Westminster Abbey and Everything Else

"The history of the abbey starts in 1050, when King Edward The Confessor decided to build an abbey. Only a small part of this original Norman monastery, consecrated in 1065, survived. The only representation of this original building is shown on the Bayeux Tapestry. Most of the present building dates from 1245 to 1272 when Henry III decided to rebuild the abbey in the gothic style. Large parts were later added: the Chapel of Henry VII was added between 1503 and 1512, while the two West Front Towers date from 1745. The youngest part of the abbey is the North entrance, completed in the 19th century." - from http://www.aviewoncities.com/london/westminsterabbey.htm

Almost every monarch has been crowned at Westminster Abbey and about every King and Queen has been buried here. Shakespeare, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Laurence Olivier, Handel, and many other well known people were buried at WA also.

The abbey was georgeous and there were so many things and details to take in. It was truly amazing and I'm glad I got to visit - I just couldn't comprehend all of the details. It was bit too much to take in...

So I have done lots of things since I've posted last. I've been to the Tower of London, Greenwich, the London Eye, Harrods, seen Jersey Boys (which was spectacular), taken a tour of the East End (great bagels w/ cream cheese and lox), and gotten lost and gone to an opposite side of London. I can't even remember all of the things I have done - I shouldn't have waited this long to blog.

Tomorrow we are going to take a weekend trip and travel to Bath, Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Stonehenge. I'm quite excited; I will be seeing some very well known places. I can't wait to see the crescent of buildings in Bath and go to the actual baths. I'll write about it when I get back.

So I'm going to talk more about Jersey Boys. I had wanted to see it for a long time, but I wasn't expecting it to be as amazing as it was. I didn't know only three or so songs. But otherwise it was all of my favorites! It included Sherry, Walk Like a Man, My Eyes Adored You, December 1963, Can't Take My Eyes Off of You, and Let's Hang On. It was extremely entertaining to listen to Nick Massi (the bass in Jersey Boys) go from his "Jersey" accent into a british accent. Their accents were actually pretty convincing, though. The production was spectacular and the singing was, too. The actors looked almost identical to the real deal from the first balcony. If anyone every gets the chance to see Jersey Boys, do!

I'm missing the states already and I am really going to miss the fireworks on the Fourth of July ( yes, I am already thinking about the Fourth of July). The weeks are going by very quickly and I hope everyone is enjoying the weather at home (it is usually cool and rainy here).Well, I have to go to bed. I feel like I'm getting sick and I have to travel tomorrow.

What I'll Write About Soon...

 

Laundry

This morning we started our usual laundry routine by filling our extremely small washer with laundry. It just happened to be a beautiful, sunny day. Once our clothes had been washed, we hung them up on the drying line. I stayed out in the sun for a couple of hours near the laundry and my mom sowed by the window, waiting for the laundry to dry. We had finally pushed the thought of our drying clothes to the back of our minds when it started clouding up, a usually occurence in England. It ended up raining on our clothes that we had been waiting on and they are currently in the dryer which is shaking violently as if it is about to blow up. I hope it stops raining soon.

Wicked: What Happened Before Dorothy Dropped By

Last night I went to the West End musical Wicked with my family! It was so great! I didn't quite know what to expect and I wasn't sure if I would like it. But everything was amazing! Our seats were 11 rows from the first canopy, so we could see everything perfectly. I rented binoculars, though, just so I could see the details.

The story of Wicked is everything that happened before the story of The Wizard of Oz. In a nut shell: Elphaba was born green... She grew up and went to a sorcerer's school and met Galinda, who was loved and had everything, while Elphaba was hated by everyone. They were forced to room together and eventually became friends. (Elphaba was the really talented one and Galinda was just pretty). Elphaba started realizing that animals were forgetting how to talk (?) and were being forced into cages, something that Elphaba wanted to stop. She wanted to go to the Wizard of Oz so he could stop it, but (If you don't want me to ruin this then stop reading) the wizard was the one causing all of the animal capturing. The Wizard told all of Oz that Elphaba was evil - so she was forced to go into hiding and do everything against the law... It gets really good after this, but really complicated, so I won't bother writing about it.

Anway, it was really worth the waiting and long underground ride. Thanks mom and dad!

My Birthday!

On Friday in Amsterdam my family and I went to Keukenhoff,  world renowned gardens (mostly tulips). It was beautiful all day and we all thoroughly enjoyed the windmills, flowers, and sunshine.

We have finally settled in here in London. Our house is great with three bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen, living room, and a great garden. We got in to East Finchley on Saturday and yesterday we met up with our friend for lunch, who lives in North London. We walked around our downtown after lunch yesterday and we got a birthday cake for myself. There is a decently sized church downtown and there is another church which has turned into a pub. Very British...

We came to the Madison House this morning - we are figuring out everything that we don't know already. It took about a 50 minute tube ride to get here, and everyone else in the world was going to work the same time we left our house. It was fine, though - there is a lot of city stuff to get used to. My mom, sister, and I have walked around the area of London where Madison House is situated. Surprisingly, it is clear out today with very few clouds. It won't last for long. Tonight we are all going out to see the musical Wicked for my birthday! I will try to post some pictures soon - I know I've already said that... But I will try to post some soon.

I am looking forward to getting to know London a bit more! Cheers.

Amsterdam!

My mom, dad and I eventually flew to Amsterdam after a few delayed and cancelled flights. After taking two flights, a train ride, and a taxi ride, we arrived at our hotel (Hotel prinsenhof) on one of the canals in Amsterdam on Monday (all of the traveling took up most of Monday). Amsterdam was made so that there are various canals shaped like "U"s parallel to each other so almost every block you see a canal.

Yesterday we picked up my sister at the Central Station and we walked around Amsterdam for a little bit. After a nap and dinner we all went to the Anne Frank house. It was neat to see, but all of the rooms were empty (at the request of Otto Frank).  There were many pictures of what the house would have realisticly looked like, though. I really enjoyed it, but it seemed a little lighthearted. We all somehow felt as if we hadn't experienced anything sad... I tried to tip toe up the stairs without making any noise - I couldn't do it, even with new staircases.

Today we woke up and had our daily hotel breakfast of cheese, bread, jams, soft boiled eggs, meats, coffee, and real hot chocolate. We then took the tram to the Rijksmuseum - beautiful architecture. It is currently being renovated and most of the museum will be open in 2013, so we only saw a bit of it. But the bit that we did see was great - a lot of Rembrandt, Delft china, Frans Hals,  etc. We then got lunch at a pancake house. The pancakes here are a lot thinner than an American pancake, but thicker than a crepe. It was really good and huge! After lunch we went to the Van Gogh museum. It was great! Most of the art was Vincent art, but some of the art was by artists that Van Gogh admired and mimicked. All of the famous works were there - potato eaters, sunflowers, almond blossoms, wheat field with crows... It was really neat but there were a lot of annoying Irish school groups there that were getting really close to the artwork. I only yelled at one group of kids...

We just got back from dinner and the tram ride back to prinsengracht. Tomorrow we will be going to the main cathedral, Oude Kerk. We will also be going on a canal ride and possibly the original Heineken Brewery. On Friday we will be going to Keukenhoff and maybe Haarlem.

I will post some pictures once I get to London. Its kind of difficult to do anything fancy right now... I hope school is going okay for everyone! I'll write more soon.

Six More Days...

This week we are getting ready to leave - only a couple more days! This is the main street of the area where our house is, East Finchley.

                                           Pretty soon I will be using the tube, the British subway.

The Tube

                                I will starting blogging and putting up pictures as soon as possible.

     P.S. If you want a postcard, just leave a comment and I will get in touch with you or get your address...