London Bridge is Falling Down?

Ever since Princess Diana died, I have been somewhat obsessed with British Royalty and the city of London. I used to cut out pictures of her from the newspaper and admire all of her clothing and jewelry. Then, after the Royal Wedding this past year, I just knew that I had to visit London. Who knew that less then one year later my dream would come true!

Although I have always wanted to visit London, I never imagined my trip would be as memorable as it was. The University of Oklahoma has an exchange program with the University of Reading, which is located just outside London. Last year, I became close friends with eight exchange students from Reading. My trip to London presented the prefect opportunity to catch up with all my UK friends and see where they go to school. Needless to say, they made my trip to London one for the record books!!

I am LOVING all the stamps in my passport!

I arrived in London late Thursday evening and took a train to Reading where I spent the night with one of my good friends, Katie. She was an extremely hospitable hostess (case in point, she offered me goodies from their chocolate bin! She even introduced me to English Cadbury eggs - it was definitely love at first taste). On Friday, I took a day trip to Oxford where I was able to see a small portion of the University of Oxford and window shop down the two main streets of the city. The unfortunate part about the University of Oxford is that most of the buildings are behind locked gates so only students can enter. So, while I was not able to see most of the university, I was still able to view a few buildings behind metal gates or across random courtyards.

Random building on the University of
Oxford Campus

A sign that should be very much appreciated by my
scientifically inclined friends.

No city is complete without a Shoe Lane! 

Random courtyard on the University of Oxford campus.

Radcliffe Camera - Finished in 1749, this building once
housed the science library at Oxford.

Although my time in Oxford was relatively drama free, I did have one rather humorous event take place. During the week prior to my trip, I had been craving an old fashion American milkshake. I saw this sign on a restaurant for a Banana, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, something-or-other milkshake. It sounded like the perfect solution to my random craving. So, I excitedly went inside, sat down, and ordered my milkshake. When the waitress came back, I immediately noticed a few peculiarities about the shake. First off, the liquid inside seemed too sloshy to be the traditional ice cream consistency. Secondly, the glass was warm to the touch. Apparently, that particular restaurant decided to call warm, frothy, flavored milk a milkshake. And, just like that, all my hopes for filling that special corner of my belly set aside specifically for a milkshake were shattered.

The warm, nasty milk that dared to call itself
a milkshake.

That evening, my UK friends took me to their favorite local pizza place. Katie had been raving about these things called Dough Balls all week, so I knew it was a necessity to order them. They turned out to be miniature rolls, similar in taste to the rolls at Bertucci's but much smaller in size. Afterwards, we went to an English bar where the boys assisted me in picking out a traditional English beer.

On Saturday, I was given a personalized tour of all the famous London landmarks by my friends from Reading. Each one of my friends knew something different about every monument, building, and landmark, so between all of them, my head was swarming with fantastic London trivia by the end of the day!! Rather then trying to explain each place in words, I'm going to lead you on a picture tour of my whirlwind day in London. I hope you enjoy!

A trip to London is only complete after a ride (or two
or three) on the Tube!

Piccadilly Circus - London's version of Time Square

M&M world!! I really wanted to take a picture
with the green M&M, but you were not
allowed to touch them. How lame.

National Gallery, London

Official Countdown to the 2012 London
Olympics! A few of my UK friends actually
have tickets to attend some of the events. 

My UK friends and me (minus Lois) infront of the National
Gallery. Unfortunately, we were all facing the glaring sun
when this picture was taken.

As we were walking down The Mall (aka the road leading
from Buckingham Palace to the Admiralty Arch), we started
to hear music coming from somewhere in the distance.
After a few minutes, we saw a procession of musicians
and soldiers heading down the road. We think it was the
ceremonial changing of the guards.  

My seven tour guides and me in front of Buckingham Palace. 

Buckingham Palace! Unfortunately, the Queen was not
home. After a quick Google search, we learned that when
the Queen is home, the Royal Standard will fly overhead
 instead of the UK flag.

The London Eye - This London landmark was opened on
December 31, 1999 in honor of the New Millenium.

Big Ben and The Palace of Westminster (House of
Parliament) - One thing I learned on this trip was that Big
Ben is the name of the bell inside the clock tower, not the
name of the clock tower itself. 

Westminster Abbey

Occupy London

St. Paul's Cathedral - A Church of England
cathedral

Millenium Bridge - As its name might suggest, this bridge
was built as a dedication to the New Millenium. This bridge
has been nicknamed the "Wobbly Bridge" because two
days after it opened, the bridge began to sway and move.
Thus, the bridge was quickly closed for two years to complete
the necessary repairs. 

Replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre - According to one
of my tour guides, the original theatre was constructed out of
wood stolen from another theatre. 

Tower Bridge - There is a common misconception that the
Tower Bridge is the bridge referred to in the Children's
Song "London Bridge is Falling Down." But, in fact, the
bridge referred to in that song is a much simpler bridge
located further down the River Thames.

After lunch, our group met up with the three OU
exchange students currently studying in Reading.

London Tower - This historic castle was once used as a
prison but is now home to the Crown Jewels. 

A trip to London would not be complete
without a visit to Harry Potter's Platform
9 3/4! This was actually a rather
disappointing tourist trap because the
Platform was positioned in the corner of a
construction zone rather then between
Platforms 9 & 10.

The Musical Lovers of the group! On Saturday night, some of
us went and saw "Shrek the Musical." It was super cute and
super cheesy. There were these really weird women sitting
in front of us who were obsessed with the bald man in front of
 them. They kept taking pictures of his head on their phone and
sending them to their friends.

In case you couldn't tell from all my pictures, I had a blast in London. It was so much fun walking around the city with my friends from Reading (we missed you Lois!). I really enjoyed catching up with them, hearing how their last semester was going, and finding out what their potential plans were for after graduation! A big shout out to Katie, Becky, Jenni, Madi, Lois, James P, James R, and Will for making my trip such a big success! Also, I would like to curse each and every one of you who gave me the packages of English Biscuits. I have officially eaten way too many biscuits in very small timeframe :D. They're just so good! It's impossible to stop!

As an added bonus, when I returned home to Hamburg, I was greeted with a snow covered city. Since then, the weather has been dreadfully cold, and I'm pretty sure my newly rekindled sore throat is not appreciating the frigid air. Tschüss!

A snow covered Hamburg