Living in Utah...Dreaming of the World: Quickie

Alright - today's post has to be a quickie, because I still have a paper to write that's due tomorrow. I've been trying to write it for the past few hours, but I keep getting distracted...figures. I hate writing papers. Just ask Becca: she'll attest to my incredibly shortened attention span whenever I try to type.

Today's itinerary consisted primarily of museums. As a group, we went to the Museum of London and then to the Banqueting House. In between we had some time to go get lunch and explore.

I left about an hour early for our first museum and meandered through Hyde park on my way to a tube stop. It's SO pretty, and it's really big. I saw just one tiny little part of it: part of the serpentine (a big lake in the middle of the park), the Prince Albert Memorial, and the Peter Pan statue. There were mature trees, flower gardens, and statues everywhere. Oh ya, and DOGS. Dogs up the wazoo. Something about Londoners and dogs...I think they all have at least one. It's kinda funny, actually. Random side note - the couple of miniature schnauzers I saw didn't have their tails clipped, which looked funny to me because I'm not used to seeing tails on schnauzers.

After I got through the park, I headed to the museum. I've decided that I'm not much of a museum person, I think. I mean, it's interesting, and there's a lot to learn, but I jut get bored really quickly. I did listen to one of the museum guides talk about the Great Fire of 1666 for about 20 minutes, and that was interesting. I also learned that the original Roman settlement Londinium was abandoned in the early ADs and then re-populated later when new people came in and decided it was a good place for a city. Another interesting fact? London had a huge civil war too, just like us. Only theirs wasn't over slavery: it was over whether the King or Parliament should rule. The 9-year war ended with a victory for the Parlimentarians, and they topped it all off by beheading the King (in the Banqueting Hall of Whitehall Palace, which I visited today). Ironically enough, when the leader of the Parlimentarian movement died a few years later, and Parliament had been re-elected, the new Parliament decided to reinstate the monarchy. So much for the point of THAT civil war, right?

After the museum, I ate out for the first time in London. I just went to a little cafe and got a salad for 3 1/2 pounds - it was ok, but nothing spectacular. Oh well. It was food, and I was STARVING.

Then I went to the Banqueting House, which is exactly what it sounds like. A humoungous hall built solely for the purpose of hosting huge banquets, parties, and royal receptions. It was part of Whitehall palace until said palace burned down (except for this hall). The paintings on the ceiling are really pretty - I wish I could have taken some good pictures of it, but as it turns out, it's really hard to take good pictures of gigantic paintings that are affixed to the ceiling. :P

Random fact about London: there are absolutely no garbage cans anywhere. Not on the streets, in the park, in the underground stations, etc. In private buildings or museums, yes. But outdoors? No way. Me and Annalee (the girl I went to lunch with) spent about a half hour of our journey from lunch to the Banqueting House keeping our eyes peeled for one, and could not figure out why there wasn't one anywhere. Well, we finally arrived at our destination (rubbish still in hand) and she decided to ask the two policemen standing on the opposite street corner. Turns out, there really aren't any. We're not just blind. Why? Because people but bombs in them. Ummm...ok. What I can't figure out is how London is such a litter-free city, when there aren't rubbish bins anywhere! Even on the tube, it's hard to find litter anywhere, let alone the pristine sidewalks and parks. It makes no sense to me. *sigh* oh well. Good for them, that they've figured out the magic trick to make people not litter and simultaneously not have garbage cans on every street corner.

Second random note: I think I mentioned earlier that artificial colors/flavors/etc are hard to find here? Well, it's really true. I'm constantly amazed at the all-natural-ness of ALL the food here. I just have to talk about it again for a moment. Doritos? All-natural (I only saw three flavors though: plain, and the equivalents of nacho cheese and cool ranch). Skittles? All natural (they actually have fruit juice in them to make the fruit flavors). Bulk candy, like jelly beans, licorice, chocolate-covered stuff, lemon drops, etc? Totally all-natural. It makes me SO HAPPY!!! I just wish I could bring back the whole stores for my anti-artificial family! Oh and PS, I found the yummiest gluten-free crackers ever today. They aren't rice crackers, which thrills me. They actually almost taste like normal crackers (at least, like I remember normal crackers tasting, which is probably not a very accurate scale).

Ok, really, I need to write that dumb paper. Grr! (It's 7 hours later here than in Rexburg: that means it's currently 10:17pm here, and I still haven't written it. Although I think I have my thesis topic.)

I love you all so much! Write back! Cheers!

One of the many views from Trafalgar Square

Sigh... I LOVE English gardens. And they're so hard to capture on camera.

My roommates and me at the Banqueting House posing like we wanna be in America's Next Top Model. Miriam's in the blue scarf, Courtney's in the purple shirt, and Melissa's in the pink scarf.