Beauty.

I just have to rant here, right now, about the utter beauty of this place. And no, I don't just mean the parks and architecture. If you were wondering where all the beautiful males have gone, they're here- in London. So. Many. Beautiful. Males. Why do I not live here? Oh and did I mention the immense wealth?! I poop myself everytime I see an Aston Martin in Canada, which has been probably 2 times in my entire life. Here? THEY ARE EVERYWHERE. Mercedes, BMW's, Roll's Royce. ASTON ASTON MARTINNNN! My soul rejoices a little bit every time I see a car. I am surrounded by beauty here- and I LOVE IT. And the males! Hoooou! Whoa!

Okay :) done now.

If Jesus was born holy, James Bond was born stealthy...

Oh hi everyone. This is Jess this time, coming to you from London! We have had the most amazing past two days- although I feel everything in London is amazing. We have done so many things, and the longer we're here the more I absolutely love this place. Anyhow. Yesterday we did Westminster Abbey. And no, I did not spontaneously combust upon entering a church- lucky me! The building was absolutely incredible, I couldn't believe it. The architecture, not to mention it was the place where the royal wedding took place (EEE!). It's this massive, imposing building with a gothic design, so much gold, and over 1,000 bodies buried under the floor. Most incredibly, it was the burial sight for Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Mary I, both daughters of King Henry VIII. This held particular meaning for Robyn and I, as we had read so much on the life of the Tudor family. To stand over where the actual bones lay underneath of their tombs was so surreal- an incredible thought. Strangely enough, and very significant to me, Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin were also encased in Westminster. However, Darwin's tomb was incredibly simple, hardly recognizable and difficult to find (not overly surprising, seeing as he was the founder of evolution, quote contrary to Catholic belief). Nonetheless, very exciting for me. We also did St. Paul's that day, which was equally amazing. It really displayed to me the great wealth that both churches have amassed (it is baffling, really). Absolutely astounding. Later, we actually cane upon a plaque on Fleet Street commemorating the area inbetween the barber shop of Sweeney Todd and pie shop of Mrs. Lovett, who murdered customers wanting their hair cut and baking them into the meat pies. Robyn and I were very excited about this. Can't wait to post pictures upon our return home! Today was another eventful day- Hampton court, one of the most important palaces of Henry VIII. we were walking on the sane cobbled courtyards as the Tudors once did. I can honestly say that we are both loving all of the history that surrounds us here. I am absolutely in love with this city! This makes my hope for one day attending Oxford university all the more exciting, and something I can work towards. We have tickets for Les Miserables tonight, and we are very excited to go! Les Miserables in London, how glorious! Needless to say, another fantastic two days in this amazing place. Blog again soon! Keep calm, and carry on ;) wheu!

Busy as bees!

Oh hey Canada!:) I would just like to brag for a moment-not only because we are in Europe but because Europe has no Mosquitos!! Heheh see I'm still funny from across the pond. Anyways! No sightings of the queen recently- I'm sure she is busy and can't see her two favorite Canadians, but we have been sight seeing as of late. Two days ago we went to Kensington palace- which was not what we expected but still gorgeous. It was almost like a weird haunted house/murder mystery? Vivienne Westwood designed it if that helps you picture what it was like, but this was a twist on the usual palace. After that we went for a walk through Hyde park, saw the princess dianna memorial fountain and had some tea at a cafe in the park. We then went to apsley house, which was the duke of wellington's residence for basically ever. Very very interesting. Learned a lot, he was kind of a big deal. Well wellington boots i'm sure were named after him so.. But he won a lot of battles mainly against napoleon. So Brits are a fan of him for sure. He also had a huge collection of dining plates and art which was nice, we had an audio guide, listened to everything and probably took two hours just learning!
We then went up onto the Wellington arch, which had an amazing view of constitution hill (the road to buckingham palace that wills and kate drove down for their wedding- well the opposite end of it either way a goreous drive/walk lined with trees. Then we went for our usual walk down past buckingham palace, and visited the queen's gallery and the royal news which were kind of disappointing because they didn't have the carriage that wills and Kate drove in, or the car Kate drove to the wedding. And it only had 5 horses on display. Crazy queen. But god bless her. And here comes the rant. Platform 9 3/4 hmmm let's see the movie made gow many billions, we show up expecting magic and the display is outside. A plastic brick wall and a shopping cart. Ummmmmm good work? Kings gate is such a beautiful train station and you can see where the movie was probably filmed and they had to put up a plastic version of it outside? Not impressed London. And anywho this was in northern soho, super sketchy so we ran back to our rich district of kensington. We saw a glimps of the gross side of London and didn't like it. Yes mom I can picture you just shaking your head at this but oh well. I like being sheltered and surrounded by pretty things. One day I too will realize how dumb I sound here but oh well. Yesterday we went to Jew gardens, honestly it would have been £14 if we didn't have our London passes and you can see better gardens in Hyde park for free. And I got a sunburn so that didn't add to my happiness. But today we went to the tower of London and it was just eerie. The history of that place was weird. We went to the exact spot Anne Boleyn was executed. Watching the tutors then going to the tower just made it so much better- I cannot wait for Hampton court. There was a lot of armory/defense stuff in the tower which just made me think of how much Kris is going to love it. It was honestly a great experience, it brought to life the history of the castle. And then we went for a walk and ran into downing street-so so heavily guarded I thought they were protecting the offspring of Jesus or something. But cool-the government buildings made me want to wok in London-so pretty. And we tried to hit up Clarence house but yet again baby Jesus was being protected. So no prince sightings yet- there is still hope though!! Will update soon- bye bye for now.

The day we saw the Queen;

Crowds at Buckingham Palace

The Queen

Alright story time. Today we had an amazing day. We decided to check out London, so we went off for a walk around 10, had a breakfast at a cute cafe and decided to check out buckingham palace. As we enter st. James park we are basically star struck by the scenery- mainly because we both had watched the royal wedding and the lane in which they drove down we were currently walking down. Super super gorgeous. As we get closer to buckingham palace, we notice a huge crowd of people and yes mom you always tolde to avoid huge crowds but I had to see what was up. There was probably 1000 people there, people everywhere. So we approach the gates and realize it was time for the changing of the guards! So we watch the parade, which didn't come near us and then nothing else really happened until we saw police officers on motorbikes escorting this car, literally 5 feet in front of us, and as I gets closer we see the Elizabeth is in the back seat. HOW LUCKY ARE WE. First full day in London and we see the queen of England. And yes I got a photo and if you zoom you can make out that it is actually her.
And that was just the start of the day.
After we saw the queen we figure what else could happen so we leave and walk around the palace, attempting to find westminister abbey. This again takes us around 30 minutes but we eventually find it and it was breathtaking. What else was amazing was the fact that big ben and the house of parliament was basically right across the street so we went to see that, took a ton of photos, and crossed the bridge and saw the London eye. It is the cutesy little walk alon the Thames, entertainers and food carts everywhere it was quite the dreck. We continue down and came across a collection of adorable parks, on the Victoria district, and let me tell you London has some amazing architecture new and old. I forgot my camera cord but when I get back I'll post what we all saw. So we cross the millennium bridge, run into the globe theatre, and the Tate modern museum, and continue to walk down the jubilee greenway. We take a quick tour of the clink prison, get a Starbucks, and then decided we are already this far why not go to the tower bridge. So we walk there and walk past the tower of London and then make our way home. Obviously this whole little dreck was full of adventure and we have tons of stories but we don't have the time or space to tell you. But look on a map of London, we walked from Kensington gardens to the tower of London and back. Literally across the city. Exhaustion would be the right word here.

We are here!

Hello people of Canada! We have arrived in London and it is gorgeous. Or maybe its where we are staying.. it is literally half a block away from hyde park and a block away from royal albert hall. We haven't seen a ford, a truck or any car built before 2005. We have seen 3 aston martin's in the past 2 hours and it seems everyone here is stupid rich. No I have not seen wills yet, but we just had our first fish and chip experience and it was amazing. You haven't had fish and chips like they make here, I guarentee it, well unless you are Uncle Roy and our ontario family. It was actually a whole fish (gutted of course) beer battered and deep fried. It still had it's skin on, so so so good. And they have so many different types of cider I feel there is a possibility I will become an alcoholic for this week by just drinking cider. We had a pear cider with our fish and chips tonight. Every building here has so much charm- I am in love with how old and amazing the buildings are. Our hostel is a town house, will put up photos when we get home but it has 20 foot ceilings, and is just oozing with character. I am not excited to sleep with a room full of other people, they are having a pub crawl tonight which we will not be attending because we havent slept in over 24 hours, and are already feeling loopy after a pint of cider so yes it is 5 pm here and we are debating on whether or not to go to sleep. Tomorrow we want to check out hyde park and buckingham palace, hopefully hit on prince harry but who knows. we have to find platform 9 3/4 as well. Ah my mind is done trying to form sentinces I NEED SLEEP. anywho we are alive and PS our iphones dont work over here so we will not be as in touch as we thought.
much love,
robyn and jess