Oxford & London

Wow- definitely the best weekend yet! There's too much to write about, so I'll just list everything we did this weekend:

FRIDAY

-went to Oxford
-walked around the city
-went "punting" - cross between canoeing and riding a gondola. I steered for a bit; it was harder than it looked!

-went in Christ Church and did the Harry Potter self tour- we saw the stairs and dining hall that are in "Hogwarts"
-got a tourist-y "Oxford University" shirt...even though we learned that there is no such thing as Oxford University. Rather, it's a cluster of colleges. Oh well.
-caught the train to Paddington Station

FRIDAY NIGHT

-1.5 hour train ride from Oxford to London
-went to our hotel room. Chelsea and I stayed by ourselves 2 nights in the Grosvenor Kensington Hotel in South Kensington. It was really cute & it reminded me of our Clifden Inn Guest House in Dublin.
-rushed via taxi to the Apollo Victoria Theatre to see "Wicked"
-AMAZING show
-we met & got pictures with a few of the leading cast members after the show (we stalked them by the stage door haha)
-went to the Absolut Ice Bar (a bar literally made of ice, that's freezing cold). They gave us parkas to wear to keep warm. We drank beverages out of giant ice cubes with their middles scooped out...I had the Absolut Reactor.
-had a professional photographer take our picture at the Ice Bar...he said it's on their website, but I haven't looked yet
-walked around Pickadilly Circus until 1 a.m.
-couldn't hail a taxi so we had to take one of those bike taxis, where a guy bicycles you around, for 7 miles or so back to our hotel...expensive decision, but seemed like our only option at the time.

SATURDAY

-morning- remembered Uncle Tommy's oyster cards and figured out how to use them (saved us TONS of money)...this is for the Tube, their Subway system
-ate a HUGE complimentary breakfast at our hotel (there was a full-on buffet!)
-went to Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace. Everyone got sunburned (luckily, mine's not too bad) The ceremony was cool- we saw guards and bobbies. Also, they played "Yesterday."
-got tickets for the hop-on hop-off bus (like the one we did in Dublin)- best decision of the day- we saw almost EVERYTHING -->
-went to Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Parliament, and St. Margaret's Church

-saw St. Paul's Cathedral (where Lady Diana and Prince Charles were married)
-went to the Tower of London (saw the crown jewels and old artifacts)
-took a river cruise down the Thames (included in the hop-on hop-off bus tour tickets)
-ate at a noodles kiosk
-went on the London Eye (giant Ferris Wheel that lets you look out on all of London)

-heard a bagpiper play "God Bless America" (4th of July) :)
-went back to our hotel, wiped out
-sad about the prospect of not seeing fireworks on the 4th of July
-laid down on my bed
-heard something, going to look out the window, and saw fireworks for the 4th of July in London!! :)

SUNDAY

-partook again in the huge breakfast buffet
-toured the Globe Theatre (Shakespeare)
-took pictures at the Millennium Bridge (the pedestrian bridge)
-looked around in a store called "Joy" (Chelsea bought 2 dresses)
-went to Marks and Spencer (the same cheap, but healthy grocery store we have in Bath) and bought a cheap lunch
-figured out how to get to Paddington Station again
-went back to Bath
-went to Mass (my last one here)

-snacking, uploading pictures, doing homework, sitting here & editing my blog!

WHEW! What a weekend!!!!

Miss you all- have a great night :)

Love,

Kelly
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