Crossing the Pond!

So much has been going on lately. I feel like I have done just about everything I wanted to do in London. Life is going a hundred miles an hour (a little faster than normal) and I am loving it.

Thursday I got to see the Tower of London and visit the Crown Jewels. We crossed the Tower Bridge and walked the Jubilee Walkway towards Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. Along the way we ate, visited several Museums (you probably don't care much for), and hit up St. Paul's Cathedral. St. Paul's was amazing. One of my favorite things thus far. It was an amazing Cathedral where we climbed 576 stairs (yes I counted) up to the top of the Dome to overlook this city. It was so pretty. It was amazing to see how ornate and gaudy it was. Simply amazing. The most amazing part was in the back of the Cathedral behind the aisle that Princess Diana and Prince Charles walked down when they got married in 1981 were 3 stain glass windows. In the three windows all 50 of the United states were represented for the United States contribution to the War and post war help they provided.


This is the part of the stainglass that represents Utah!

On the Floor is written in big gold letters "To the American Dead of the Second World War From the People of Britain." Seeing all this game me the chills. There was also a huge book there that was very thick that contained all the names of the 22,000 people that were killed in WWII from the USA. it had 2 columns per page with 33 names per column. It was on page 51 when we wer there and was only half-way through the b's. It was all handwritten in beautiful caligraphy. There were 3 of us there right before closing and the Priest guy came out and unlocked the glass case, put on the white glove, and turned the page right in from of us. He then continued to tell us more about the book and the history of how it came to be. It was amazing. We then ran down to Westiminster Abby (another huge cathedral) and went to Evening Song (mass type ordeal) with a bunch of our group. That was a great experience as well. All and All it was a great day and ended with more running around. I wish I was better at portraying the great things I have been able to experience.

Friday was more of a chill day! We had two business visits with the head honcho of GMAC and then went to Price Waterhouse Coopers. Those are just some big accounting and finance firms that have big offices in London. Not to exciting for most of you. We then went to some market and explored the city. In our exploration we came across a promotion for the opening of Barclays Bank. They are the ones that sponsor the Premier futbol League in the UK and they had the trophy on display to take picture with that the Team Chelsea is probably going to will here in the next little bit. I got to touch it and get a picture. Sweet!

This morning we woke up before 5 am and took a little jot across the pond from London to northern France. It was pretty exciting. The bus ride was fun and we got to see some of the pretty sights of France. Tomorrow we have church, a visit to Normandy, and then Paris. It is going to be exciting.

Here are some fun pictures so far:


A view of Big Ben from Trafalgar Square


Kensington Palace and Garden: Princess Diana's Home


A group of us at Trafalgar Square: St. Martins-in-the-Fields Cathedral behind us.


Platform 9 3/4


St. Paul's Cathedral


A view from the top of St. Paul's