Entry 1: July 30, 2009

So I can’t believe that our month long trip to the United Kingdom is already over and as I sit here in our hotel in Edinburgh it’s hard to believe that the rest of our group is back State side. Since I didn’t post any journals during the actually trip I’ve decided to just re-cap the entire trip—though I promise to keep it short! So here we go…

I feel like this trip went by so quickly one second we were just arriving and exhausted the next second my parents are here and we’re getting on a plane bound for Scotland. Some of the major highlights of the trip for me were going to Hampton Court Palace on the 4th of July, standing in Leicester Square to see the Harry Potter movie premiere, the Cabinet War Rooms, going to Oxford, stage dooring for “A Little Night Music” and “War Horse”, getting to go inside Buckingham Palace, just hanging out with some of the girls and going to see “The Proposal” for Anna’s birthday.

So on Saturday July 4th everybody in our group took a 3-hour boat ride down the River Thames to get to Hampton Court Palace. While I enjoyed the scenery along the river I had a hard time getting over the fact that we were on a boat (I’m not particularly fond of boats). But once we got there the palace was magnificent and gorgeous but it lacked furniture inside with the exception of one or two rooms. I didn’t get to see too much of the gardens but the part I did see was beautiful. I tried to get back on one of the travel breaks but it just didn’t ever work out.

Shortly after our trip to Hampton Court Palace on July 7th Caitlin and I went after class and stood in Leicester Square for the World Premiere of “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.” We stood for about 5 or 6 hours in the rain (and hail) but in the end Caitlin and I both got to touch Rupert Grint (who plays Ron Weasley in the movies). As well as getting to see some other well known names such as: Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham-Carter, David Yates and Gordon Ramsey. It was a great day and I don’t regret going for anything. However, I was 99% sure I would get a cold from all the rain, but I got ridiculously lucky and didn’t get sick.

I am a complete World War II history buff so there was absolutely no way that I would miss going to the Cabinet War Rooms where former Prime Minister Winston Churchill ran England from during the war. These rooms are all underground where the Prime Minister and the Cabinet could be safer during the Blitz. Everything down there has been preserved and looks just like it would have when Winston Churchill himself walked those halls. Along with the Cabinet rooms there is also a Churchill Museum where you can learn more about the Prime Minister who saved England. The Churchill Museum has the original door from 10 Downing Street (which is where the current P.M. and most all P.M.s have lived), as well as an interactive table that talks to you, re-creates noises from the War and gives you in-depth detail about Churchill and World War II. This was my second time going to the museum and war rooms and I could have spent all day there.

On the second travel weekend only four of us stayed in London (Kim, Sara, Amanda, and I). We decided on that Thursday after all the other girls had left to go to Paddington Station and go to Oxford for the afternoon. We had some time to kill at the station so we bought some Krispy Kreme doughnuts for our journey and sat and ate them on the train while watching the scenery. Oxford was lovely but unfortunately we got there at an awkward time when a lot of places were starting to close for the day, so we just meandered our way around the city and bought ourselves Oxford hoodies and t-shirts as well as a few postcards. The best part of this day was really just getting to know the other girls better.

During this same weekend the four of us saw two shows: a play entitled “War Horse” and a musical called “A Little Night Music”. Both of these shows were wonderful. “War Horse” is about a young man whose horse gets sent to World War I and his journey to find his horse (who is named Joey). This story brought all of us to tears, and was even more magnificent from our seats on the first row. To create horses they had puppets that were so impressive and life-like. The horses were manned by 3 people, one person is the back legs and works the tail, another is the front legs and does the breathing, and the third person is on the outside controlling the horses neck and head. After this show all of us gathered outside by the stage door and got to meet several of the characters and the wonderful men and women who were the puppeteers. The man that played the main character even remembered seeing us on the front row and apologized for killing a horse in front of us.

Everyone in that show was so friendly. The other show we stage doored was “A Little Night Music”. This show is about a woman Desiree who is in love with a married man Fredrik. Fredrik is married to a very young lady, who is incidentally in love with her step-son. They all had AMAZING!! voices and the story was intriguing. After this show only Amanda and I staged doored, but we got to meet the lead Hannah Waddingham who plays Desiree. When she asked us where we were from we told her Raleigh and she knew exactly where that is because she is friends with Clay Aiken. It really is a small small world. It is really cool to know that most of the actors are really down to earth and really do lead normal lives.

On our last Sunday in London, July 26th I got the opportunity to go inside of Buckingham Palace to see some of the Queen’s rooms. Let me tell you that Palace is crazy gorgeous on the inside. My favorite room there was the throne room and an exhibit they had on the queen’s clothes. The throne room was gigantic and was mainly red but we did get to see were Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles sit when they great visitors to the palace. Also the queen’s clothing exhibit was amazing; she has a wonderful sense of style. (Or rather there are a few people who know how to dress her well). Also while touring Buckingham Palace we got to walk through the queen’s private gardens, which are immaculately kept.

Anyway. I hope I didn’t bore you too much during my journal but I really did have a lovely time and would LOVE to come back again. But now I am off to visit Scotland with my family.

Lauren