens! You’re the pen guy!”
{remember this kid is talking in a British accent really really fast} “Pen guy? What do you mean pen guy? I’m the attendance card guy!”
ha ha oh Darren the coolest 10 year old EVER!!!
He also told us about why Christmas is called Christmas….”Well you see back in the Roman times ‘mas’ is the Latin term for birthday and ChristMAS is Jesus’ birthday so it’s Christ’s mas which means Christ’s birthday…”
We just all laughed and were very impressed, even though I’m pretty sure that’s not true at all ha ha ha….then he told us something about his sister and how she has a lot of mass…like not a lot of birthday’s but she’s fat…and we were all shocked and laughed at his perfect ‘little brother-ness’
Sadly we had to leave and go back to the flat…so there we left Darren sitting in the drizzle eating his lunch…oh man I will always remember him! Ha ha
I went to Hillsong church that night and as always I was so blessed and so encouraged! I made a new friend a lovely Londoner woman…she was so sweet and I just love meeting new people every week who love the Lord and are seeking to serve and honor Him.
Also the speaker for the evening was one of the leaders who’s associated with Hillsong Sydney….she and her husband are running an organization which is seeking to save, rehabilitate, and relocate girls and women who have been sold into the sex trade in Europe…and she spoke with such authority and such passion!
Her topic was that as God’s people, “We are able…” and that if we go into a situation already defeated then we are taking power away from the one who is in control in the first place!
She used the story from Numbers…yeah Numbers when the 12 Israelite leaders go into the Promise land to check it out…and how they come back saying it’s impossible to take the land…all of them but Joshua and Caleb said this….but what she points out is that before they even left to go and survey the land God TELLS them it’s THEIRS…he tells them he’s going to give them the land, and yet they come back complaining and filled with fear at the obstacles they see!
She also pointed out that it is clearly stated that the 12 men who were selected were leaders of their tribes…they were faithful, strong, good men BUT because they took their eyes off of the promise and the promise giver, God, they lost sight and they died in the wilderness!
We all have plans for our lives, we are all meant to do great things for the kingdom, in all sorts of situations and ways BUT if we let ourselves be defeated by fear or by our situation then we will end up like the 10 men who died in the dessert…they did not receive the promise land even though that was God’s original plan for their lives…
It’s all about perspective…and keeping it on the right place…God.
Powerful right?!?
So blessed. So wonderful
Well that was our 7th week in London….stay tuned for the 8th!!! Loves
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