London!

This weekend was Megan's and my long-awaited trip to London! (to see one of our sorority sisters, Elizabeth!)
We left early Friday morning and had the fun experience of going through the Chunnel (apparently just missing a fire), and arrived in King's Cross-St. Pancras Station. Sorry Dad, you were wrong, Waterloo Station is only national trains. Of course, since we were in King's Cross, we had to go find Platform 9 3/4 (Harry Potter joke, for those of you who don't get it). They actually not only have made a Platform 9 3/4, but have a luggage cart sticking out from the wall! So of course I tried to get to Hogwarts, but it didn't work.
After the hostel, our first stop was the British Museum! Since it's pretty large, we decided to just go down the list of the "must-sees" on the map. So first stop, Rosetta Stone! It was really cool to see, and right in the center of the Egyptian wing. We also saw a lot of statues from the Parthenon (and read a pamphlet about the debate between the British and Greek governments), a Scottish chess set where every piece is different, lots of mummies, a lot of African masks, and many other archeological interests. Next up was the obligatory red phone booth photo, then fish and chips for lunch!
After lunch we were finally able to call Elizabeth (travelling leads to lots of phone problems) and meet up with her to get tickets for Wicked for that night!!! Then she showed us around to Buckingham Palace (sadly the Queen wasn't home, but we got to see the guards!), Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, and that central area of London. We also passed the palace where Prince Charles lives, St. James's Park, Waterloo Station, and some other lovely landmarks.
To finish off the day, we had tea and biscuits at Elizabeth's flat in the East End, went to a pub for dinner, and then headed to the theater to see Wicked!!! Since I saw it with the original cast and no one can compare to Idina Menzel, it wasn't quite as good as New York, but Wicked is still amazing no matter who is playing the roles. It was weird to hear all the actors (except the Wizard, oddly enough) with British accents. But we had a great time.
The next morning Megan and I woke up and went to Westminster Abbey. It was really interesting. No pictures are allowed, but you get a free audioguide with admission that tells you everything you need to know as you examine the huge church. We saw where Queen Elizabeth I is buried, as well as Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Geoffrey Chaucer, and many other characters. The church is absolutely beautiful, and I really liked having the audioguide. It's still a working church used for coronation ceremonies. (We saw the really old coronation chair too!) It was really cool but I am still sad that I wasn't able to take pictures (although I did get a little book about it that has a lot of pictures in it).
Next, Megan and I decided to walk to Trafalgar Square, and I was excited to see all the lion statues, haha. After lunch we walked to Covent Garden, a giant marketplace and mall. There were street performers and Christmas decorations and all sorts of cool stuff going on.
We then met up with Elizabeth to go to the Tower of London, definitely my favorite thing about the weekend. Aside from all the interesting history about it to begin with, you get these really cool tour guides called Yeoman Warders. To be one, you have to have had 22 years of service in the Royal Army. You also live inside the Tower (where you are locked inside at 10 pm every night). But they are really charismatic and funny and know almost everything there is to know about British history. We heard stories about Anne Boleyn and Sir Walter Raleigh and all the other famous prisoners in the Tower (including seeing where Anne Boleyn was executed, and then her burial place). After our tour, we saw the Crown Jewels, which are impressive to say the least. No pictures allowed of those either, but I got one.
Then we walked over to see the outside of St. Paul's Cathedral and the Globe Theatre (which was really cool!), and after that sat in a Starbucks until it was time for Megan and me to go home, because it was freezing!!! We made it home late last night. Elizabeth was a wonderful tour guide and I am so glad we got to see her!
One of the things that struck me about London was how much like home it felt. It could just be because everyone spoke English, but there was also an abundance of American chain restaurants (example: Megan and I ate in Burger King AND Subway) and stores. We even found American Cosmo for almost the same price as it is at home (in Paris you can find it but it's about 7 or 8 euros, aka twice the price). I also noticed how much cheaper everything is, even with the difference between the euro and the pound (although the pound now is thankfully much lower than it was when we got here). Food in Paris is so much more expensive, particularly when you are eating at a restaurant. It was really strange having everything be in English, too! When the waitress gave me my fish and chips on Friday, I said "Merci" instead of "Thank you."
And now, I'm in Paris and Megan just informed me that it's SNOWING!!!! Just a little flurry but I haven't seen snow yet this year and it apparently almost never snows in Paris!
I'll put my London pictures on Picasa later today, there are a lot of them!