michelle emily: Sing To Me, Angel of Music

SATURDAY
Kira, Brittany and I turned Saturday morning into Saturday market morning. We trekked out to Camden, hearing that it was worth the trip. Well, it kinda wasn’t. After going to Portobello Market and Borough Market, I think Camden was a disappointment (a first here in London). Highlight: Nutella, banana and strawberry crepe. Mmmm.
In the afternoon, Annie and I tried the whole tube thing on a Saturday. That turned into a disaster. All we wanted was to go to the National History Museum but due to closures and re-routing our trip, I got turned around and so it ended up taking us an hour to travel both ways using complex bus and tube sand walking systems. Blah. The museum was kinda cool, though, and we got Ben’s Cookies so that eased the pain. There was a dinosaur exhibit that I thought would be cool to check out. The bones were cool, but then I spotted the animated dinosaurs. After seeing the T-rex, I was out of there faster than you can say Stegosaurus.
Annie and I then tried out the yummy hole-in-the wall kebabs place on Queensway that my roommates raved about. It was really good.
SUNDAY
Church at Walthamstow, again. Sarah and I walked into primary and a sister started announcements and relaying the agenda for the day. She announced that after the talk, the BYU students would be doing singing time. News to us. Haha well good thing both Sarah and I have plenty of musical background to help us out. Thanks for the piano lessons, Mom and Dad, it’s gotten me through a lot of surprises. I also got to teach the older primary class. They are rowdy, to say the least, and so I wasn’t sure how I was going to get through to them while trying to maintain a happy environment. So I brought pictures on my laptop to show to them throughout the lesson. They sort of were quiet for those and so I think the lesson went well. On our way out the door, a sister took us to the kitchen and said that she had food for us. We were like, “Whaa? We didn’t ask for this. This is too much.” But she wouldn’t have it and informed us that they always have provided food every month for the BYU students and missionaries. I couldn’t get over it! I consider this a tender mercy. To top it off, it was cooked by African women, so it was delicious.
There’s a program, you could call it, here in the centre called kitchen crew. Pretty self-explanatory, we help prepare and clean-up meals. We do it for a week twice while we’re here. This week is my week and, let’s just say, we’re the best kitchen crew yet.
This evening, Sarah, Annie and I prepared for Dublin!! Fun fun things planned.
MONDAY
Today was the typical class and take a run in Hyde Park day. Except that evening wasn’t a typical evening. It was a PHANTOM OF THE OPERA evening. From the minute the auctioneer walked onstage, I was at the edge of my seat, waiting for the music to start and the chandelier to emerge. Instant goosebumps that didn’t leave for the whole show. We were only a row from the very top of the top balcony, but that means that we could see the whole production. Probably my favorite musical, now.

.:Phantom of the Opera:.
TUESDAY, Gromit. Porridge!
DAY TRIP DAYYYYY. Yes, they’re usually on Wednesdays, but everyone is leaving for their extended weekend this Wednesday, so we did the trip a day early. Today, we went to Runnymeade, the birthplace of Democracy. This field was where the Magna Carta was signed on 15 June 1215 and King John voluntarily let his powers be checked by the law.

.:Runnymeade (Magna Carta):.
The next stop was Windsor Castle, smack dab in the middle of this cute little shopping area. I’m not sure who of my readers has been to Windsor, but I’ll give an overview. It’s the longest-running castle in use (it’s still in use today but the Queen, but since she’s at her OTHER palace in Buckingham, it’s open to tourists). We got to see Princess Mary’s dollhouse, this mansion of a dollhouse decorated to scale. We also saw the State Apartments, where the royalty live and socialize. My favorite room was the hall where the Queen meets with important guests. The ceilings are gold, the chandeliers are dazzling and the wall décor was impressive. On display during this time were some paintings from the Royal Collection, paintings that royalty have commissioned or collected over the years.

.:some tourists at Windsor Castle:.
On the castle grounds was St. George’s Cathedral, the cathedral that houses the Order of the Garter. The Order is an elite group consisting of men who are only picked by the King or Queen to be in it. It started when a knight stooped down to pick up a young lady’s garter when it slipped down her leg. To those around who judged him, he stated: “Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense”, meaning “Shamed be the person who thinks evil of it”. Today, the Queen, the Prince of Wales, and 24 other men are a part of it. I’m not quite sure what they do, but you can Wikipedia that. Anyways, these knight’s coat of arms are on their seats in the choir, so I got to see that. Another important thing about this cathedral is the people who are buried here: King Henry VIII and Queen Jane , King Charles I (I don’t know if his head’s with him), King George V and Queen Mary, King George VI and the Queen Mother Elisabeth, King Edward VII, and King Henry VI and Queen Alexandra.

.:St. George's right as the sun came out:.
Last stop for the day was Stokey Poges, a little town with a little church where Thomas Gray is buried beside his mother. Gray wrote “Elegy Written in a Church Courtyard”, and we went to that church courtyard and saw the memorial. The church has in its possession the surrounding acres of land, so it was turned into a beautiful memorial park. Hollywood tidbit: across the lake from this memorial was a golf house that has been in a few films, including as a casino in James Bond’s “Goldfinger”.