The entry in which I see a lot of things and get kissed by a Frenchman.

Let's get down to the nitty gritty right away.  Monday I had class in the morning and Phil (my Shakespeare teacher) was in FINE form.  I think he got over excited and shouted at least three times.  He just really loves Hamlet I guess.  All the while Rodger(my theater teacher) sat in the corner and chuckled at him.  After class our whole group went to the tower of London, which as most of you know is actually more of a castle with lots of towers rather than just one tower.  Also the Tower Bridge, which is SUPER famous and everyone thinks is London Bridge, is right there and looked beautiful in the sunlight.  In the Tower of London there are several different things of interest, mainly the large museum of Armour and weaponry of past monarchs (and may I say that King Henry the VIII was a very large man...) the exhibit of the crown jewels used for coronations (HUGE GEMS!) and the Beauchamps Tower where the walls are covered in ancient graffiti from famous prisoners. I just couldn't believe that so many ancient and tragic figures walked the same halls, and touched the same walls as I did, Anne Boleyn was killed there, the two young princes were murdered there, and kings roamed the grounds.  One thing that is legendary are the Tower crows.  There are these extremely large crows that are always in the grassy courtyards of the Tower of London and according to legend if they ever leave the British Empire will fall.  As we were leaving the Tower there were two Knights in full Armour that were preparing to do battle out on the front lawn area of the Tower so I decided to stay and watch.  They first fought with broadswords and then with these spear things.  In between rounds they would rag on each other and shout things out to the crowd, I loved it!  That night I went to go see the Agatha Christie play Moustrap, and I felt that it was ok, but I already knew the end so there was no suspense in it for me.
Tuesday morning we all woke up bright and early and left for the Victoria Station at about 8:30.  From the Victoria Station we took a train out to Linfield which is on the country outskirts of London.  It was about an hour train ride, and we accidentally left one of our classmates behind because she was in the bathroom when the train left.  When we got to the Linfield station we all took taxis to the Temple Grounds.  They were so beautiful! They had fountains and lots of flowers and little walkways.  After we finished at the Temple, (which was so refreshing) we caught taxis back to the train station and rode the train back.  It was a very pleasant train ride we all sat together and laughed and talked and I wrote letters and looked out the windows at the stunning countryside we were riding through. When we got home we all got ready to go to our play that night. The play was at the New London Theater and it was called War Horse, SPECTACULAR! Literally filled with visual spectacle.  This was a play about WWI but the main character in it is a horse named Joey and the boy who raises him named Albert.  The horses in the play were done by large and intricate puppets operated by three men, they were so life-like in their movement and sounds that by the end of the play I forgot that they weren't real horses! There were explosions and music and gun-fire and a tank.  It was touching and frightening and exciting all at the same time.  Look it up on YouTube sometime and check out the crazy cool puppets.
That brings us to today.  Whew! What a day.  First of all I had class this morning until about 12.  After that a small group of us decided to go do the Big Bus Tour, which our program issued us tickets for.  It runs all around London and points out the important sights.  It was very enjoyable/educational.  We sat on the top of the bus in open air and listened to our tour guide Joe tell us funny and informative things.  We were probably on there for a good four hours. After getting off and grabbing a quick sandwich at Pret A Manger we decided to do one of the many walking tours offered here in London.  We settled on the Ghost Tour, which took you around to different sites and pubs and told you the ghost stories associated with them.  Something interesting happened while waiting for the tour.  We were standing in line and this Frenchman (who was evidently a tour guide with the buses) comes up to us and starts talking to some of my friends saying, "You can all go on this tour, but SHE is coming on a different tour with ME."  He grabbed my hand and held it for a good ten minutes after that while haggling with my friend Lauren about how much she would sell me for.  He was like 45 years old and all over me! It was hilarious and awkward and I didn't know how to react!  He asked me if I liked it over here and if I would like to stay forever... with him! He was very complimentary and funny.  Then he asked my friend Patrick to take a picture of us together so we could always remember when we fell in love, and right before Patrick was going to take the picture he wrapped his arms around me and planted a huge smooch on my cheek and wouldn't let go! I'VE NEVER LAUGHED SO HARD IN MY LIFE! I was freaking out! There are pictures on Facebook, and oh my word.... It was so unexpected and crazy.
After that whole drama, we actually did go on the ghost tour which was fascinating.  We went around to all these odd little alley ways and spots and heard a lot of cool old ghost stories.  One place she took us was where Benjamin Franklin lived while he was in London and she told us that years later 10 dead bodies were found buried in the back yard of the Franklin house.  What they think happened was that the Landlord-lady's daughter was involved with this medical student, and in those days the medical field was changing in leaps and bounds and dissecting dead bodies was all the rage.  Problem was, only criminals who were executed were allowed to be dissected because they felt it was disrespectful.  So medical students would hire grave robbers to dig up fresh bodies for them to experiment with.  They think they were using Benjamin Franklin's house as a kind of trading house for these bodies.  Gross but intriguing huh? Another story was about an artist that used to paint nudes, and back in the Victorian days that was quite looked down on.  Any way story is that he fell in love with one of his models, but she met a tragic end.  People say they see her running down the stairs at his house often. The tour guide also took us to a spot in this weird little courtyard down a very skinny alley off of fleet street that was supposedly where Sweeny Todd the demon Barber of Fleet Street would commit his murders.
After the tour I was exhausted but I had to grab a few items at the grocery store because I was seriously low on food, but now I am good for a while. So now you know all about my recent adventures.