We are Family...

…get up everybody and sing.  Well, my family was here this week, and I was so happy that I wanted to sing!

My parents flew into London last Saturday!  I met them at the airport a little, more like a lot, late!  I took a bus to central London from Stansted and then the Piccadilly Line to Heathrow.  It wasn’t the most time effective option, but it was the most cost effective!  When I finally saw them in the airport, I practically ran into their arms.  2.5 months apart was far too long for this girl!

We immediately headed back into London and went straight to their hotel.  Group nap time! Later that night we went to dinner at a pub called The Albany.  It was delicious!

Sunday was tourist day! My parents met me at Regent’s that morning so that they could see the school and my room.  We had breakfast and then headed out for the day!  We did another version “Courtney and Ellie’s Walking Tours.”  Followed the same route from Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square past Horse Guards Parade towards Parliament and Big Ben!  We then walked back towards Horse Guards to catch a Parade!  We had the perfect spot, the band stopped and played right by us for most of the Parade.  Once we were practically frozen, we headed back towards Covent Garden to go to the London Transport Museum!  I had wanted to go since the beginning of the semester and I was waiting for my parents to get here so that my dad could go.  He likes that kind of stuff!  Afterwards we walked through Covent Garden to look at the Christmas lights J Finally, we headed to Leicester Square for dinner and to see Skyfall!  The movie was great! But I was exhausted.  That first day we walked at minimum three miles.  I googled it.  

Buckingham Palace!

a great shot!

Typical London tourists!

Big Ben :)

Our Parade!

London Transport Museum

Traveling in style!

Monday, we went ice skating at the Somerset House before Courtney and I had to go to class.  I was really excited about this, as was my dad.  Courtney and my mom, not so much.  It basically consisted of me pulling Courtney (after  A LOT of coaxing) around the ice and my dad pulling my mom.  At one point, my mom decided she had had enough of ice skating so my dad helped her off the ice.  I convinced Courtney to go back around one more time.  Mistake #1.  I was slowly pulling her across the ice when some EVIL child decided he needed to show off to his friends.  He then fell…shocker. And he slid into me.  I was wearing hockey skates, because they were my only option.  Mistake #2.  I had no toe picks.  So, I went down face forward.  Not a good moment.  I let go of Courtney and she seemed fine.  For a second.  Then, she got nervous because she had nothing to hold onto and fell down as well.  I immediately got up and assessed my injuries and tried to help Courtney up.  She wasn’t having that, so instead she felt the need to crawl to the boards.  In the process she tripped like 3 children and 1 man.  It was quite the sight.  We were both soaking wet because the ice was all melty because it was warm outside that day, so we went in to sit for a minute.  Courtney was done, and upon seeing my mom, all she said when we told her what had happened was “Where the hell was I?”  She wasn’t concerned for our well-being, she just wanted to see us fall on our asses!  Oh Jill.  I couldn’t resist going back out on the ice with my dad and we ended up having a great time despite the falls and the crazy school children!  That night, the Bob and the Jill left for Germany to go visit my uncle and his family! 

Tuesday, they were in Germany all day, so I got a little work done!

Wednesday, I took the day off of school to sightsee J  In the morning we went to Westminster Abbey!  For once I listened to the audio guide and it was very informative and a lot of fun!  Later that afternoon we went to Harrods!  We had a SUPER expensive lunch when we got there and then split up to take everything in!  My mom and I spent most of our time in the Christmas shop and the Gift Shop.  My dad went to the sports and electronic areas!  We met up with Courtney and went to Chinatown for dinner before going to see Matilda the Musical!  At Matilda, I ran into so many Regent’s kids because they were there for a class, including my roommate Shelley who had gotten an extra ticket!  My parents really liked it, but Courtney and I were less enthused.  I think we like the movie too much and it was too different from that.  But it was still fun!!

Thursday, I had class all day, so my parents went on a bus tour and we met up for “Thanksgiving” dinner at Nando’s that night!

Friday, we got up bright and early and went to Buckingham Palace again.  This time we went to the Royal Mews.  This was my and Courtney’s second time, but I wanted my parents to see it!  Then we made it outside in time to catch the Changing of the Guard.  Well kinda.  It was freezing and we couldn’t see much, besides bobbing hat foofoos!  Next we made our way to St. Paul’s!  I had been warned about the journey to the top. But it wasn’t that bad!  We started off looking around, but we wanted to get the climb over with.  We first had to climb like 200 and some-odd baby stairs to get to the whispering gallery.  Jill made it to that level.  And then she became the supervisor of the stuff!  Bob was nowhere to be found, so Courtney and I climbed to the next level in 40 step increments.  We went outside, looked around and then made our way to the top.  While it wasn’t the most pleasant experience, it was NOTHING compared to the Monument.  That was 311 steps straight!  There were so many breaks here!  The views were great, but we soon headed back down to the whispering gallery.  We found Bob and he had been up and down three times.  That man be cray.  After that, we looked around a bit more and then left and went to Oxford Circus to Hamley’s and Selfridges!

Selfies!

Changing of the Guard!

I MADE IT!

Sneaky pic of inside of St. Paul's

Hamley's, a giant toy store!

Oh hello royals :)

Saturday, we went to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park.  It was a crappy day, but that did mean it was less crowded!  It was very similar to Oktoberfest, with less drinking!  My dad found some ham hock that he was obsessed with.  It tasted terrible and smelled worse.  Then we headed back to Selfridges and split up.  This time we lost Jill.  Courtney and I looked everywhere for her before meeting up with my dad and sending him to find her.  Courtney and I were exhausted, so we took a cab to get my bags that my parents were taking home and then another one to their hotel.  We then headed out again and went to the London Eye!  It was my third and final time.  It was raining, but we still took lots of pictures!  Afterwards we went to Bodean’s for our final dinner L At dinner, my parents gave me my birthday present!  A Cath Kidston purse!  They had bought it at Selfridges earlier that day and Courtney had been hiding it in her purse.  Sneaky sneaky. 

Big Ben and the rain!

Family Photo :)

Sunday, they flew home!  I miss them already, but as I’m writing this I get to see them in 18 days!!

You Had a Bad Day...

…you’re taking one down.  Well, we did have a bad day.  A really bad day.

Thursday, Courtney and I were supposed to leave for Scotland to meet her family! We had never left on a Thursday before, but I at least, wasn't too concerned.

We had a bus booked from Baker Street at 5:30.  Our gate closed at 7:20.  It’s usually a 1 hour and 15 minute bus ride.  We thought this was plenty of time.  It is, at 3 am.  When no one is on the road.  Not so much during rush hour. 

We pulled into the airport at 7:18.  We ran to the check-in counter, we were waived on.  We ran to security, waived on again.  We waited what seemed like hours in the line for security.  It was more like 7 minutes.  

Our flight left at 7:50.  It was probably 7:35 and we were running around like crazy people trying to make it there.  We checked the board for the gate.  All it said was “gate closed.”  Cue, heart drop.  We missed our flight.  Traumatizing moment. 

We didn't even know where to go.  We asked around and found out that we had to use a phone to call customer service.  Did that.  After some confusion and many questions as to whether we had bought any duty free items, UHM NO. Girls in crisis here.  We were escorted back through security. 

We went directly to the EasyJet desk.  They told us that there was another flight to Edinburgh.  The next day.  At 3:30 p.m. Yeah, not going to work.  We walked towards through the airport in tears.  We found some computers.  We paid a pound for 10 minutes like 5 times trying to figure out how to get there.  After some tense calls to the parents, we booked another flight for 8:00 the next morning.  From Luton. An airport 1 hour and 45 minutes away.

After some help from a kind National Express lady, we decided to stay in the airport until midnight and then take the bus to Luton.  We ate, colored, did wordsearches, played cards.  No sleeping.  We made it to Luton around 2:30. 

For some reason, there were an inordinate amount of people sleeping in that airport.  There weren’t two chairs together anywhere.  People were sleeping on the floor.  We weren’t that desperate.  Yet.  Eventually, we found a chair and 3 ottomans at a Starbucks.  Courtney took the chair and I took the three ottomans.  

The ottomans and I didn’t get along.  I didn’t sleep at all.  About 3 hours into the adventure, Courtney decided to move further away from the doors that were letting freezing cold air in.  I took over the chair and finally slept for about 2 hours and woke up an ice cube.    

We eventually got up, had breakfast, and headed to our gate.  We were not about to miss the flight this time.  What we discovered made us want to be sick.  The plane didn’t actually board until the time stated as the departure time.  We stood in a queue for 30 minutes.  If they would have kept the gate posted at Stansted, we could have made it.  Yeah, bad day.

We touched down in Scotland around 9:30, took a taxi to the hotel, checked in, freshened up, and headed out for our big day!

Since we had such limited time, all we really got to see in Edinburgh was the castle.  It was gorgeous, but it was so so cold up on the hilltop.  After we finished at the castle, we walked around shopping and eventually Courtney and I went looking for the Disney Store.  It had closed.  Disappointment.  After a quick stop at the Hardrock Café, we went to the Elephant House.  

Edinburgh Castle!

Amazing views!

The Elephant House is where J.K. Rowling wrote some of the Harry Potter books!  There are photos of her writing there and in the bathrooms, there are fan messages dedicated to her all over the walls.  I wanted to write one from Courtney and me, but I forgot my pen! Oh well, another trip.  

Dedications!

My favorite!

The next morning, I left for the airport around 5 a.m. to catch my flight back to London.  The rest of the gang was taking a train later in the day.  But I had to go meet my parents!!

Too Busy...

…to think about us.  Well, I have been super busy these past few weeks, far too busy to think about basically anything.

Almost three weeks ago, Courtney’s family arrived in London!  They were over here for about 11 days, which kept us busy, busy, busy.  We dragged them all over London, from our favorite places to our favorite eateries J.

The first thing we did together was a “Courtney and Ellie Walking Tour.”  This consisted of us walking from their hotel, by Buckingham Palace, down the Mall, to Trafalgar Square, down towards Big Ben.  This was punctuated by numerous, and I mean NUMEROUS photo ops!  

One of the photo ops! Buckingham Palace!

The next day, Thursday, we went to see Jersey Boys.  I had seen this before, and was in love, so I was super excited to see it again.  It was fantastic.  By the end, I’m pretty sure everyone loved it almost as much as I do.

Friday, we went on a day trip to Stonehenge.  This is pretty easy to sum up.  We rode in a comfy bus for two hours, got out, looked at some rocks for 45 minutes, trooped back to the bus, and took another two hour bus ride back to London!

The camera was behaving that day!

Saturday, we got up pretty early and headed to Portobello Market.  On the way we stopped and had breakfast at Charlie’s.  It was pretty good!  At the market, we all agreed to split up, but Nesie, Del, Courtney, and I stuck pretty close together.  My find of the day was two matted pictures.  They will go perfectly in my new apartment back home! That afternoon, we toured Parliament.  Of course, I couldn’t take pictures inside, but I also couldn’t sit down.  Both of these things confused me.  First of all, the House of Commons and the House of Lords are shown all the time on television.  It isn’t some big secret what it looks like in there! Secondly, don’t put me in front of a chair just to tell me I can’t sit down.  Not cool.  To finish off our busy day, we went to Covent Garden to see all of the Christmas lights!

Parliament!

Oh London, learn how to spell!

The only picture I was allowed to take inside :(

Reindeer!

Christmas at Covent Garden!

Sunday, was Del’s birthday!  We began our day at the Churchill War Rooms.  These rooms were used by Churchill and the War Cabinet during World War II.  They are underground so as to protect the leaders from the threat of bombings.  As we were walking out of the Rooms, we happened to see a mini-parade.  We never figured out what it was for, but it was still cool!  We then headed to the London Eye.  Round 2 was amazing.  We went up right as the sun was going down, so we got to see a London sunset and then all of the lights of the city.  It was gorgeous!

blurry War Room 

Red Eye for Armistice Day! 

The Birthday Boy!

Monday, John, Tammy, Nesie, and Del went to Paris.  Tuesday, I had class all day, so I went to dinner with everyone that night before they left for Scotland on Wednesday!

She Was a Day Tripper...

…a one-way ticket, yeah.  Well, I was a day tripper, but fortunately I made it back to London!

Friday, I went on an all-day field trip to Cambridge!  My Art & Architecture class had an optional trip that was paid for by the school, so I definitely couldn’t pass that up. 

My friend, Kelly and I left school at 8:45 and headed to King’s Cross.  I was really excited to be leaving from there because of Harry Potter and Platform 9¾! The tribute was less than impressive, but I still want to go back and get my picture with it! We were supposed to meet our professor there at 9:25 under the clock tower.  Well, there was no clock tower.  And no David Brady.  Finally, he tracked us down and we caught the 9:53 train from Platform 10.  The closest I will ever get to 9¾!

We made it to Cambridge and walked a good mile into town, stopping every now and then to look at some sort of building.  We saw lots of cool things and walked around A LOT.  We kept doubling back and obnoxious things of the like.  The trip wasn't very well planned out, but it was still awesome.

Cambridge!

My favorite thing we saw was Kings College Chapel.  It was built under the reign of Henry the VII over 500 years ago.  What was most impressive was the stained glass.  It is original to the building.  It survived being smashed by the iconoclasts because it was a private chapel.  It was also taken out during World War II and stored safely far away from London.

Oh iPhone, you take such good photos...Kings College Chapel!

Look at that fan vaulting!

The gorgeous stained glass!

It was a memorable trip for many reasons, not the least of walking a good 5 miles, but it was still fun.  And free!

This is Halloween...

…Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween!  Well, it was certainly Halloween here in London last Wednesday!

Although, Halloween isn't as big of a deal here as it is in America, we here at Regent’s still celebrated!

The costume was quite the challenge.  I ended up going as a tourist!  Fanny pack, check.  Maps, check.  Disposable camera, check.  London garb, check!

Shelley and I!

The evening was pretty simple; we just went to the Student Bar.  We waited in line to get in for a good hour.  Then another half hour at the bar.  It was tiring! 

Ally and I in line...

We made it inside!

We danced, had a good time, ordered pizza, and called it a night!

Dancing...or something!

West End Girls...

…in a west end town.  Well, Courtney and I were West End girls last Monday. 

The West End of London is known as the theatre district.  Last week, we ventured there to see Les Mis!

Ever since we heard the movie was coming out, Courtney and I have wanted to see the musical version of Les Mis.  We figured a week night would be cheaper, so we went last Monday! 

We arrived really early to the Queen’s Theatre, and were finally let inside about half an hour before the show started!  We were some of the first people in, and instead of being led to our seats; we got to sit in a cool little bar area until the theater/tre was ready!  Once we were let in, we realized the truest meaning of you get what you pay for.  We were in the second row from the top and could barely see the stage, but it ended up being fine!

Quite the view!

The musical was excellent!  The entire time, we were trying to figure out who was played by whom in the movie!  By the end, we had it pretty well figured out.

It was really nice to experience the theatre here in London, but it did make me miss the Fox a little bit!