Blogs from Westminster, Greater London, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 9

Ok, My bags are packed, my passport on me (wait...let me check...yup still there), my ticket is ready, and my itinerary is some semblance of order. I'm ready. Just need to wait for it to be time to head to the airport.... To explain to everyone what exactly I am doing, I am about to head to USA for 6.5 weeks, travelling from city to city, staying with past members of my college. This is with a programme that I was awarded from my College (Balliol), which support us, with the intent of researching a project. I have decided to look into Philanthropy in the states - the source, extent and distribution, with consideration of the current economic crisis. To do this I am visiting a number of cities, meeting a few people, while taking time ... read more

Today was one of those days that needs to be written in bullet points. London is a BIG city, and good walking shoes or not, you will be exhausted at the end of the day, I guarantee it. Our day started with a walk to Westminster Abbey and a self-tour of the inside. There are SO many elaborate crypts and interesting people buried there, from k1ngs and queens to Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin. Definitely worth the 15 pound cost to go in. You can’t take pictures inside but there are postcards and you can purchase a guidebook with photos for 2 pounds. From there we… -walked past Big Ben and Houses of Parliament -walked down Whitehall Avenue past the Prime Minister’s house (10 Downing Street) -walked to Trafalgar Square and then down The Mall to ... read more

The tour director had it all planned out today but more walking rather than underground travel of yesterday.The underground certainly gets you where you want to quickly and as yet we havent encountered any delays.However the sights are all on the surface and we are enjoying the walking in the sun. And again today is forecast to be sunny and warm with the high in the mid 20's.Even at this temperature it hasnt been too hot to be in the sun and although we have been a bit naughty not applying sunscreen we havent been sunburnt either. Another big breakfast and we were on our way to join the underground at 9.30am when the cheaper travel starts. The oyster card is the way to go if you are here for more than a few days and ... read more

Finally made it to London! Sorry if any of you have been searching for posts, it's been crazy since we've landed into London we didn't have any free time to post anything since we only had 3 days here. Unfortunaly the place where we are camping at in Amsterdam does not have a computers where you can upload photos/videos, so you'll have to check back. We did make it into Amsterdam safely, below is an account of days in London.... April 16, 2009 - We arrived early in the morning into Heathrow Airport and later arrived at our hostel in Russell Square. Jet lag wasn't so bad I would have imagined, which was a relief. I only started to feel tired around 1pm which I believe is around early morning on EST time. Everytime we stopped ... read more

My title refers to the fact that I keep speaking British. Not the accent. I can't do the accent to save my life, but I keep picking up their phrases like, "No worries" and using the words "Quite" and "Really" more than I should. This past week consisted of a lot of design work as well as me getting sick. It wasn't bad by any means though, I'm better already.. just a little cold. My 'London Walk' I am designing for my studio class is based on the old and new spaces of museums. Last week I designed the lunch spot for the walk. It's a small building that spans a fence near a garden by the Natural History Museum. I wanted it to be very interactive with the fence as that would be the old ... read more