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Published: September 1st 2008
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Oh my gosh these days are amazing, exhausting, long/short at the same time, and just plain unbelievable. It is really unlike any experience Mitch or I have ever had…the independence, the unfamiliarity, and the all the different cultures. a bit too much to handle at times. On Mitch’s birthday, we got an early start on the day and started the morning off with some delicious cereal. Ha. It is about all that is in our budget at the moment and for the remainder of the trip. We are really getting a hang of the train systems and could almost pass for a native except the fact that we walk around with a constant smile even when in the hot and sweaty tube. The tube is pretty amazing, so deep underground, it is quite a site taking the escalator and watching yourself descend hundreds of feet deeper into the earth. It seems almost impossible. We went the to Tower of London as soon as we go there, and just had a complete blast. We toured around the castle checking out every nook and cranny, it is just so unbelievable. Perhaps one of the coolest parts to both of us, which may seem
insignificant to the majority of the tourists who jam themselves into the castle dying to see the crown jewels, was the etchings on the wall. In the towers, they would hold prisoners who threatened to kill the queen or lead a revolt. On the walls in the towers were etchings from hundreds of years ago that the prisoners would carve in, it was pretty unreal to think that they laid those floors so long ago knowing they were going to die and chose to etch those certain words into the wall and here I am standing staring at it. So cool. We were also fascinated with the gigantic ravens that were in the lawn in the center of the castle. The legend is that the ravens hold some sort of power and if they leave the castle then it is doomed. These were big ole’ ravens, they would probably bite your head off. I’m not even kidding. The crown jewels were of course beautiful and Mitch and I were quite blown away by the size of the diamonds and the vast amounts of golden statues…once again not in our budget range. We got an ice cream outside of the castle
and decided to head to one of the coolest places yet in London…St. Paul’s Cathedral. I don’t think we were really prepared for what we were about to see. The cathedral was unbelievable in size and even more impressive in beauty. The walls were so intricately decorated and the vaulted ceilings were hundreds of feet high with such gorgeous paintings on the tops of the domes and the walls. It was a shame that you can’t take pictures, and it was really hard for me to not just snap a few. Mitch and I decided that we would have to come into London on a Sunday morning so we can attend the church service there. The acoustics were amazing, with the gigantic organ in the back of the church and the rows for the enormous choir to stand. The lighting in the church was so beautiful as each and every aspect of the church was cast in a different shadow highlighting the beauty of the many decorations and paintings. We decided to hike up the cathedral just like Mitch’s dad had done a few months prior. I have to admit I am terrified of heights, but I was not about
to pass this one up. Mitch led the way of course with his camcorder in hand as we marched up the 257 steps to the top of the cathedral. My excitement and courage seemed to diminish with every step I took as the people on the streets below began to disappear. There were three different sections and when we got to the second section “the whispering balcony” I nearly threw up and passed out. It was so high and there was a direct view down into the very center of the cathedral. Mitch was hanging over the side and jumping up and down while I was absolutely glued to the wall pissed off that I was even here. After an hour I had finally carefully skirted my way around the edge to the other door that led HIGHER up the cathedral. There was no turning back at this point, plus I would never let Mitch beat up me up the cathedral anyway. I led the way, as we continued up St. Paul’s Cathedral. When we reached the top, Mitch had to literally push me out the door onto the OUTSIDE BALCONY on the tiptop of the cathedral. It took me
about 20 minutes to realize you could see all of London because all I could see was my feet on the ground and the wall that I buried my face in. Of course Mitch had taken a million pictures by then and done a full panoramic video of London, so I finally got myself to break away from the wall and look out. Boy was it beautiful. All of London right in front of us. We ran into a couple that had just proposed to his girlfriend and they were celebrating right as we made our way around the corner. Mitch took some pictures of them for them and they did the same for us, that’s what you have to do here, trade a picture for a picture. Oh and by the way, her rock was huge. After St. Paul’s we got some food at this cute little bakery, there are lots of those throughout London. We made our way to Piccadilly Circus and scalped some tickets to London’s number one play, Wicked. We got them for half price, I know risky, but we enjoy taking chances with our parent’s money. But really, once those tickets were in our hands
and we figured out how to make our way to the actual Queen Victoria Theater…we were so very excited. It was just like what we had talked about months before, going arm in arm down the streets of London to go see a play after a long day of sightseeing and just loving life. It was a perfect birthday day. The play was just plain unreal. Mitch and I had such a blast. It was such a great story line and the music and the overall production was just ridiculously well done. We left the play with big fat smiles on our faces and just completely satisfied. The train ride home was wonderful as we just talked about our day’s adventures and how happy we are to be here…together. When we got home the Harley’s had left a small little cake for Mitch’s birthday which was such a wonderful thought of course we ate it, diabetes or no diabetes, I never turn down cake.
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