This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

So the title doesn't seem totally irrelevant

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,

This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,

This other Eden, demi-paradise,

This fortress built by Nature for herself

Against infection and the hand of war,

This happy breed of men, this little world,

This precious stone set in the silver sea,

Which serves it in the office of a wall

Or as a moat defensive to a house,

Against the envy of less happier lands,-

This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

William Shakespeare

King Richard II.

So London is AMAZING!! I know without doubt that at some stage in my life, I will live there - hopefully study at Oxford as well! In no way will words express how brilliant it was to be and stand on British soil but I shall none the less try - also I would give a run down on everything that happened but you wouldn't like me for it - it would take a couple of days to read, let alone write.


We left from Fredericia at 12 am to get to Copenhagen Lufthaven (airport) where we didn't board the plane till early morning and touched down at Gatwick airport at 9.05 - by this time, the sleep deprivation made me feel quite icky but still, being in London was enough of a perk! 


Just so I don't fall into the rut of giving a run down of every moment, I'll list the main things we saw and why they were so nifty!

• Portobello Rd market , Notting Hill and Camden Markets - For those ( I would assume mostly females) who have seen 'What a Girl wants', Portobello rd and the Camden Markets are like the part when Amanda Bynes walks down the path next to the Thames and tries on really funky clothing and jewellery. Everything was relativly cheap, the cafe culture was sweet, I learnt that I need to learn how to haggle, and the atmosphere, was in general, very chilled! One of my favourite things was going into buy a purse and sitting on the counter, were two beautiful black cats, just chilling, and were more than happy to let me scratch them - I do miss Ronald a little bit!

Standing outside Greenwich Mean Time centre 

• Greenwich- It is such a beautiful area! We went in the morning, as the mist hung over The Naval College and Queens House, all the lawns were beautifully manicured, we met our first squirrel, people were sitting on the lawns having coffee - ah, t'was blissful indeed. The photo's look quite grey but it was a bit more serene!  The Queens House actually lies on the area where Elizabeth I and Mary I were born, and spent a lot of time, along with their father, Old Henry VIII (alias Wife Killer)

Overlooking The Queen's House and the Naval College

• Parliament, Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace - We took a tour on a boat, along the Thames, from Greenwich through to Parliament and boy was it amazing!! Going under The Tower Bridge, past the Tower and the Globe and the London eye and getting to Parliment - after all the images and films that show it, seeing it all for yourself is much more phenomenal. We walked by Big Ben (Parliament House is very ornate - I think you could stand there for hours just to take in the detail) and after a 'quick' stop is Tesco express, we tootled down Parliament st which houses the treasury, Downing st and various war memorials - unfortunatly No 10 Downing st is actually off the main road so you can't see it.



The Victoria and Albert statue outside Buckingham

•  I would have liked to spend a bit more time looking at the whole st but onwards we went. Next stop, St James park which was utterly beautiful and while my classmates marvelled at the Pelicans chilling in the garden, I had some fun with a squirrel and after letting pigeons fly onto our hands (the one and only time) we headed through the gorgeous park, cherry blossoms in full bloom, over to Buckingham Palace and the Victoria and Albert statue - we sadly didn't go up to the gates, but anywhosiwhatsit - it was pretty anyway. 

Buckingham Palace in all its 'glory'

The Globe - not the original (burnt down) and not the second
(closed in 1642) but the third, about 230 m from
the original site

Cleopatra's needle - Stone Oblisk, gift to England,
also one in Paris and New York

London Eye

Parliament and Big Ben (named after the Bell, not the clock)

Queen Boudicca - Queen of Iceni tribe who led an uprising against the Romans
 in England after her daughters were raped but killed herself to evade capture

Entrance to Downing st

Standing in St James park - the English spring is beyond beatiful

Centopah to 'the glorious dead' in Whitehall

• Westminster Abbey - I went there twice, the first time after Buckingham with the class and to see and marvel at the amazing cathederal was wonderful - seeing all the tombs and monuments, and knowing that for hundreds of years, royals have been crowned, married and buried there - very mindblowingly awesome. Seeing Elizabeth I's grave, Henry VII with Elizabeth of York, and Mary Queen of Scots, as well as various others, was amazing and in the Poets corner, the monument to Shakespeare, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Lewis Carroll, the war poets, George Eliot etc., Oh! so brilliant, Also close to the entrance was the grave of the Unknown Warrior, which was quite sobering. The coronation chair was out of sight being restored unfortunatly. The Abbey is very large, and quite complex but if you get the chance to go, just do it, give yourself a lot of time and rub up on a touch of history before hand - or pay for my plane ticket and I'll happily be your guide. 

• The second time I went was even more amazing, after shopping for a painful amount of time, I went to Evensong, the evening worship service, where I heard the Westminster boys choir sing and chant in Latin, the bible read in church (first time since leaving Australia) and a surprisingly Catholic service, for what is meant to be an Anglican Country - t'was certainly interesting, but more amazing to see the light filter through the stained glass windows, as the sun set, and come to the full realisation that I was sitting in this fantastic Abbey, having all these brilliant opportunities, seeing London finally and loving every moment! I certainly realise how many opportunities God had blessed me with!

The White Tower

• The Tower of London -AMAZING! After knowing all the history of Henry VIII's wives and all that Jazz, to get to the Tower was a dream come true - cliche as it may be. Myself and another class mate, Line went down on the Wednesday afternoon and saw all the amazing places such as the Bloody Tower( where the two princes were murdered), The White Tower which was built by William the Conqueror back in 1075 and was one of the main royal residences - also where Anne Boleyn was confined prior to her execution. The White Tower now holds the armour of many of the kings (there are 20 towers that make up 'The Tower of London') We took a tour with one of the beefeaters (Yeomen - called beefeaters possible because in the olden times, once all the court had finished eating, they would get pick of the food, and seeing beef was a delicacy back then, it was the first thing eaten) he was a pretty swell dude - called Mitch, doesn't seem fitting but I think he had a sweet job - also lives at the Tower. Back on track, saw all the torture areas, and the chapel Royal of st Peter ad Vincula, where the royals still go even to this day( it was found that Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard (wife no 5) and a few others were buried there, along with a crypt containing 2000 bodies which now makes part of the north wall) and one of the best, or at least interesting places was the path of grass known as the Tower Green, where all private executions took place and where now stands a monument which reads 

 ' Gentle visitor pause awhile. Where you stand, death cut away the light of many days. Here jewelled names were broken from the vivid thread of life. May they rest in peace while we walk the generations around their strife and courage, under these restless skies'

So, to get the the tower, and see all these amazing places, learn even more history and enjoy the beautiful London spring was fantastic!

Monument to the executed

Tower Green with the chapel to the right

Beefeater Mitch

Legend has it that when the ravens leave the tower,
the Kingdom will fall however during WWII when
 the ravens left due to the bombing...
well point is England still exists now

Trying on one of the idiotic heavy helmets
worn by the soldiers

• We also went to the Natural History Museum and National Muesum - I think you would need at least one day from the Natural History and about a week for the National Museum (over 2000 artefacts) just to get through everything! The section on the body and brain at the Natural History museum was pretty cool - there were many tidbits on perspective and how the brain relays messages and interprets them . t'was cool indeed. We also had about an hour at TATE Modern but unfortunatly I wasn't overly impressed - I think TATE Britain would've been a bit cooler - Modern art just doesn't appeal to me!

So they're some of the places we visited and in all Westminster Abbey and The Tower were most certianly the most brilliant!

but now, I shall put a list of the things in London culture that both amuse me and tickle my fancy

• I love the Tube - it is an amazing, efficient, quick and fun - I defiantly enjoyed the hustle and bustle of everyone trying to cram onto the carriages and not get squished in the doors, and seeing people try and read the paper, while spreading their arms across another persons face (the sardine idea is true) I love the rush hour cram, and reading all the ads in the station, and the way the small doors open when your card shoots out from the ticket reader, I love the incredibly steep elevators where you all have to keep to the right and let all the stress heads pass, I loved being able to ask the ticket instructors how to get from place to place, rather than read the map, purely to speak english ( and there is a good chance I would get lost)
• I love the London Gardens, I went at about 7 am two of the mornings, where the lake (Reagents park) is still and calm, and the squirrels run amok, and all the yellow daffodils are in bloom, and a random runner goes past every now and then. But come lunch, everyone flocks to the peaceful sun bathed grass and a little girl tries to escape from her nonchalant parents time and time again, while we sit there and giggle - Bliss it certainly is!
• I love Tesco's, Marks and Spencer, Boots and Harrods - being able to buy Cadbury was marvellous and Harrods!! My goodness, it was incredibly - it made me want to spend thousands of non existent pounds - and I usually hate shopping!
•  I loved being able to walk around the Baker st, Marylbone area, grab a coffee from starbucks, see all the nifty stores, understand all that I saw and know that everywhere I went was steeped in another fascinating nugget of history
• I loved seeing EIIR on street poles, clothes and shops - beats me what they'll do when Charles comes to the throne..
• I simply love London!

So thats all from me, hopefully it'll keep you going for a bit, and I apologise that it's taken so long to finish this - I'm up to 43 pages in my journal and havn't even finished yet. So, its now easter weekend which means my 18th! yay, I can finally vote Julia out ... and a trip to Copenhagen, and then, in 3 weeks, I shall tootle off on Eurotour! It would be hard to be more excited and to those who have read up to this point, I believe Tillykke/Congrats are in order!

Farvel for now

Hannah