Hi everyone! We are getting closer and closer to coming home, as of today we only have thirty-one days left! We can’t wait to see all of you! We spent this past weekend in England and had a great time! Our plane took of early Saturday morning and we arrived in Luton, England a little before noon. We took a taxi ride to our hotel and after quickly getting settled and making sandwiches for lunch we went to train station down the road to take a train to the subway station which took us right into the heart of London! As we stepped out of the subway station we were right in front of Big Ben and the House of Parliament, the London Eye and the Westminster Bridge. After hearing so much about these famous sights we were so excited to see them in person. From there we walked to Buckingham Palace and stopped at St. James’s Park on the way. On our way back to the subways station we stopped to see Westminster Abbey. The city was absolutely beautiful and all of the people were incredibly friendly and helpful! (And had the best accents!)
Our hotel room was very nice and once again we were excited for English TV. We spent the night watching a movie on TV. We got up early Sunday morning to once again take the train and then the subway into London. Luton’s soccer team was playing in the soccer championship game that day at one o’clock and the train was packed with fans all dressed up heading into town to watch the game. It reminded us of riding the train into Philly with Aunt Lynnie to see the Phillies World Series parade. Our first stop of the day was Abbey Road where we saw the Beatle’s recording studio and took pictures on the cross walk made famous on their album cover. The road was very crowded both with lots of cars and lots of people trying to impersonate their picture! After a few close calls with the heavy traffic we were finally satisfied with our pictures and next took the subway to the London Bridge and the Tower of London. From there we walked to St. Paul’s Cathedral where Princess Diana was married and where Mary Poppins was filmed. The church was huge and very beautiful. It was nice to be in an English church on Palm Sunday. Parts of the subway station were closed for maintenance so we did lots of walking that day! Next we went to Trafalgar Square to see the famous statue and then took the subway to Harrod’s for some shopping before going to the Hammersmith Apollo Theatre.
Em has been in concert withdrawal especially after hearing about all of the concerts we are missing back home and had been in contact with a girl who had tickets to see Jason Mraz playing that night in London. The girl was studying abroad in Italy and after finding out she couldn’t go to the concert wanted someone to use the tickets so she unexpectedly e-mailed them to Em the morning of the concert! We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see Jason Mraz perform in London so we found an internet café to print out the tickets and arrived at the venue shortly before the concert started. We had never seen him in concert before and we were incredibly impressed! He was one of the best performers we have ever seen! The fans in London and all around Europe are crazy for him – they play his music all the time at school! He is bigger in London than the Jonas Brothers or John Mayer is in the United States. He had sold out two nights in a row at the Hammersmith Apollo and tickets were going for hundreds of pounds! (People had been camped out in front of the theater all day!) The theatre was very large with a huge balcony and glass chandeliers everywhere! Our tickets were amazing and we somehow ended up third row, in the pit, in the center of the stage and had a great time -- we always seem to luck out!
We were lucky enough to catch the last train of the night and arrived back to our hotel after two in the morning only to find out that the lock on our door was broken and we could not get in! We waiting for a half hour until the hotel fixed the lock before getting into bed around 2:30. We had to be up at five to catch our flight but the lack of sleep was worth a great night of music! We had a safe flight back to Nice and have spent yesterday and today food shopping, doing laundry and catching up on homework. Yesterday we went to Ville-Franche for the day which was beautiful! Filming for the movie finished yesterday but we did get to see another scene filmed in the town of Nice before we left. The scene featured Katherine Heigl walking down the street to a restaurant to meet Ashton Kutcher for a date. (We actually were in the background for a few takes before a producer realized we were not extras since until everyone else we were not dressed up and we were in jeans and t-shirts!) It was neat to see her up close – she is so pretty! Jen had wanted to ask her if she is leaving Grey’s Anatomy but didn’t get the chance!
We hope everything is going well at home! We miss you all tons and can’t wait to see you! We hate being away from home on Easter, but we hope you all have a great day and get lots of candy! We will be thinking about you!!! We got to skype with Granny and Pop-Pop on Tuesday night and loved being able to see and talk to them! We are headed to Brussels, Belgium on Friday so we will try to update you on that as soon as we get back! Today is also Julie's birthday!! Happy 21st Ju Ju -- we wish we could celebrate with you, hope you have an amazing day and a great time in New Orleans!
We love you!
Love, Jen and Em
A few strange things we noticed about London:
1. Everything is backwards: Because they drive on the opposite side of the car and road, they also walk on the opposite side of the stairs and streets- very hard to get used too and enter the roundabouts on the opposite side.
2. Escalators: when riding on the escalators, everyone forms a single line to the right side so people who do not want to stand still can walk by on the left. We did not realize this until we were the only ones standing on the left side and were politely asked to move over! It is actually a great system and made everything move a lot quicker!
3. Politeness: everyone is so polite! If we were simply standing on the street or subway looking at our map, people would walk over and ask us if we were okay, needed help or directors or were lost! They were also a lot less pushy on the subway then people in France.
*** 1: Jen in front of the London Eye. 2: Em in front of Big Ben. 3: All of the taxis in London were old fashion, Em took a picture of this one for Mom! 4: Us in front of Buckingham Palace. 5: Em in front of Westminster Abbey. 6: London Eye, Big Ben and House of Parliament. 7: Jen next to everyone signatures on Abbey Road. 8: Em in front of the Beatle's recording studio. 9-11: The famous Abbey Road! 12: Us in front of the London Bridge. 13: The Tower of London. 14: Us in front of St. Paul's Cathedral. 15: Jen in a phonebooth! 16: Em in front of Trafalgar Square. 17-19: Jason Mraz at the Hammersmith Apollo!!
Our hotel room was very nice and once again we were excited for English TV. We spent the night watching a movie on TV. We got up early Sunday morning to once again take the train and then the subway into London. Luton’s soccer team was playing in the soccer championship game that day at one o’clock and the train was packed with fans all dressed up heading into town to watch the game. It reminded us of riding the train into Philly with Aunt Lynnie to see the Phillies World Series parade. Our first stop of the day was Abbey Road where we saw the Beatle’s recording studio and took pictures on the cross walk made famous on their album cover. The road was very crowded both with lots of cars and lots of people trying to impersonate their picture! After a few close calls with the heavy traffic we were finally satisfied with our pictures and next took the subway to the London Bridge and the Tower of London. From there we walked to St. Paul’s Cathedral where Princess Diana was married and where Mary Poppins was filmed. The church was huge and very beautiful. It was nice to be in an English church on Palm Sunday. Parts of the subway station were closed for maintenance so we did lots of walking that day! Next we went to Trafalgar Square to see the famous statue and then took the subway to Harrod’s for some shopping before going to the Hammersmith Apollo Theatre.
Em has been in concert withdrawal especially after hearing about all of the concerts we are missing back home and had been in contact with a girl who had tickets to see Jason Mraz playing that night in London. The girl was studying abroad in Italy and after finding out she couldn’t go to the concert wanted someone to use the tickets so she unexpectedly e-mailed them to Em the morning of the concert! We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see Jason Mraz perform in London so we found an internet café to print out the tickets and arrived at the venue shortly before the concert started. We had never seen him in concert before and we were incredibly impressed! He was one of the best performers we have ever seen! The fans in London and all around Europe are crazy for him – they play his music all the time at school! He is bigger in London than the Jonas Brothers or John Mayer is in the United States. He had sold out two nights in a row at the Hammersmith Apollo and tickets were going for hundreds of pounds! (People had been camped out in front of the theater all day!) The theatre was very large with a huge balcony and glass chandeliers everywhere! Our tickets were amazing and we somehow ended up third row, in the pit, in the center of the stage and had a great time -- we always seem to luck out!
We were lucky enough to catch the last train of the night and arrived back to our hotel after two in the morning only to find out that the lock on our door was broken and we could not get in! We waiting for a half hour until the hotel fixed the lock before getting into bed around 2:30. We had to be up at five to catch our flight but the lack of sleep was worth a great night of music! We had a safe flight back to Nice and have spent yesterday and today food shopping, doing laundry and catching up on homework. Yesterday we went to Ville-Franche for the day which was beautiful! Filming for the movie finished yesterday but we did get to see another scene filmed in the town of Nice before we left. The scene featured Katherine Heigl walking down the street to a restaurant to meet Ashton Kutcher for a date. (We actually were in the background for a few takes before a producer realized we were not extras since until everyone else we were not dressed up and we were in jeans and t-shirts!) It was neat to see her up close – she is so pretty! Jen had wanted to ask her if she is leaving Grey’s Anatomy but didn’t get the chance!
We hope everything is going well at home! We miss you all tons and can’t wait to see you! We hate being away from home on Easter, but we hope you all have a great day and get lots of candy! We will be thinking about you!!! We got to skype with Granny and Pop-Pop on Tuesday night and loved being able to see and talk to them! We are headed to Brussels, Belgium on Friday so we will try to update you on that as soon as we get back! Today is also Julie's birthday!! Happy 21st Ju Ju -- we wish we could celebrate with you, hope you have an amazing day and a great time in New Orleans!
We love you!
Love, Jen and Em
A few strange things we noticed about London:
1. Everything is backwards: Because they drive on the opposite side of the car and road, they also walk on the opposite side of the stairs and streets- very hard to get used too and enter the roundabouts on the opposite side.
2. Escalators: when riding on the escalators, everyone forms a single line to the right side so people who do not want to stand still can walk by on the left. We did not realize this until we were the only ones standing on the left side and were politely asked to move over! It is actually a great system and made everything move a lot quicker!
3. Politeness: everyone is so polite! If we were simply standing on the street or subway looking at our map, people would walk over and ask us if we were okay, needed help or directors or were lost! They were also a lot less pushy on the subway then people in France.
*** 1: Jen in front of the London Eye. 2: Em in front of Big Ben. 3: All of the taxis in London were old fashion, Em took a picture of this one for Mom! 4: Us in front of Buckingham Palace. 5: Em in front of Westminster Abbey. 6: London Eye, Big Ben and House of Parliament. 7: Jen next to everyone signatures on Abbey Road. 8: Em in front of the Beatle's recording studio. 9-11: The famous Abbey Road! 12: Us in front of the London Bridge. 13: The Tower of London. 14: Us in front of St. Paul's Cathedral. 15: Jen in a phonebooth! 16: Em in front of Trafalgar Square. 17-19: Jason Mraz at the Hammersmith Apollo!!
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