My Life Beyond the Sea

Well week two in London has been pretty much AMAZING so far! We went to Stonehenge and Bath and Stourhead on Wednesday and I have decided that I am in love with the city of Bath and want to live there someday. Seriously, so gorgeous! And then yesterday I went to Westminster Abbey which was so impressive and beautiful and saw the tomb of Queen Elizabeth and Chaucer and all sorts of other important people. Then we went and saw Wicked last night which was honestly the most amazing and wonderful show I have ever seen in my entire life. I was giddy afterwards. The woman who played Elphaba could do the most incredible things with her voice! And the set and special effects were seriously top notch. I didn't even mind that I had to pay an arm and a leg for icecream during intermission because I was so in love with the show! So that was fabulous, and then today we went down to Southall and went to a Sikh Gurdwara and two Hindu Mandirs and that was really cool. It was so interesting to be able to worship with them and get to know their cultures better. Both Sikhs and Hindus are incredibly generous and good-hearted people and I loved being able to spend the day with them. And we walked around Southall which means we got to see all sorts of awesome little shops and stuff. I bought a pair of deeply fabulous earrings (of course) and tried a variety of Indian sweets that were nothing like what I expected but were not half bad at all. Anyway, I could go on and on about it but for the sake of those reading this I will just add to my loving London list and leave it at that :) So here are more quirky little things I love about London (and Great Britain in general):

* Parliament, Big Ben and the London Eye all lit up at night. It is so pretty. The lights reflecting in the water just make me want to jump right in it to be part of it because its so gorgeous! Unfortunately my practical side prevails and reminds me that not only is the water probably close to freezing, it also is the River Thames and therefore infested with all sorts of unpleasantness. Oh and I'd get a beast fine for swimming in a prohibited area.
* How so many people here don't use dryers but instead hang their laundry out on lines so as you walk down the neighborhood streets you can see the clothes flap in the breeze like many-colored banners.
* Delicious Thai food for only 3.40 pounds a plate!
* A lot of houses here have real curtains instead of those disgusting plastic fake venetian blinds that Americans are so fond of.
* Stonehenge. Technically its just a collection of huge rocks in the middle of a field, but when you see it, it is so captivating.
* The street musicians here have serious talent. There was this boy playing the violen in Bath and it was amazing. And there's a woman who sings down by the river at night and she has the most beautiful soulful voice! It makes me want to dance in the moonlight so much!
* In Bath the little boy running down the street holding his toy airplane aloft and the little girl who stuck her tongue out at us as she walked by.
* Also in Bath the two memorable phrases: "gut gazers" and "dating the baths"
* The little frogs that were absolutely everywhere in Stourhead that look gold if you manage to catch one and hold it up in the light.
* The bright colors and exotically wonderful smells of the outdoor markets in Southall. You wouldn't think that the smell of mangos, tomatos, onions, bananas and ginger would mix well but for some reason its amazing.
* Pakistani food that makes your lips buzz its so spicy :)
* Gelato.
* Watching Bride and Prejudice with a roomfull of awesome girls and all of us just getting a kick out of how hysterical it is and being able to say: hey I've been there! And: I ate that stuff today!

Anyway, so that's my life right now and I love it! And tomorrow I will probably go shopping at Harrods because everyone tells me one should go there when one visits London, and go to Evensong at Westminster and hopefully eat a pita from this little place called Taza's that is aparently life-changing... so the future looks good. And next weekend: Wales! I'm psyched. So ta-ta till next time dear friends and family afar! I love you all! Peace.