Paris & London

Ryan and Emily sitting on a lion in Trafalgar Square


Whitney and I in front of Big Ben


Ryan and I at La Tour Eiffel


The girls on the tower


The girls at the Portobello Road Market


Tea at the Orangery in the Kensington Palace gardens

So I haven't quite figured out how to upload pictures, but I will as soon as I can. The past three days have been a whirlwind: lots of walking and lots of sites, but incredible at the same time. Paris was amazing - we went first to Notre Dame, which of course made me want to start singing "God bless the outcasts" or "What makes a monster and what makes a man?" but I held back for the sakes of those with me. It is a beautiful, beautiful church, though. I felt that it was at once both a haven for worship and a place were tourists could come and be amazed by the craftsmanship those in earlier times possessed. I felt like I could stay there for hours and just feel at peace.
We followed N.D. with the Eiffel Tower, which was also amazing but our experience was punctuated by the loud shouts, firecrackers, sirens, and horns from a large group protesting something about the President right underneath the Tower. It was loud the whole 30 minutes we waited in line to walk up to the first two levels - which are crazy high even thought the top level is more than twice as tall! I am so glad we did that - it was a beautiful view.
We also went to the Arc de Triumphe (forgive my spelling on all of these), walked the Champs de Elysse` to the Place du Concorde, and visited the Louvre. Rachel, Bethany, Joel, Cindy, and Kelly stayed and went inside the Lourve, but Ryan, Emily, Adam and I had to get back since we had an earlier train. That's alright though - something must be left to go back for!
Back in London, I have been so excited because everything I didn't have time to do while on my Juniors Abroad trip, I was able to do now: visit St. Paul's Cathedral (the view from the top is amazing), see the Lion King - an actual dream come true and sooooo worth it), walk through St. James Park, have tea at Kensington Palace (with Rachel, Bethany, and Whitney today and it was lovely), visit Notting Hill and the Portobello Rd. Market, find David Livingstone's headstone at Westminster Abbey, attend evensong services at St. Paul's and Westminster (voices just sound so pure and heavenly inside cathedrals) and hang out with all of these wonderful track athletes and friends. I am so glad I came, although it seems strange that they are headed home tomorrow and I am barely starting out on my journey. I would be completely content to go home now - I have seen and been blessed by so much.
Tomorrow I catch a train to the Lake District where I will hopefully figure out how to get pictures onto a computer that doesn't belong to me. :) Until then, I love you all!