london: the green eyes of jealousy...

This next blog post has the potential to make you feel very jealous. I am sorry if this happens to you, for it is not my intention. Just wanted to say that first out. Okay, here we go. This past weekend I got to go to London, England. Yep, theee London. I was rather excited for this trip because of the friends that I would see there. The weekend was full of adventure and excitement. 

I have only been to London once in my previous times of traveling. And, of course, when I say only once some people might say that that is lucky in itself. But alas, the last time I was in London I was running through the airport with a swarm of people in yellow shirts, getting ready to board a plane to Hungary to participate in an English Camp. I remember enjoying a cup of coffee with my dear friend, Marcie Brinkman, as we waited for our flight. So, although I have physically been in London before, I have never walked around the city and enjoyed the sites that London has to offer. 

Here are some of my thoughts on my journey through London.

Some people take tourist to it's maximum form. They make it into a work of art. They complete the stereotype. Camera around their neck, fanny pack, hat, big sunglasses, awkward lounging button-up shirts, and of course socks with sandals. If you think I am one of those types of tourist, you are dead wrong. Although I would find it incredibly entertaining, I would never be able to walk around London looking like a tourist, at least one like that. 

Even though I did not want to look like the typical tourist, there is really no way to deny that you are a tourist if you have a camera and you are at the beautiful landmarks in London. I still tried to remain undercover in my tourist ways. Working backwards in my tourist-y ways. I went with my friend Rachel, and the night we were going to get onto the train, we wanted to make sure to make it to the lovely Tower Bridge in London. We talked to some of the local students and they said that the Tower Bridge was much more beautiful than the London Bridge, especially at night. So we made that a stop. 

tower bridge in London...

One stop that I never intended on making was the stop to Hillsong Church. I suppose it wasn't planned because truthfully I did not even know that it existed. Hillsong Church was absolutely gorgeous and wonderful. We went on a day of worship, and lucky for me one of my favorite worship leaders (ever) was leading worship there that day. Matt Redman was leading worship and it was fantastic. His song 10,000 words was played, and it's one of my favorites. (Here is a corny video with the song and a little background for it.)

Hillsong Church...balcony seats...

The London Bridge and Hillsong church were events on Sunday, but before church, Rachel, Patsy, and I set out on an adventure all by ourselves in London. I was so proud of our grown-up activities like buying tickets and riding the tube by ourselves. We took the tube to St. John's Wood where right down the street we would find my favorite part of the weekend. Remember a few blogs back when I told you about my love for the Beatles? Well, I still love them, and it just so happens they enjoyed their time in London as well. If you are a Beatles fan like me, then you probably know where this is going. We woke up early on Sunday morning and went to theeee Abbey Road. Ahh! It was fantastic. Usually this street is packed with the typical tourist, but my friends and I decided to be extreme and go early. We were so lucky to find barely anyone there. I decided that I could never recreate the album cover that the Beatles had for Abbey Road, and going there was good enough. It was seriously wonderful. I was pleased to get a few pictures of the street with no people walking on it. 

Abbey Road and I...

straight up Abbey Road...seriously?
no tourist? wonderful...

Okay done with my favorite part and onto backtracking to Saturday. We got to do something else really wonderful on Saturday. This is another part where you might find yourself getting a bit jealous. Please, restrain yourself. We got to see Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, and the various Parliament buildings. 

Big Ben...

Cool right? Oh, were you expecting something better? Okay, there may have been something else really cool that day. Let's see. We woke up at a decent time and ate breakfast. But that is normal. We walked uptown and waited in line. That doesn't seem to out of the ordinary. We bought tickets. Oh- there it is. Tickets to what? Not for the tube or for a bus. We bought tickets to Wicked! We stood in line in front of the theatre and bought tickets for that night's showing of Wicked. I was literally giddy bouncing with excitement. Since we are college students, studying abroad, of course we bought the cheapest tickets available. We didn't care where the seats were, we just wanted to go. Well a few hours before the performance I looked at the tickets, and they said Row A, Seat 12. Hmm...those don't sound too bad. Maybe we are on the first level of the balcony or in the back of the ground floor. It didn't even register that we could have gotten good seats. Well, turns out we were in the front row! Apparently, people do not like the front row, because you can't always see the back corners of the stage. That is ridiculous I say. We were front row and we could see the sweat on the faces of the monkey's, we could see the orchestra pit and the conductor, we could see everything. It was absolutely fantastic. I cried. Yes, I cried it was so good. And it was amusing that the English actors were trying to have an American accent. They were quite terrible at it, if you were wondering. 

Patsy, Rachel, Me, and Justine
holding our Wicked tickets...

I had a simply lovely time in London, and I even taught my fellow classmates from Central, studying in the London program, how to make a proper cup of English tea. They loved it, of course. 

Rachel and I on Tower Bridge...

I suppose this is the end of this post.

...in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make...