London Day 11

I love Fridays. Always have and hopefully always will. Why do I like them? Well during school it signifies the end of the week. The last day that I have to deal with stress. A night of no homework. My party night. When school is out and I'm occasionally sitting at home Friday gives me a reason to go out. It also tells me that even if the week has been long and all I've been doing is working that a new week is soon to come. But why do I like Fridays here? It's the first full day we have off for the weekend. Also, it's that one day of the weekend before we become exhausted and still have a bit of energy to venture out into the world of London.

This morning we started out with heading over to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards at 11:30.
Around the entire palace there's barbed wire and spike and electical wiring along the top of the fence. Most people think it is to keep people out but Liz the tour guide says it's the Queens way of keeping the King in.
WEll when we got to Buckingham Palace there were people EVERYWHERE. It was horrid and hot and you could barely see anything. SO....after a lot of bad hairdos .........

and even some exposed rears......

we crossed the street and went to Green Park. The parks here are huge and absolutely amazing. I suppose that since London is so busy and stuffed full all the time the parks exist to balance that out. And it's true.... the parks are the exact opposite of the rest of London. They're friendly and clean and green and spacious and quiet and relaxing.... need I go on?

Well by the entrance to where we went into the park there was a monument that people were sitting on and sliding down. It looked quite enjoyable so we went closer.

[I would turn this next picture around but I'm too lazy.] When we got closer though we saw a sign that requested that we NOT climb on the monument.

But since we're horrible people....... we did anyway. I even slid down it. Oh I'm a rebel now.

In case you didn't catch it earlier the monument was for Canada. Hence the leaves.

Well it was a bit warm out today... and sunny... which is not supposed to happen in London.... Anyways Jami and I decided to take a moment to air out our underarms. Attractive, right?

After visiting the monument there was a whole bunch of noise and the Queen's guard came riding down the street so we took a quick picture. I guess we kinda got to see the changing of the guards...?

Today............. I was a tree hugger. Ellie you should be proud. I'm not really sure why but it just seems like something you would like.

Well the park is called Green Park and they weren't kidding...... EVERYTHING is green pretty much. Green trees.... green grass... even the tree trunks are green.

I took an opportunity to lay in some of that green green grass...

And was then soon joined by Jenn, Jami, and Angie. We attempted to take a picture but it took a while. I think Jami has a good one on her camera and we were so excited when we finally got it. I don't think I've laughed that much in a long time. And over getting a picture.... LOLLLLLLLLLLLL

AW.......tender! Flower behind the ear.

Angie was taking cool pictures so I copied her. I'm so original...

I ripped out the heart of this daisy... Oops :)

So sad looking...

After Green Park we headed over to Hyde Park but stopped at the Wellington Monument on the way. We even paid the fee to look at the gallery inside and ride an elevator to the balcony at the top

Such cute statues they had.

We were waving to random people taking pictures. They didn't wave back. Losers.

I almost got arrested for doing this. No joke. I guess you're not supposed to sit on the edge which I didn't know for sure until Jami read the sign on the door that I conveniently missed. It said that sitting or standing on the edge was prohibited and may lead to arrest. When I found that out I jumped off (onto the balcony.... not the street) and a minute or two later the woman working there came up and said that the police had called because someone was sitting on the balcony. I guess the freak out with security issues because it's so close to Buckingham Palace. That's basically all the police do here is security..... What a joke.

Arch of Wellington Monment

Gravel path in Hyde Park

We were interview and videotaped for a beer company. This is Jenn signing the release form. I guess now they're going to be selling wine in cans that look like Red Bull cans. Except with a more fancy cover. WEIRD

Horse path in Hyde Park

This is our friend the swan. I don't know why we didn't name him. Oh how we loved him

Someone threw a trash can in one of the fountains at the head of the Serpentine River...... Hello like London needs less trash cans. They already don't have enough

Well I finally got to go back to the Peter Pan statue in Hyde Park!!! And it was actually sunny today. Not like that hasn't been normal for while we've been here but it was cloudy last time I went

Isn't it fabulous? Such a magical place.

Across from the statue is this lovely view of the Serpentine River. There are also a lot of interesting birds that hang out there. I LOVE it.

Really truly this is my favorite place in all of London.

Jenn and Jami were tired. Actually we were all tired. Who would have thought that walking all the way home from Buckingham Palace would do that to you? Naw...

Oh so I said the statue area was magical? No joke... It was snowing...... Bit of cotton. I think the tree by it must be a cottonwood.

All small children in London ride scooters. There is so much walking that they can't walk the whole way and strollers are too big and inconvenient. Plus, how many fat English kids have you seen lately? Not many.

This is the pond (??) or lake (??) in Kensington Gardens right next to Hyde Park. There were tons of swans there today. It was great.

Haha okay so Liz the tour guide kept telling us to watch for what happens when the sun comes out in London. Well I have been watching I guess the parks are where I should have been watching. These people are fantasitic. I saw almost as many people without clothes on today as I did with clothes. This woman is in her underwear. Not even a swimsuit... underwear! And she wasn't the only one. My heck it makes you laugh.... and take pictures. :)

At some parks (and maybe Hyde Park too) you have to pay £2 to sit in these chairs. Well, I guess you can sit in the until you get caught. They're not at all comfortable though

Being mostly naked in parks is not the only thing you can do on a nice day in London. You can also smoke Hooka............. in the royal parks..................... these people are weird but I guess if you live in a flat the parks are your backyard? ?

It was a fun eventful day. I love these strange people here. They're a little bit different but like a friend told me..... No matter where you go everyone's mostly the same. They worry about how they look, they want to express who they are, and most of all, they find what makes them happy.