Last Days in London

My last week in London I dedicated to see things I put off during the semester.  My internship had ended, which allowed for more free time during the day.  I took full advantage of this.

 

 

This is the front door to a speak easy located near my apartment, in which you enter by presenting a detective case.  We had to make an 'appointment' and the detective then agreed to take on our case.  Through the door, we were led down a flight of stairs to a study, which contained a bookcase.  One of the books then opened a door to the pub.  It was a really cool experience.

 

This is the Queen's House in Greenwich.  The current Queen does not live here, but it remains a royal palace.

This is a picture of me standing in the East and West Hemispheres.  The line is the Prime Meridian, at 0 degrees longitude.  It runs through Greenwich and Greenwhich Park in London.  Time Zones count back from this location.

 

This is the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace!  I put off doing this the whole semester and finally had time to do it on my last day in London.  It was extremely nice out too!

 

 View of Parliament from the other side of the River Thames.  I took this picture after sitting in on Parliament debates in the House of Commons and the House of Lords.  It was really interesting to witness.

 

My London home, 123 Queen's Gate!  My bedroom window is the one to the right of the balcony on the second floor.

Here is the Ithaca College London Center, where I took my classes.  I really enjoyed my time in London and Europe.  I had previously only been to Canada and am so thankful for having had this experience.  It was one of the best decisions I have ever made!

Sports in London

During my stay in London, I was able to view many sporting events.  I owe a lot of these opportunities to the sports class that I took at the London Center.  Here are some of the sporting sites I was able to visit later in my semester.

 

This is center court at Wimbledon Tennis Club.  I was able to take a tour of all the facilities.

This is a picture from The Boat Race.  The Boat Race is an annual rowing race between Cambridge and Oxford University on the River Thames.  This is a photo of the blue boat race, which is between the best group of rowers from each university.  This year was the 159th annual race and Oxford won.  The race was run successfully after last year's race was interrupted by a drunk guy swimming into the Thames.

Above was my front row view of the football match between Charlton Athletic and Leeds United.  We had amazing seats on what seemed like the first nice day we had in a while.  The game ended with a last minute, thrilling goal by the home team.  It was a great environment to be a part of!

This is a picture of Olympic Stadium.  I had the great opportunity to visit Olympic Park.  I was not able to enter the park, but walked around the site.  Just after the Paralympics ended, the site shut down to begin construction.  It is part of a park transformation to create an area that can be used for other purposes in the future.  London did not want the new facilities to go to waste.  It was really amazing to see the sites I saw on the Olympic coverage.  In addition to the stadium, I also saw the aquatics center, the Velodrome (cycling), and Olympic Villiage.

This is a picture from the London Marathon.  I volunteered at the Marathon for the charity, Children with Cancer UK.  My job was to cheer on the runners who have worked so hard to compete.  This was especially important after what happened in Boston, as several runners encouraged their families to stay at home.  I really enjoyed being a part of the marathon and it gave me such a good feeling.  Here is a link to the charity video from the marathon, where I can be seen a few times in the crowd: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOGe7J-kD8A