Walking on Sunshine...

…and don’t it feel good.  Well, it was sunny and I was walking. A lot.

This past week I went on two field trips with my classes.  On Tuesday my Art and Architecture class went to Westminster Abbey and today, Thursday, my Social History class went to the Museum of London!

Tuesday my friend Kelly and I made the journey to Westminster together.  We were early, so she showed me around a little bit and then we met up with our class and our professor, David Brady.  I had been forewarned that this man walked quickly.  Quick doesn’t even cut it.  He walks at my flat out running pace.  I understand that I have short legs and can’t take strides as long as others, but even the tallest people in the class were struggling to keep up.  This wasn’t so much of a problem in the Abbey, but when we left, oh baby. 

Westminster Abbey is positively breathtaking.  I couldn’t take any pictures inside, but it is definitely a sight to see.  One girl in my class ignored this “no photography” rule and was strongly reprimanded by one of the Harry Potter cloak wearing workers.  It was only slightly amusing.  Anyways, we toured the cloisters, which were nice, but the actual church was magnificent!  I, being American, and thus obsessed with royalty, pretended I was at Kate and Will’s wedding.  I noted where everyone would have sat, walked, etc.  I was loving it!  Since the point of this class is architecture, and the most notable architectural points of the abbey seem to be the ceiling, my eyes spent a good portion of the time looking upward.  Hello, neck pain.  As we practically sprinted through the abbey, I did get to see a few of the people buried there.  I saw Issac Newton and Queen Elizabeth I.  Two out of 3000. A return trip and 15 pounds will have to be sacrificed to see the rest.   

Westminster Abbey's main entrance!

Pretty architecture!

Once we made our speedy exit, we headed straight over to Banqueting House which is the only remaining part of the Palace of Whitehall.  Again with the theme, the ceiling was really the only interesting part.  There were giant extremely well-preserved paintings that covered the whole thing.

Banqueting House ceiling

We left there almost immediately and continued our run/walk around the city looking at buildings and things like Horse Guard’s Parade.  At the end of the trip, David Brady told us that if we had walked faster we could have seen plenty more things.  Seriously, dude? We were practically running from building to building.  Dreadful.

Horse Guard's Parade, used to be the headquarters of the British Army

Headquarter's of the British Navy

Today went much better.  My Social History of London class went to the Museum of London.  How creative!  We focused on the Roman era in London and had an object handling session.  Got to touch some really old pottery and stuff.  It was pretty cool. 

After class was over, I decided to explore the city a little on my own.  I walked by St. Paul’s Cathedral, down by the Thames , and somehow two miles later ended up in Covent Gardens.   Actually, 2.1 miles, I google mapped it.  I had ice cream for dinner and watched some street performers before heading home to good old Regent’s!

My only picture from my walk.
The Queen during her Silver Jubilee on the side of the Seacontainers House.
Supposedly the largest picture of the royal family there has ever been!