Yankees in London

Last week my Sustainability in Europe (SIE) class visited England on our Long Study Tour. DIS does a really great job of planning educational and cultural visits to some big European city for every program they run. We were given plenty of free time in the afternoons to explore the city. My visits included Westminster Abbey, above, and Big Ben right next to it (bottom). I always think of Peter Pan when I see that tower!

I've been to London once before, with Marion, Eliza and Georg. It was a whirlwind trip back in July 2008 and we tried to pack as much into one day as we could! This time I was able to see some new places, such as Kensington Palace and Gardens, The Lloyd and Gherkin Buildings, and the Monument to the Great Fire. Karen and I climbed to the top of that one...there were 311 spiral steps to get up the 202 foot tower! I also went back to the Tower of London and went inside this time, where you can see the crown jewels, lots of armour, and 6 ravens. The legend behind that is that if they leave, the kingdom will fall. I believe it actually a law in England.

Notice the skirt I'm wearing on this day! Actually, almost everything I'm wearing that day I bought recently in Copenhagen. (The lovely scarf was a gift from Eliza when she studied in Rome) Shopping is going to be (rather, IS) a major problem here. All the shops have cute clothes, and everyday when I get out of class I step right on to the main pedestrian shopping street "Strøget". So if I'm in a bad mood, had a bad class, celebrating that it's Friday, trying to get through a Monday, if I'm in a really good mood, if I just went to the ATM....I'm tempted to shop!