My Time as a Tourist

In my spare time I have done some heavy studying of my London tourguide books. This city is so large and diverse that it is hard to get a grasp of it all, so I have divided some of the sights into separate areas that I will explore. On my first weekend with Mark moving me in we decided to take a break from the stress of getting settled and set off for central London to be tourists for a day. I have now (fingers crossed) mastered the tube and am feeling very excited about exploring the city. On our day in town , we hit the general Westminster area in order to tackle some of the major tourist destinations on my check list. We saw Westiminster Abbey, Parliament buildings, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace (preceded by a lovely walk through St. James Park), the London Eye (definitely didn't ride it though- crazy expensive!), passed several Duck Tours (the tour bus that turns into a river boat- must do at some point!), and were thoroughly exhausted by the end of the day, a great start to my London explorations.

Clearly a look of love at my photographer...

again... mark taking pictures.. this is me hanging out with big ben

the duck-mobile or something- land and water tours

view of the Thames

hangin out in Westminster

My pal the Queen

View in St. James Park

Mark being artsy...

The next weekend after a hectic week of meetings and trying to get my bearings here, I was able to visit two of my friends from high school (Liz and Francie) who are also studying in the city. It was so nice to see familiar faces and see a different area of London (though I must say I am jealous of their location as I am very much in the outskirts of the city and they are right in the middle of the action). We had a wonderful meal and time to chat. Later that night I was greeted with another familiar face. Mark came back into town to visit and I was so excited to have him here after an overwhelming first week. We saw Toy Story 3 in the IMAX (Amazing- go see it now!!!) followed by a trip around part of the British Museum, and a lovely dinner downtown. Then Sunday we visited the National Portrait Gallery and Trafalgar Square (the actual center of London), followed by a nice burger restaurant before he had to return to St. Andrews. It was so nice to have him here and it was such a happy time cooking in my hall kitchen and exploring the sights of London :) I feel incredibly lucky to have someone here who cares about me so much, especially when so many international students are completely on their own; Mark's family has also been so wonderful in checking up on me here :)

Stone carving workshop outside the British museum- took me back to Italy :)

Sideways Charing Cross Station

Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery- Planning on spending some quality time there soon!

Mark's photography... sideways

Mark taking pictures again....

Tiny me in Trafalgar Square

I beat most of the Americans that come over here... I came with a British boyfriend :)