Day 7- May 5th

Church day today! Getting to church was quite the process what with the tube station we needed completely shut down, transferring on to two trains, almost missing one ("The train LEAVES at 9:45! That's our train!!!" "DOES THIS GO TO THE LONDON BRIDGE???" "Maybe it won't leave until we all have seats. Everyone sit down!") But once we figured out where we were going we were able to enjoy the beautiful train ride to Blackheath. 

The church was so much fun! The ward is mostly African, with a few Jamaicans and Englanders mixed in.  I sat in front of the deaf translator for the sacrament, which was super cool and was asked to team teach RS in an upcoming week. After RS, one of the Jamaican ladies came up to me and asked for a hug and I think Mom has taught me to hug to a little to well... She started saying quite loudly, "Oh yes!" and, "You have such a cute little face!" It was a bit awkward, but awesome.

I also met George I and George II. George I is a great man in his 80's that has been assigning BYU students to wards for the last 20 years. George II is a great, 6 foot 2, not skinny but not big, 20 year old guy who grew up in London, is a cage fighter, and is just putting in his mission papers. Both of the Georges came over to the center tonight so that George I could give us a fireside about what it was like to live in the London during the war. 

After wards George II walked up to Steph and I and said "What are you doing right now? Could you go on an adventure? I know a bloke who could get you a great view of St. Paul's." Steph and I immediately forgot about the 60 pages of reading we have to do and rallied the troops. George had the night of his life leading 8 cute girls around London. We started off at the New Change balcony that has the most amazing view of St. Paul's (and has the sweetest restaurant called the Mandarin), wandered along the Thames, made it to the Harry Potter (Millennium) bridge, and walked to Hyde Park. We Facebook friended George and he said that any time we wanted to go out, he was always willing to take us around.  Score!!!

We made it home at midnight and are now trying to get as much homework done as possible. Wish us luck!  

Day 6- May 4th

We started off by stopping by Paul Rhodes bakery for some delicious French pastries, then started our search for some screamin' ticket deals. We went all the way from Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Covet Garden, to Tottenham Court Road. We bought tickets for Les Mis, found a ticket deal for Matilda, and bought some sweet 19.5 pound tickets for the new musical, Once; plus we stopped at five other theaters and ticket booths to check the best deals for future shows. 

We had 3 hours before the show started so we looked for a place to eat and found a great place on Dean Street called Joe & the Juice. Not only did they have delicious drinks and sandwiches, but they had some very handsome workers. Every girl in the place shamelessly drooled over them as they shoved apples into the juicer. Needless to say we'll be going back. 

Then we rounded out the rest of the time in King's Cross (took some photo's in front of Platform 9 3/4 and met some very entertaining Harry Potter workers) and wandering down Oxford street and Primart, again we will be returning. 

The show was good. The music was absolutely fantastic! But we were all so exhausted from power walking to theaters from 9 am to 3 that I think we all fell asleep at one point or another. During the first act I looked down and all the girls had the exact same pose: head in their right hand, on the right hand rest, nodding off... pretty priceless. This exhaustion may have lead to our feelings of confusion during the play and not really being able to understand the plot. (When we came home Sierra read the plot synopsis and said, "After reading this, I think the show was actually pretty good!") 

Then we made our way back to the center to get a little R&R, FaceTiming, and a light dinner. Then we headed out on the town again! 

We started off at Fenton's, the best ice cream and shakes in London, I got a nice Nutella SMOTHERED waffle for dinner, then headed to Big Ben and the London Bridge. It was Steph's first time and was so beautiful at night! We went across the bridge to the Eye, Steph almost got her phone stolen from some vagabonds, Sierra had the shaz scared out of her by some clown man, we found a concert listing, I found my name on a horse on the carousel and a very nice worker let me take a picture with it, and walked along the Golden Jubilee bridge for the most amazing view of Big Ben, the Eye, the Thames, and even had a Spanish guitarist in the back ground. Great way to finish off the day!

Day 5- May 3rd

I was able to sleep from 2 am-8 am, and woke up just in time to shower and go to class. I'm feel ing good, not 100% but definitely not terrible. I basically was a zombie in class, but afterwards Kenzie, Sierra, Cassidy, Stephanie, Chole, Beth, Ashley and I went for a London Walk (one of our assignments) around our neighborhood, Notting Hill. 

We met a very friendly local named Andrew who guided us to Portobello Road, meandered down Portobello Road, got a cupcake at Hummingbird's, attempted to find the blue Notting Hill door, and finished the walk at the Greek Orthodox church (absolutely beautiful) just down the street with Cassidy and Kenzie. 

After dinner we met in class to get our church assignments; I'm in a ward in East London and get to the take the tube and train to get there... public transportation master anyone? Plus I get to help out in the RS.

After that Cassidy, Steph, Kenzie, Sierra and I met up and planned out tomorrow's activities and a list of shows we want to see. And tonight we're getting lots of rest :)

Day 4- May 2nd

Today kicked off with a rousing orientation from our Brazilian  house manager, Alvero, and his wife, Thais. Then we all headed out to the tube station for my first tube ride! I must say it was pretty entertaining to watch the locals faces as they saw 60 Americans get on and off the tube together. 

We got off at Monument station and walked over to the London Tower, across London Bridge, and on to the south bank of the Thames. (Tiffany's suggestion to bring a maxi dress was amazing! Nice and breezy for the walk, and all kinds of comfortable) From there we all split into smaller groups as we made our way to Westminster Abbey.  I ended up in a group with Kenzie, Sierra, and Chloe. We saw bubble artists, street performers, made a wish with some sand sculpting artists, then saw Big Ben and Westminster Abbey (and a beautiful Lambourgini parked in the drive way).

After our 2 hour walk we took the tube back to the center, where Breck, Kim, and I decided to run (literally) to a showing of Viva Forever, the spice girls musical. We ran from the center to the Queensway station (I must have stopped running like a horse because an Italian man tried to stop me on the street "You are a lovely girl!"), transferred at the Oxford Circus and got off at Piccadilly Circus. We made our way over to the Viva theater and got some sweet  20 pound tickets. 

The show was cheesily fantastic, but after intermission the constant smell of alchol and smoke triggered a feeling that I haven't had in years... instant nausea. Half way through the second act I got that tingle in the back of my jaw and booked it to the lou. After throwing up serveral times, Kim walked in the bathroom to check to on me, but I felt better so we walked passed all the workers at the bar and finished the show. We then cautiously made our way to the tube station and after surviving one train we got to the platform to wait for the next one. 

As soon as our connection pulled up, Kim and Breck looked over at me and said, "Can you make it?" For a second I thought that I could just suck it up and get on the tube, but then that tingle came again.  So I said, "No, we need to find a bathroom...fast!" We took off running through the tube station which, turns out, has no bathrooms. In the midst of the running I saw a utility closet that had a plastic bag by it, I asked Kim if it had anything it and she looked in it and made a rank face. By that point I didn't care, it was either in that bag or straight up on the floor. Turns out someone else had already had the same idea since there was puke already in the bag. But there was no stopping it.  As I ralphed Breck and Kim rubbed my back and held my hair. Luckily, as I finished two cleaning crew people came up and were extremely kind and helpful. They opened the supply closet, gave me a seat, and got me some water. After that I was ready to book it back to the center before the next attack. 

We made it back without any catastrophes, and as I was running upstairs to change into my pajamas ANOTHER girl was throwing up! After I changed I took up residence in one of the bathrooms and someone told me that the priesthood was coming to give blessings. I just started to sob. It wasn't necessarily due an overwhelming spiritual confirmation, not that having them come wasn't a huge blessing and made me feel much better, but all the embarrassment that I had been hiding from the people at the theater, the 100's of people in the tube, Kim and Breck, the cleaning workers, and the peanut gallery that had formed around the bathrooms just bubbled over into a waterfall of tears. 

During one of my spells Breck and Kim came up to the bathroom with a piece of toast, a bottle of Sprite and two red Gatorades! It was so nice of them! After that my back started cramping something bad, but then Anna came down and gave me a back massage and talked to me for a half an hour by the toilet. Talk about tender mercy! When there was legitimately nothing left inside of my body I was able to turn on Bride Wars on the iPad and fell asleep. 

So despite the sickness attack, I was blessed with so many tender mercies. I had the beautiful sights, not getting lost, making it the show, having Kim and Breck take care of me, the friendly cleaning crew, the blessing, all the great girls that came down to check on me, Anna taking care of me, and being able to fall asleep; I guess I don't have too much to complain about ;)

Day 3- May 1st

Today was amazing! The weather has been beautiful!!! David and I kicked things off with a tour of  Eaton, and Windsor Castle. We saw the changing of the guard, the  Queen's doll house, and the state apartments. Then he dropped me off at the Center. Before he dropped me off he asked if I was feeling a bit nervous walking into a house of people that I had never really met. My immediate reaction was to curl up in the front seat of the car and never leave, but the splendor of the center calmed all my fears!

As soon as I rang the doorbell Professor Handley and group of friendly people welcomed me in.  The center is beautiful!!!!!!  David said I couldn't find a "funkier part of town". Right off the back, a big group of us walked out to find something to eat. (Important lesson learned, when you see a green cross walk, most of the time it is only for half of the road. NOT THE ENTIRE STREET.) Then a group of 4 really adorable girls and I broke off to eat our fish and chips and walk around kensington gardens. We walked around the pond, sat in the lawn chairs, got kicked out of the lawn chairs, walked to the Royal Albert Music Hall, walked to the Italian fountains in Kensignton, took a nap, read some shakespear, and walked back to the center. 

We got back to the center just in time for dinner, a nice light soup and bread, and then headed out to buy our oyster cards. We went to the tube stop and there was a line of 20 of us abroad studiers and it was taking forever. So one of the guys, Steven, and I decided to go on an adventure  to find a shorter que to get our cards. We found 3 new tube stops (Lancaster Gate underground is nowhere near the actual gate), none of which accepted cash, so we decided to head back to the Notting Hill stop.  We got there just as the last people from our group were done. So instead of standing in an underground tube station for 45 min people watching, which you know I love, we had quite a wonderful discovery walk through Kensington :)

Day 2- April 30th

Besides having nightmares about my first time through Immigration/Customs, the plane was quite restful. After making it through Immigration without a hitch I made my way to baggage claim, where a small Indian man already had my bag (which was the size of him). Then we made our way to David.

I first saw David in his yellow circle frame glasses and grey trench scanning the crowd thinking "that guy is eager to see someone." Just so happened that that someone was me! He reached out to me and said, "Are you Caitlyn?",  I said, "Yes....Are you David?! " Then he said,  "Yes I am! I didn't bring one those pesky signs... I know the Costleys!" and off we went. We drove around old London, new london, the old home bomb shelters, royal albert hall, financial district, big ben, buckingham palace, and a hot chocolate and panini in soho (a place I have not taken your father... very artsy.... very flamboyant). 

He helped me check into the Goring Hotel (Michale from the front desk: i can tell your very excited about your stay) and arranged a car to come and get me for the Phantom of the Opera. Then i went up to the most amazing room!  I had hot chocolate, a complementary cosmo, 2 welcome gift sets (from the hotel and the travel agency), took a nice long shower and got ready for the Phantom. 

My driver, Nebi, was fantastic. When we pulled out in front of the theater he said "want me to open the door so it is more fancy. Oh yes, I do it." Then opened the door with a nice "Have a good night, Miss Costley!" As David would say I felt very posh. 

Phantom was great! I had a french christine the first act and an English one the second, best of both worlds.

Nebi was waiting right outside the theater afterwards, walked me to the car, and drove me back to the Goring. I FaceTimed with the fam and headed to bed. 

Day 1- April 29th

Holly freeholies, Batman! So day 1 started off when dad dropped me off at the SLC airport. I went to the express spa for a foot massage and after a few delays flew to denver, relaxed with Lucille in the BA lounge, and relaxed with my lay flat in my silky pj's and Xango blanket. The only down side of the lay flat? Possibly filling the British Airways Business class cabin with the smell of rank feet.  Despite having my ExpressSpa masseuse  take off the lotion after my foot massage, I still had lotion residue which may have contributed to the increase of sweatiness of my feet, which may have contributed to the mysterious smell during the  flight. But, I like to think that the rank was from the large amounts of alcohol being consumed around me, and not from my own personage. ;)