Kate's Visit, Part 3: The London Eye

One of the many fun things Kate and I did together was to go for a ride on the London Eye.  You get the best view of the city from it.  Here are a few photos!

This is looking North East toward St. Pauls.

This is looking North to the area by my school.

This is looking East. You can see St. Paul's on the left and the Gherkin on the right.

Parliament and Big Ben

Big Ben

On Kate's last night in London we went for a night out in Shoreditch.  It was so much fun having her visit!

Kate's Visit to London, Part 2: Top of St. Paul's

I love, love, love St. Paul's.  I'd been in it a couple of times, but this was the first time I went to the top.

Looking West down the Thames.  London Eye in the distance.

The Shard building in construction.  When it's completed it will be the tallest building in Europe.

Looking across to the Tate Modern and Millenium Bridge.

Kate's Trip to London, Part 1: Hampton Court Palace

My best friend, Kate, came to visit in March for a week!  It was so much fun having her here.  We were quite cozy in my little, tiny dorm room.  But I loved spending every minute with her.

One of our first big outings was going to Hampton Court Palace, a half hour outside of the city by train west on the Thames.  Half the palace was home to King Henry the VIII.  The other half to William and Mary.

Entrance to the Tudor part of the palace

View of the Baroque of palace from one of the many gardens

We picked the perfect time of year to visit becaues the daffodils and the cherry blossoms were out!

Kate!

One of the coolest parts of the palace was the hedge maze.  Kate and I got a bit lost though and had to follow a couple of 7 year olds out!

One of the cool gardens.  There were several of them with crazy shaped hedges all over.  I'm very impressed with the English gardens.

A different side of the palace

Stay tunes for more photos from Kate's Visit!

A few randoms

Here are a few photos from the winter that I thought were worth sharing.  There is no theme with these, completely random.

As many of you know, I had trouble getting out of London for the holidays.  This was due to the small snowstorm that rolled through the UK and Europe in December.  I thought Seattle was bad with dealing with snow, London is far worse.  This departure board was from my second attempt at getting out of Heathrow.  Unfortunately it took a third attempt before I got out of the country.

These are a couple of my closest friends in London.  Nina on the left and Carrie on the right.  We generally go out and explore the night life together.

This is a Chihuly piece in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The British Museum which should really be called the Stolen Antiquities Museum. (See below)

Part of the apex of the Parthenon (stolen from Greece).

A totem pole from British Columbia. (I think this one was actually donated).

Mummy (stolen from Egypt)

Helmet (stolen from Iran)

Southwark at Night

My friend Vera (from Austria but studying in Dublin) came to visit for a couple of days in February.  We went to Camden Market, Burough Market, Brick Lane Market and went around to a ton of sights in the city. 
It was great having her visit because I hadn't seen since she was in Seattle a couple of years ago.  Hopefully I can visit her in Vienna sometime this summer!

Vera and I trying on some uber-cool shades in Camden

A great walk we did was along the south side of the Thames, beginning at Tower Bridge.  We walked west along the river through Southwark to the London Eye.  Here are a few of my favorite photos.

This is looking east from about Waterloo bridge.  You can see St. Pauls and the Gherkin.

St. Paul's.  My favorite building in London!

Same view as the first, just after a shopping break.  The lights on the river are really cool.

The London Eye (Lit up red for Valentine's Day), Parliament and Big Ben.

Greenwich

Some months ago (seven to be precise) some friends from school and I took a boat trip to Greenwich.  It was beautiful, even though the weather was a bit overcast.  I live in the easter part of central london and never get to see grass or trees, so being in Greenwich was like being on a nature preserve.

This is a view of Tower Bridge from our clipper ride down the Thames

A large portion of Greenwich is occupied by the Naval College.  Most of the buidling were designed by Christopher Wren (the guy responsible for St. Paul's Catherdral).  I never get tired of looking at his architecture.

This is the huge park behind the college.  At the top of the hill is the Royal Observatory which is most famous for marking the Prime Meridian.

This is the view from the top of the hill.   The buildings in the background there are Canary Wharf.  On a clear day you can see central London in the far left.

This is me excited to see trees and grass!

This silver-arty thing is what marks the Prime Meridian.

And there I am standing on it!

We were lucky to come to Greenwich when we did (in November) because they began charging a 15 quid entrance to go in.  The museum itself houses a bunch of really clocks, but not worth the entrance fee.

See later posts for a sunny view of Greenwich!

Roller Disco

Today being the last day of classes for the term, some of us PGEU students (PGEU=Politics and Government of the European Union) of course wanted to celebrate being free.  In a more southern part of central London, by the Vauxhall tube stop, there is a roller disco.  That's right, I said roller disco.  And at least on Thursday nights it is awesome!  The entrance fee is only 5 quid and it includes roller skates and wrist guards.

I haven't roller skated since elementary school parties at Skate King.  It's kind of like riding a bicycle though.  The only scary part was remembering how to stop.

All in all, we had a great time and I hope we go again!