The Three Musketeers Premiere

First of all, the Three Musketeers Premiere was 90000 times better than the Abduction premiere. Here are some reasons:

A. It was inside. I was not standing in the pouring rain.

B. There's actually more than just one famous person in the movie.

C. It was at a much bigger venue.

D. There was sword fighting, emcees and interviews everyone could hear.

Milla Jovovich

The Other Guys!

Cute Logan Lerman. He was so nervous. In his interview he said he was out of his comfort zone. You could tell. It was endearing.

Matthew Macfadyen

And Orlando!!

We decided to stand above again so we would for sure get to see all the cast members. It went well. But we saw that when the actors were finished with all the interviews and fans on the lower level, they came up an escalator to the level we were on. So we ran over there when Orlando came up and I got these real close ups of him! He was 5 feet away!

He seemed like a genuinely nice person. The format was that each actor would come out on this balcony and get interviewed by one of the emcees so everyone there could hear. Then they would walk down and come out some doors after two guys played trumpets to announce their arrival. All the stars were ushered over to the press after they came out of the door, but Orlando immediately went to the other side where the fans were. I'm pretty sure he didn't skip out on any section of fans on the lower level. And when we yelled to him when he was close to us he fully looked over and waved. I know these premieres seem like a waste of time, but they are exciting and just fun to go to. And why not take advantage when I live in a city that holds them!

St. Paul's

Last Wednesday, September 28, we went to St. Paul's Cathedral. This cathedral has a rich history and stood as a beacon of hope during the great fire in London. There's a famous picture of the city in flames, but the dome of the cathedral still in sight. It is really beautiful inside, but you can't take pictures. We got to go on a 'supertour' and had a very knowledgeable woman take us around. We also hiked up many many stairs to go to the two balconies that surround the dome.

It's in the business district, and at lunch time the steps out front were filled with business guys eating their lunches.

These stairs were used in filming Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Also the latest Sherlock Holmes.

Ashleigh and I were trying to do model shots. Fail.

Cambridge

Last Thursday, September 29th, we went to Cambridge. The first thing we did was go punting on the River Cam. It's like a gondola ride. It was very nice and relaxing. Luckily it wasn't raining. But also unluckily its been 80 degrees everyday- a little too hot for me. Our punter loved America and had done an exchange program when he was at University. He went to U Penn for a year and said a monkey could pass the classes. An inaccurate statement I predict.

Punting!

This is where Prince Charles lived when he went to Cambridge. If he becomes King he will be the first King to have ever gone to University.

A group of us outside the Fitzwilliam Museum.

So you can't just go on campus and look around, you have to pay. Cambridge is made up of many different colleges. You apply to each one, you don't apply to Cambridge as a whole. And some of the colleges have better reputations than others. We decided to pay and see Kings College. It is famous for its chapel that is more like a Cathedral. It was really pretty. Here's its ceiling and stained glass.

Buildings in Kings College.

Here's the huge chapel.

A view of Kings College from outside.

So Cambridge was different than I thought it would be. The grounds were absolutely pristine. You can't even walk on the grass- unless invited by a senior professor. The buildings in Kings College were gorgeous. But the surrounding town of Cambridge was grungier than I thought it would be. I guess it is a college town, but since Cambridge people think they exist in a higher realm I just thought it would be a tiny bit nicer. Who knows. But I'm excited to go to Oxford so I can compare them! Mwahaha!

Buckingham Palace

On Monday September 26th a few of us went to Buckingham Palace after class. I decided it was worth putting off homework because it was literally the last day I could go, seeing as it was closing to visitors a week later and I was busy every other day. Online it said tickets were sold out, but you could go to the palace to see if they had any more. We went at about 2 because of classes, and they were sold out and told us to come back early the next morning. Not going to work. But Laurel, our friend here, told us that we could get tickets from 'The Big Bus Tour' down the street. We went and found them and had to work the system to get the ticket. He told us that he could not give us tickets unless someone from the palace had sent us there. Well in my opinion, we weren't sent there, but the girl at the palace consented to us the big bug tour's location. We ran with that and he gave us a receipt for a ticket. I thought it was way sketchy and that we'd lose our money and not get in. I got kinda sad cause it took me awhile to realize that I wanted to spend the $26 to go, and now my indecision was going to prevent me from going. We went and luckily they totally let us in!

Waiting to go in! Lauren, Hilary, Allie, Megan and me.

Barbed wire around the palace grounds.

It was gorgeous inside. Very ornate. Also its cool that its the only palace that royals still live and work in. It is closing tomorrow because the Queen is coming back from her summering. One room had a secret passage that was cracked open! The outside looks like the rest of the wall and a table with flowers and sculptures on it. The flowers and sculptures are secured down so they can open up the wall.

One of the other reasons I really wanted to go was to see Kate Middy's dress! It was really pretty. Kind of haunting (but not really haunting) cause it was formed as though there was a body in it, but there obviously wasn't. It was tiny. She is so skinny and short. They also had her shoes and earrings. And the cake.

I was really glad we went! Also- we live so close to Kensington Palace. Literally a 2-3 minute walk. And I read on people.com the other day that Kate bought stuff from her local High Street Kensington Top Shop (a clothing store). Guess what Top Shop I was at 2 days earlier. The very same one! Her local Top Shop is my local Top Shop. As my friend Ashleigh said, "I reckon this is the closest I'll even get to William... Ahh, Top Shop is the glue that holds us all together."

I'm still holding out to see them.

Kew Gardens

On September 21st we went to Kew Gardens. It was nice. It seemed more like a park to me than a garden, but garden definitely hasn't a different definition over here. Kew was really big, and it is used for scientific research about plants, and has one of the bigger collections of plant species in the world.

These people were feeding the lily pads big bulbs of something weird. They would stick the bulbs into the soil.

Me and Brooklynn at the Orangery.

Baby Venus Flytraps! You can see a fly caught in the one on the upper left.

These plants looked like little creatures to me.

Kendal, Me, Brooklynn and Madeline at the lily pond house.