God Save the Queen

It has been one week exactly since I arrived at the airport in Atlanta and sat and got to know my 17 housemates and prepared to get on a plane and fly to another country. We sat in circles in the airport and talked of what we expected, and how we thought life would be. We wondered what we'd do when we arrived, what the house would look like, how it was going to work. And here we are a week later, calling the Daniel House home, getting around the city with such ease, knowing what stops are on what tube line, and the order of several of them. The general idea of where things are around us. We have a confidence to branch out into London and explore on our own or in small groups. Sitting around and discussing British History with each other and our professors. We've come so far and learned so much in a week. It is amazing and such a great opportunity, that I'm so thankful I've been given the chance to be a part of.

The weather has been amazing. I'm adjusting to the cooler weather which is great, because its about to get even colder. Well I think today I shall do thinks a little backwards. Start with today and try to take you back to where I left off in my last post. Theoretically things shall calm down a bit, and I won't have as jam packed posts and be scrambling to even post, they might even be read over again after I type them, amazing ;) .

Today, we had a later start to our day, which was really nice. We walked to church this morning, it was a really great little walk and we got to see more of the area that we live in. But I did learn one thing early on, I did not bring the right dress shoes. OH MY GOSH! I ended up walking back to the house barefoot because I got so many blisters on the way to church, it wasn't pretty. But lets get back the the better part of this post. We went to Holy Trinity Brompton this morning as a group. It was so beautiful. It was built in the 1820's, and by just looking around the walls you could see the great history of this community. Now a cool aspect that made many of us feel very at home, was the worship leader.... Tim Hughes; who has written many of the classic Christian worship songs, many of which you probably sang today in your service you attended. It was so great to be in a familiar atmosphere, attending the service here was so much like what a lot of us are used to, yet at the same time so different. This church has a clear passion for social justice, the poor and the hurting, as well as those wanting to help, those seeking, and those who don't know where they are in life. It was great to be in an environment that shared my passion for social justice and the poor and to see them acting on it, inviting me along. Another wonderful thing that today brought for a lot of our house was sense of not being alone, let me explain. We have had several conversations feeling as if we are walking in a lots city, a city surrounded by God and with so much of our Christian heritage happened right here. Yet it seemed, because we were just passing face after face after face, that none of them cared, none of them realized the beautiful things surrounding them were created by and for God, the praises the flowers in the park were singing out to God. But today, as we walked into a church, filled with people that loved Jesus, all of this shattered to pieces, it was such a blessing to be able to stand in a room of people worshiping, to worship alongside of strangers yet know we had a special bond. The people at this church were so nice, we met several people that pored so much into us in a matter of a 10 minute conversation. We found out about some ways we can get involved at this church and connected with other college students in London. As a house we are all so pumped and ready for all of this to begin. It was a great morning.
The rest of the day was very chill and wonderful. We went out and spent a little time just looking in shops we'd passed for days and been unable to go in. Then came back and took a nap! I still am so jet lagged and not adjusted to this schedule, but I was also slightly sleep deprived before we left. I think in about a week we'll get it down.

Okay and to quickly fill you in on the other 2 days, on the second day of our London Pass, which I mentioned last time, my group headed out to Windsor Castle, and Hampton Court Palace.
Windsor Castle is one of the official residences of The Queen and the largest occupied castle in the world. A Royal home and fortress for over 900 years, the Castle remains a working palace today. I believe it was built around 1070, and is located right by the river Thames, in the town of Eaton, which is precious. The castle is home to St. George's Chapel, which is beautiful and contains a lot of medieval architecture, I look forward to hopefully going out there for a service when their choir is there, which is I hear is amazing. Several former Kings and Queens were married, buried, or born here. In St. George's there is a display that shows the crests and flags of the current Knights and the crests of every former Knight. One really cool thing we got to see in our visit out here was Queen Mary's Doll house. This doll house made in the 1920's is incredible. The plumbing and electricity actually work! In the King's bathroom, the counter top is made of real marble. This doll house which was a gift from the nation to Queen Mary for her birthday, was made to show the best of English arts, crafts and manufacturing. This doll house is incredible, if you ever get the chance, go see it. I found some pictures to show you the incredibleness of this doll house. We also got to see the changing of the guards at Windsor Castle.


The first picture is the Butler's Pantry, complete with real china and a tiny jar of mustard that they really used in the 1920's. The second picture is the day Nursery, with a toy train and play stage, the next picture is the library. The fourth picture is the north hall, which shows the staircase and side rooms. Then the fifth picture is the queens bedroom, the ceiling is painted by a famous artist of the time like the ceilings of most rooms in the palaces for real.
The house also had a working miniature electric vacuum, which was a big deal when the house was built. The sixth picture shows the doll house with the sides pulled down and where it just looks like a house; and the seventh shows one of the sides, with the dinning hall



After Windsor Castle, we hopped a train, the tube and a bus, and headed to Hampton Court. Hampton Court was the home of Henry the VIII. Hampton Court was built in 1814, and is was his main residence. The interior of this palace was not as ornate as many of the ones we had seen in previous days, it was beautiful, just a little calmer. There was a maze that we traveled through and had a lot of fun in, met some interesting people that decided we knew what we were doing and followed us everywhere we went through the maze. We got to see what the Tudor kitchens looked like and travel through the original kitchen. Another really great part of this palace was that it wasn't over crowed with tourists, which was lovely. We were able to walk at our own pace, and not feel like we were engulfed in a crowd. There were some amazing gardens and areas surrounding the palace. We also got to see the royal tennis courts, and some guys playing on it which I could have clearly beat. But it was really cool.

I think that catches you up to date. On Friday we did a scavenger hunt and familiarized ourselves with getting around town, and not just relying on the tube but learning to use our maps and navigate the crazy streets of London. We found some really cool things like the paperchase store, they make amazing journals, and stationary and such; and we found a place with really cheap pizza.

Until next time, Cheers!