London

Well, the last week has been a complete whirlwind, but a lot of fun! I was able to work some extra shifts at the hospital before I left so that I could save up some money for a short trip to London and Spain on my way to the ship! I had never been to either place and had always wanted to go, so it was really great to have the opportunity to visit both places (but don't worry...I didn't use any support money...just in case you were wondering ;-) I had three friends who were also going to London, so I met up with them and we flew together to London and met our friend Becky there who is from England. She gave us the "grand tour" in two days!

                                                   

We had such a good time...our adventures started with the trip to the hotel from the airport...i'm sure people were staring into the car on the drive home...we were all loaded down with luggage...all 4 of us had squeezed into Becky's tiny car with all of our bags for one year! Good thing it was a short trip...we could barely see out the window beyond all our bags! We only had 2 days in London, but we got to see lots of the famous sights like Big Ben, London's Eye, Westminster Abby, and the London Bridge (which is actually known as Tower Bridge now since the real London Bridge burned down)...we even saw a castle! Becky was a great tour guide and it was a great reunion with the girls!                                                                                    
               
                          Tower Bridge

I have lots of stories and experiences from our trip but I'll just share two interesting things...Next to the famous Big Ben is Parliament and you can actually go in and watch the debates in the House of Commons...So we went in to watch and it's so crazy because they all speak with so many formalities...they will say something and then motion to the next person and say "I give way to so and so"...it's really surreal...you feel like you're in a different century...and it's the true debates...it's not a show...there are a few guys who actually still wear the white wigs that look like George Washington...so funny!

       
                  In front of Parliament & Big Ben

                                 

Another interesting experience was that we got to see the changing of the guard in front of Buckingham Palace...it was really cool...a lot longer of a ceremony than I expected...the biggest surprise to me there was that when they come to switch out in front of the palace, they have a minature concert..probably 15 or 20 minutes...and I was shocked to hear a bunch of Disney songs like "The Bear Necessities" and "Can you feel the love tonight"...I wasn't expecting that...It almost made me feel like I was at Disney Land with the palace in front of us and all the Disney songs playing...nothing like I had anticipated, but it was really cool..

                   Outside of Buckingham Palace

We all had a great time...lots of fun times and bonding moments...many more to come on the ship I'm sure...we parted on Thursday morning and I headed to Madrid, while they all went to Somerset, England...we'll all be reunited in a few days...more fun experiences to come in Madrid!