Student Riot Madness

This morning I woke early and tried out my new running steeze. Thank you REI—I looked entirely legit. It was really fun running through Hyde Park and around the circular pond in Kensington Gardens. Normally I think running is dreadful, but it is much more enjoyable when you’re running in London! It was freezing, of course, but only my fingers truly got cold!

Then I went with my friend Ashley to grab some birthday presents for her best friends at home at the Portobello Road Market. It’s still my favorite market, and I especially love it because it’s only a ten minute walk from our flat! Unfortunately, we were supposed to go straight from the obscure ending of this market to our tour of Parliament, but the tube station we were planning on using was entirely closed. Already late and in the middle of nowhere, we hopped on a bus. I have ridden the bus here in London before, but this was my first time on a double-decker bus! It was fun looking down on the streets and seeing the flats above all of the stores lining the streets. We eventually made it to a functioning tube station, and guided ourselves to the Westminster station. From there, we had to make it to the intensive screenings to get into the Parliament buildings.

This was especially difficult this day, because we were smack dab in the middle of the massive student riot. Go check out the news, because the students over here are creating quite a fuss for the English government and we were right there experiencing it. There were little policemen with their funny hats all over the place!

We made it through the intense screening in Parliament and were able to join a later tour of the building. It was cool walking through the rooms knowing that the Queen was forbidden to ever enter those rooms, yet there I was, walking through the same rooms. Our tour guide was psycho, bossy, and in-your-face, but that made it interesting! Don’t worry Mom, I got my keychain.

Pictures were only allowed in this first room of the building.

This is me, Paige and Ashley in the Westminster Hall...

And since it was a Saturday night here in London, we went out to celebrate our friend Annie’s birthday. We found ourselves at the most elaborate mall I have ever seen: Westfields. We ate legit American food at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen and got a small dallop of Gelato. I cannot wait until I get to taste real Gelato in Italy, because last night was heaven, and apparently the real stuff is even better. Wonderful! Oh boy, what a crazy day!