London!!!!!

This weekend I had the amazing opportunity to spend 4 days in London, and I completely fell in love. It is such a fun city with so much history and so much going on all the time. It was just Alexa and I who went, but we were able to stay with my friend Angie for the weekend. She was my best friend when I lived in Sartell and we haven't seen each other for a few years, but we reunited in Europe!! It was so nice to have someone who knew what was going on and could give us suggestions and help us get around a little easier. She met us at the underground station when we got in Thursday night and took us out to karaoke with her friends. It was so much fun! A great way to start a really good weekend.

Friday Alexa and I decided we should get our bearings and try to see as much as we could, so we bought a tour bus ticket and got 48 hours to ride on the topless red double decker buses. Boy did we use it! On Friday we saw Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Big Ben, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, and a lot of other little things that we wouldn't have picked out without the bus tour guides. While we were at the Tower of London we decided to get ice cream and walk by the Thames, and as we were walking a bird pooped in my hair. That was a fun little adventure:) By the time we had seen most of the sights it was time to go back and meet Ang to go get dinner and see our first show, Spring Awakening!!! If you have never heard of it, look it up and listen to the music. It was the 2007 Tony Award Show of the year, and it is absolutely amazing. It is the story of young teens in the nineteenth century finding all about sex and the parts of life that their parents are sheltering them from. It was sooooo much fun. We went and got fish and chips before hand, and it was the perfect British night:)

Saturday Lex and I woke up early and went to the center of where theater tickets are sold and tried to find cheap tickets for as many shows as we could. We ended up buying matinées tickets for Billy Elliot (so good, amazing dancing) and then tickets for Wicked that night! I saw it on Broadway my senior year of high school, but it was definitely worth seeing for a second time. I swear I am never happier then when I am in the theater. Before our shows started we got back on the bus and rode it to Harrod's and around a little bit more to hear more about the sights. After Billy Elliot we ate at this really cute Italian restaurant down by the theaters and ate yummy pizza and wine. 2 perfect nights in a row, I am so blessed I can't even put it into words.

Sunday we woke up to catch the free boat tour down the Thames that we got with our bus tickets and rode the boat to Greenwich. I decided that I want to move here when I get the chance, it is such a cute town with everything I need, including a HUGE daily market. We went up the hill to the Royal Observatory to straddle the Prime Meridian and walked around the city a little bit, then took the underground over to King's Cross to play Harry Potter and see Platform 9 and 3/4. It was a little disappointing, but totally worth it! Then we headed to the British Museum for a while, then made our way to Mass in a BEAUTIFUL Cathedral. It is called St. James Parish on George Street, and it was one of the most beautiful churches I have been in since I arrived and it was in the middle of the city. After mass we met up with Ang to get on the London Eye to see London at night! It was a completely different view, and totally breathtaking. It was so nice to spend time with Ang and do some of these amazing things with her. I also totally fell in love with the underground system, strange I know, but it was so efficient and reliable and took us EVERYWHERE. I have yet to live somewhere where public transportation is popular, maybe someday.

It was one of my favorite weekends since I arrived two months ago. I am still battling a sinus infection, but somehow that seems less important when in Europe. This weekend my freshman and sophomore roommate Rachel who is studying in Rome is coming to visit and I could not be more excited! It is going to be so wonderful to have someone from home here and get to show her all of what Galway has to offer. I think we may even try to sneak off to the Aran Islands for a day which would be fantastic.

I know spring breaks are starting, so have fun and be safe if and when it is yours! I love you all so much and cannot believe that I am not even halfway through. Sometimes that is really exciting and sometimes it is really exhausting, but I can't wait to hear from all of you! Love you!