Budget Cuts in London=over 250,000 Protestors!

Today Jimmy, Libbie, and Jimmy's cousin Louis walked down towards Westminster Abbey to do some sightseeing. We started to see all of these cops or "constables" standing around and were wondering what was going on.

Westminster Abbey; one of the most famous shots of the "rose" window.

All of a sudden we rounded the corner and saw thousands of protestors in front of the abbey and the buildings of Parliament. The government just made a bunch of cuts for social budgets including: education, nursing, and a ton of others unions. 

Cops lining the streets in front of the abbey.

Apparently, it's the third largest protest that London's experiences within the last ten years!

There was a helicopter hovering overhead. I'm not sure if it was there in case of needed crowd control, or for news coverage?

It was a ton of people, but I was amazed at how calm the whole march really was. There were families with babies and people with dogs!

Stylish?

The young; adorable little girl :)

and the old.

Groups went all out. One even fabricated a type of Trojan Horse!

A little boy holding a picket sign!

Just a peek at how many cops were there!

It was really amazing and powerful to see how many people came together for a cause that is so close to them. Even though there were so many people and we walked right through the protest, I never really felt threatened or scared. I feel like people really have a big voice in politics here. It seems that protesting may actually be considered by government and the people may actually have quite a large voice here; especially since there were over 250,000 people!

It's been absolutely gorgeous here this week! I went to Hyde Park and played some frisbee with shorts and t-shirt! crazy! The trees are starting to leaf and the blossoms on the rose bushes and cherry trees are in full bloom. It smells wonderful in the parks! Missing all of ya so much :)

Greenwich Boat Trip

This past Saturday, a few of us took a boat trip up The River Thames to Greenwich. We started the trip off at Westminster, right by Parliament and Big Ben!

It was a gorgeous day out! It reached the low 60's! This is The London Eye.

The Ministry of Defense: The headquarters for the British Army, Royal Navy, and Royal Air Force.

Millenium Bridge: It was opened in 2000, but close the same day due to too much foot traffic. The bridge was actually swaying 1 foot in each direction!

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

Going under London Bridge!

The HMS Belfast; it was first launched on St. Patrick's Day 1938, commissioned in 1939, and decommissioned in 1963. It is now used as a museum ship as part of The Imperial War Museum; much like the  William A. Irvin in Duluth, MN. It was the largest and most powerful cruiser of The Royal Navy at the time. It served in both WWII and The Korean War.

The Tower of London.

Sailing under Tower Bridge.

Tower Bridge; most think this is London Bridge, because it's much more grand than London Bridge.

A marina.

A view of the city.

 from left to right:

The Shard, Tower Bridge, St. Paul's Cathdral (in the far distance).

A riverside pub named after the last person, Captain William Kidd, to be hung above The Thames and be drowned as the tide rose! He was accused of piracy. The tide rises in and out at about 7 meters every day!

Thought to be ugly by many, this building was designed so that everyone who lives there has a riverside view of The Thames! Ingenious!

One of the many WHARF's alongside The Thames. Something interesting I learned was that WHARF stands for Warehouse at River Front...clever!

HMS Bulwark: an active navy ship commissioned in 2004, it's just taking a rest in the river apparently :) The Royal Family was on it the other day visiting!

A view of The Queen's House and Canary Wharf Financial District from The Greenwich Observatory.

The Royal Observatory in Greenwich, where all time in the world is set from Greenwich Mean Time; the Prime Meridian.

All of these people were gathered around watching...

squirrels haha :)

The Royal Observatory looking down upon Greenwich Park.

This is a Cutterhead; it's made of steel and weights over 11 tons! It was made to remove materials from the seabed and for large construction projects in the Far East.

The anchor to The Royal Yacht: Victoria & Albert 1899; it weights about 4 tons!

They're already mowing the lawn at The Queen's House!

Instead of Port-a-Potty, these are Portaloos!!! hilarious :)

The daffodils are starting to be in full bloom! Spring has sprung in London:)

The Maritime Greenwich Museum.

Part of The Royal Naval Academy.

It was a beautiful day in Greenwich and it has really been beautiful ever since with blue skies and sun; very little clouds. From today, March 21, I only have exactly one month left of school and just over a month in London! I can't believe it! Time went ridiculously fast! I hope everything is going well at home and spring is just around the corner :) 

Windsor Castle and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

This is Windsor Castle; occasional home of The Queen. The large round tower on the right is called, "The Round Tower" and is part of the original castle built by Henry II in the early 12th century!

Part of the gardens around the castle.

One of the hundreds of rooms within the castle. This room, along with many others, was destroyed in the fire of 1992. Many of the priceless pieces of furniture and paintings were saved, but some were not.

A plane flying over Windsor.

An AMAZING bakery! Their cupcakes look like something from a Disney movie-every color under the sun and every delicious flavor imaginable! I had strawberry :)

The new building, which is an almost identical replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

Inside; they put on Shakespeare's plays from April until the end of summer. This year, they're starting out the season with The Bible's Passion Story and the events leading up to it! 

The stage; no fake lighting, no gimmicks, exactly like it would have been during Shakespeare's time!

The Globe is the only building in London that is allowed to have a thatched roof. This is because of the Great Fire of London that occurred in 1666 and spread rapidly, mainly because of the thatched roofs.