Spencer House & Jewel Tower

Today, Bre and I wanted to do some quick sightseeing before we studied for our finals.  We headed over to Spencer House, which we were really excited to finally see.  Its only open on Sunday and was totally worth the wait.  Unfortunately there were no photos allowed but the neoclassical interiors were absolutely amazing.  It was my first house tour I have done without my class!  After that we headed over to the Jewel Tower rich near Parliament.  The building has been used for so many things since being built in 1365.  It is one of only two surviving parts of Westminster Palace and now houses an exhibit about Parliament on the first floor and then an exhibit about the history of the building on the second floor.  After a quick day of sightseeing Bre and I headed back to the dorms to sadly start studying for finals. 

Spencer House

The Jewel Tower

Robes used in Parliament

The original wood foundation

Measuring material during the buildings time as the department of standards

Crystal Palace Football Game

Today, I went to my very first professional football (soccer) game!  All my friends and I headed over to the Crystal Palace Football Club at the Selhurst Park Stadium a little outside of London.  Everyone was super happy on the overground train, until we got to the stadium and it was raining.  Our seats were kind of amazing and in the second row to the left of the golly net.  The one unfortunate part of being so close to the field is that the covering over the seats was not covering us and we all we quite wet after the first half of the game.  The second half was drier but very cold!  Unfortunately, The Crystal Palace team lost 2-1 to Cardiff City but the game was a lot of fun.  

Kasie and Allison

Bre and I

Amanda, Julia, Cait, and Rebecca 

View from our second row seats

Temple Church & Marble Arch

Today, Bre and I headed over to have one of my favorite meals ever at Borough Market.  It was Bre's first time at the market so it was fun showing her around.  After that we headed over to see Temple Church.  The church is famous for being round and also the stone effigies.  It was refurbished by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London, so it was added to my list of Wren churches to see.  Finally we went over to Oxford Street and spotted the Marble Arch.  The arch, designed by John Nash was the original entrance to Buckingham Palace.  

Temple Church

The Stone Effigies

Marble Arch

Walking around London

On Saturday, I started the day off on Oxford Circus for some shopping.  After realizing this was a horrible idea on a weekend I headed off to see some churches around London.  I first saw All Souls which was built by John Nash, who is the same architect behind Buckingham Palace.  After that I headed over to Fleet Street to see St. Bride's Church.  The church was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and is the inspiration behind the shape of modern day wedding cakes.  After that I walked up and down Fleet Street and found another pretty church.  I also found the Twinings store and bought some tea!  To continue my day full of sightseeing I found the Staple Inn, which is the last Inn of Chancery.  The wooden building survived both the Great Fire of London and the Blitz!  I then headed over to the Barbican area of London to find my last church.  After taking some pictures of St. Bartholomew the Great I found myself in the Smithfield meat market.  It was closed but the building itself was really beautiful.  I then ended my day at the Museum of London.

All Souls

St. Bride's

Really Old Pub!

St. Dunstan-in-the-West

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Pub

(The Oldest Pub in London)

Staple Inn

St. Bartholomew the Great

Smithfield Market