a step through history.

This morning started very similar to yesterday. I think our beds are too comfy, because we like them A LOT, and have a very difficult time getting up to go running.

outside the british library- i loved this quote. yay team.

but we spent our morning at the british library. now one might think "whats so special about a library, we have those in the states" but this library had a special collection room which was absolutely amazing. i think i got teary-eyed at one point. yes i admit, i cry easily and at silly things, but looking at one of the first gutenberg bibles and thinking of what happened because of that book and the printing press brought a tear to my eye.

the british library is just this small brick looking building. you would never think it held such amazing treasures.

so i have this little london moleskin book which has maps in it and places to write your thoughts and such, as well as write down places to eat and such.  way cool. but i have yet to use it for anything besides the maps and holding my tickets from shows. but today that changed as i made a list of some of the amazing things i saw at the library. to name a few, jane austen's writing desk and a collection of short stories she wrote to entertain her family, however it was the original copy, her handwriting and all. there was also handel's messiah as well as the original liberatto. motzart's marriage contract. the magna carta. a letter charles darwin wrote. part of st. john's gospel written on papyrus from the third century. and then there was the beatles collection. oh yes a whole display for the beatles. it was wonderful. they had old pieces of paper that they had jotted down the lyrics to songs on. one was on the back of a birthday card, another on the back of an envelope. it was so amazing to see, and was so amazing that someone had saved them.


we then made our way to the gift shop. oh how i love gift shops, and there was this adorable children's book called "a walk through london" or something like that and i was sooo tempted to get it because it highlights all the major things of london in a cute little story with great illustrations. but alas i restrained myself, because i have been thinking about this ring i saw at portobello road and i want to save my money so i can get it. i figure if it is 4 days later and im still thinking about it, it would be a good buy.

cali perusing in the gift shop

trying to be artsy and show the beauty of the books. key word. trying.

after that we headed over to Trafalgar Square. It was beautiful and reminded me of a sterotypical place in europe. it was perfect. I sat on the fountain and wrote a postcard to my parents (sorry to spoil the surprise mom), threw a coin into the fountain, and then played the word association game with some people in the group and then we climbed on the statue and took pictures. it was perfect, and was beautiful weather. we really have been so lucky that we havent had much rain and everyday has been perfect weather.

trafalgar square felt so much like europe. there were pigeons and tons of people sitting on the steps, and was surrounded by old building and fountains. i loved it. i could have sat on the edge of the fountain watching people all day long.

the olympics are coming to london! woowhoo!

the beautiful monument in trafalgar square- you can see this in the  HP clip at the end of the blog.

make a wish.

on the monument- oh so touristy. it was scary climbing up there though. cali was grand and gave me a boost and then i pulled her up. what a good team. dont worry i wasnt like flynn rider and run the other way because my hands were already full with the stolen tiara. oh tangled how i love you.

me and the other elly. we are roommates. its confusing. but i love her lots and lots, so i guess i can share my name with her.

we then went into the national portrait gallery, however, i started feeling sick and cali was a gem and came back to the flats with me. it was free, and we realized we have another five weeks that we can go back, and that we could then get some of the homework that is due tomorrow done before going to the globe. however, it turned more into checking email and responding to familia and such. and then nap time. which just sort of happened when we turned off the lights and set the alarm to read "school for scandal"- whoops. but it was the most amazing nap ever and i didnt want to get out of bed.

then off to the globe to see all's well. the walk over was absolutely wonderful. we had an amazing view of st. pauls cathedral, and walked over a pretty bridge with a beautiful view of the thames and got ice cream that was delicious from an ice cream truck. I  was also very grateful for the london moleskin again because it has maps which makes finding things so much easier. but we got there with time to spare before a lecture we went to before the show.

cali on the beautiful thames river. it was so beautiful with the view of st pauls cathedral in the background, and the cobblestone pathway.

the ice cream was soo delicious, i dont know what America is thinking but the europeans know how to do soft serve, we should get the recipe. but seriously all the sweets here are so much better. its a good thing we do so much walking.

the amazing ice cream truck. we couldnt resist. however later while at the globe we were wishing we had saved out two pounds to get hot chocolate instead of ice cream because it was so cold.

before the show, a cute british couple took the picture for us. they were adorable and were actually in the lecture with us. 

shakespeare's globe.

the lecture was good, and gave a lot of good insights into the show. the scholar that gave it focused on some things we hadnt talked about in class so that was interesting. the show itself was grand! but really it was amazing! the actors did a superb job..their timing was perfect and the show was hysterical. it was a little chilly, and we had a blocked view, but we got to sit which was so nice and it was all part of the experience. i sat next to one of our directors and he was so kind and shared his blanket with me. they take such good care of us. unfortunately i am catching a cold so i was sniffily and sneezy...i felt bad for the people next to me.

happy globing. unfortunately this was not my view, rather move farther to the left and add a wood post and then you have my view. i was only sad that we couldnt see the actors facial expressions, but the show was still wonderful from there, and i was grateful to be on the back row so i had a wall to lean against and didnt have to be a groundling and stand the whole time.

on the way home though we walked back over the footbridge that they show in the 6th harry potter...watch here.

harry potter clip

its a little blurry, but you get the point.

ps im amazed at how hight the "opportunity cost" of writing this blog is. and considering the other thing i could be doing with that time it would seem advantagis of me to not write this. however, when thinking about it it actually saves me time because it allows me to journal and email family all at the same time. so in fact the opportunity cost is less blogging than it would be to have the same effect by other means.