LONDON!!!

Well Folks, I finally did it! I can officialy cross of my #1 life goal of visiting London!! As you can imagine, this was quite a day for me, and I am very excited to share pictures with you. First, I'll give you a sense of my excitement on the train:

The train ride was about an hour long, and right out of the platforms I met with Heather, Jenna, Ashley, and Paula. Heather, Jenna, and Ashley are all student teachers in close towns to where I am, and Paula is the placement supervisor. We took the underground immediately, and this is the first sight of London I received:

The London Eye is on the left!

We came out of Westminster underground station, and this is the Westminster Bridge!

Coming right out of the underground station to the right is Big Ben, which has been there since 1858! This is the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament!

There he is!!!

You can kind of see this bus off in the distance in the previous photo, but this was official my first double decker bus that I saw!

This is taken while going over the Westminster Bridge! The London Eye actually wasn't running today because of high wind, but hopefully I  will be able to go up it in future visits.

This is the other side of the Houses of Parliament

The British flag being rasied over the Houses of Parliament. A interesting fact, the flag is only raised if the Queen is presently in England. If she is out of the country, the flags are not raised in the morning.

The statue towards the right is of Winston Churchill!  They make him look rather old and grumpy in his statue...

All cops ride horses in town

This marks the two most important streets concerning Parliament.

I am on the left, with Heather (who is from Minnesota) on the right.

There was a protest going on on Parliament Street arguing for England to help war in Africa.

London Eye off in the distance!

That brick building off in the middle is where the Prime Minister lives. The protest was occuring right outside the gate

This statue is quite new, only 3 years old supporting the women of WWII

This is the House Guard, which protects the ground surrounding the governmental buildings. The Horse Guards are changed every hour, similar to the guard at Arlington Cemetary. We were able to watch the changing of the guards for 12:00.

The new guards coming to take over

Note: The outfits are different during the weather. These are the guards that you would suspect to be wearing the big black hats and red vests.

This is the British National Gallery, that has over 2,300 paintings included.

There is a massive statue, with 4 lions covering each side in front of the National Gallery

Reminded me a lot of some of the buildings in the Smithsonian. It was very busy too!

This was amazing wood work on one of the buildings. It's hard to tell, but each sliver was so precise, and it was a massive wall!

Another side of the wall!

I really wanted to ride this, but it was closed!

Today since Paula was with us, she wanted to give us a quick tour of the city, so we could get a feel for the underground, buses, and trains. We managed to get from North London to South London, and then she left us at a market (there are no malls, just markets). A lot of the day was mainly figuring the system out and getting used to the buses and what not.

I am hoping to find myself out in London again tomorrow if the weather permits. It is supposed to snow again tonight and tomorrow, so I have to keep a close watch on the trains. If my train is cancelled into my town, I will get snowed in at London. I will keep you updated, and as always, will post any pictures if I head out again tomorrow. :)

It was a great day, and I am still in shock that I just managed to do something that has been a dream of mine since I was little.