I ♥ London!
Two weekends were just not enough.
Pictures below are from both trips.
Some are my pictures, most are Sam and Riley's.
Best Fish and Chips in Town
Looks like Paris ♥♥♥
GRINGOTTS (OR the building it was modeled after)
Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince anyone??
Didn't know then I'd be spending many-a-hours here.
Don't worry, not another knee injury. I accompanied a very sick classmate.
While in the tube station, in the ambulance, in the hospital halls, in the emergency room and in our room I asked (more like interrogated) every health care worker about their public system.
Does it work?
Are you losing quality of care?
How can med students pay for school?
yata yata yata
And they all love it. Yes, love it. If you have questions, come talk to me. But in the end, what one nurse said to me stuck out most.
"Quality of care depends 0% on what system you have in place and 100% on who is giving the care."
The architecture alone draws me back to London. The mix of old and new is more exciting than any other European city I have been to. Including Paris! Don't get me wrong, Paris has my heart but London's architecture stole that award.
Just west of the London Eye is THE BEST freshly made donuts. 4 trips, still want more.
London's GAF attack:
Going through one of London's most populated tube stations we encountered a mass argument.
Details: a lady face-plants on the escalator... they ALL stop. People are confused. No one is leaving the platform, but more people keep coming from the tube. Finally First-Aid people come. Tensions rising.
At one point someone yells out, then another retorts with "SHUT UP"
Things got crazy.
Pointing, cussing, screaming, more pointing...
We had a good time.
It was Remembrance day. With any donation you could wear one of these cute little poppies on your coat to honor the troops. Outside of Westminster Abbey there was a nice memorial set up with a little cross & poppy for every remembered soldier.
OHMYGOSH OHMYGOSH OHMYGOSH
So this ISN'T candid. But the cast was just coming out of the back door right then.
Marius... "a heart full of love" indeed
Its him...
the amazing...
talented...
best Jean Valjean ever...
Alfie Boe.
I am including every picture of this moment.
DYING.
Yes I cried. He is a big deal alright?
Donors. Or in London--kebabs.
Nostalgia sets in.
Here's one for the beloved Timpview-Meissen exchange students
One for Cade...
and one for Collin.
The Tate Modern:
My aunt named her son after this museum and rightfully so, it was so good. I used up all of my "museum time" I allotted for myself at the Tate Modern and I don't regret it at all. Inside an old Factory the museum (in the words of Daryl) "uses space so effectively." It really is a great place to be. My favorite part(s): The current exhibitions.
Gerhard Richter: Panorama
Taryn Simon: A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters
If I may, I would recommend you to leave this silly blog right now and go to:
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/
Check them out. So interesting, intellectually stimulating and of course, creative.
The robbed, yet still happy girls and the investigating (yet not really on-task) police men.
The Email:
Bonjour
I guess this is more of a London update...
London was so much fun! It seems like its a little more contemporary than Paris, but if my program director heard me say that he would disagree! But I really do feel like London has a much younger feel to it. Which was great.
Top five favorite things in London:
The SHOWS: I saw Phantom of the Opera, LES MISERABLES, and Jersey Boys. All were fabulous. Les Mis was my favorite of course. The revolving stage floor was really dynamic, the entire cast was very talented, and I MET ALFIE BOE. Seriously I was dying on the inside, but I think I held it together adequately while we were briefly talking. Pictures to come. And Marius was very handsome and very pleasant! Haha meeting the cast was so cool. Jersey Boys was great, a lot of fun! It swears a lot though, so if you are sensitive to swearing I would not recommend it. Otherwise the music was excellent and we couldn't help but dance the entire way home!
The Borough market: Goes every Thurs-Sat and local farmers come sell their food. Produce, meat, fish, cheese, balsamic vinegar, bread, sausages, pate, olive oil, granola... everything is there. They even sell burgers, soup, Thai, sandwiches, smooties, juice... it was so good. And everyone was eager to give out samples so naturally we were always full when we left. If I lived anywhere near London I would spend every day at the Borough that I could.
The double decker bus tour: GREAT way to see the city and it was so fun! The tour guides were hilarious, the weather was nice, views were great and it was a perfect way to be better acquainted with city and to figure out where you are. I seriously loved it, all the girls did too. I would highly recommend it.
The architecture: I couldn't decide whether I liked the downtown area with the fun streets or the area right along the banks better. So I am combining the two in the form of architecture being one of my favorite things. The buildings are very interesting, I think once again, more contemporary than Paris. The juxtaposition of old and new is really charming and very noticable. I love the classic English architecture style and when new modern buildings are set right up next to them it oddly compliments the two.
Fun things that are worth noting:
First weekend I made a friend, Emily who is from Australia. She was staying in our room in the hostel and slept on the same bunkbed as me. She is traveling completely on her own for three months and finishes up about the same time I do. Really nice, pretty shy and had a lot of fun stories.
Fish and chips are really good, but super greasy if you don't know where to find them.
Donor Kebabs are good all the time, even when they are greasy.
I got to go to the Hospital right along the Thames (one of the girls in the group got really sick in transit on the metro, so I stayed with her while the group went on... the workers at the metro station were super kind, but when she kept throwing up they called an ambulance and took us to the hospital). I asked almost every healthcare worker if they liked the public healthcare system and every single one of them was in favor of it and didn't think there is any shortage of doctors or loss of quality of service. Really interesting.
British humor is hilarious, and the English are VERY nice and like to have a good time.
This isn't really fun, but the other room of girls got broken into and a bunch of valuables were stole (computer, couple ipods, backpacks etc) Luckily Daryl had all of our Passports locked up but we THINK it was an inside job. Couple arrows point that way. There is an investigation going and it looks like insurance can cover lots of the items.
Changing of the guard was really funny! Looked like they were throwing tantrums. Then they played a Les Mis medley. I promise I'm not THAT obsessed with Les Mis, it just came up a lot on our trip :)
The Tate Modern was SO GOOD. I stayed way longer than I should have (but that is only 3 hours) but I couldn't get myself to leave. Went to two exhibitions, if you havn't heard of these people look them up! Both are so talented and really creative. Taryn Simon, and Gerard Richter. I had to pay for Richter's but it was worth it. I could go on for pages about the two so I am going to stop now and just suggest you look them up.
Anyway I really enjoyed London. Already want to go back! What a fun place.
It is nice to be back in Paris. I am so happy I am living here, and still have (only) two weeks to get everything I need to get done! School, more museums, couple parks, some shopping, more food testing... the list goes on.
AND HAPPY I AM AN AUNT! Its all I have been thinking about! My last skype session with Parker and the family was the best, he looked so adorable and I can't wait to meet him. Already love him a lot. And I am so happy that everything went so smoothly. I have said this a couple times before but its incredible to me that the birth was almost flawless and just three months ago we thought he would be coming any second. Anyway you guys better soak him up now because when I come home I am totally hogging him.
Even though its near torturous to get emails about Thanksgiving plans... I am craving stuffing so bad right now... my Thanksgiving is actually looking good! I am going to go down to the Loire Valley with Courtney to meet her friend from Provo! She is a couple years older than us and Courtney and I friends with her little brother. Anyway she invited us down, its a two hour train ride and we will probably to see a couple castles too! I am really excited, even though it probably won't be a very nice dinner. Its the thought that counts! That isn't this next coming weekend but the one after that and its our LAST ONE. Weird. I'd be really, really sad about it if I didn't miss you guys so much and if there wasn't a cute baby boy waiting too.
Love you all as always, thinking of you often and keeping you in my prayers.
Send me your updates!
avec amour
Madeline
