21 at last!

Well what a weekend! Friday, we got to skip our weekly seminar for an "at-home" version. I got my first birthday gifts from David and from my parents (thank you!). We went for froyo for lunch, delicious and so worth the calories. The museum of the day was the Imperial War Museum. It was really interesting, we definitely could go back and spend more time there. We checked out the main floor with the huge tanks, planes, bombs etc. We wanted to get away from the million school children there, so we went into the Children of the War exhibition. This was especially cool because in America, we learn what happened in England during WWII, but not in very much detail. I really enjoyed seeing this side of things. Last, we went through the brand new Holocaust Exhibit which was kind of a downer start to the birthday weekend.

Inside the Museum


Afterwards, we headed back to The Gloucester Arms for the US World Cup game and then the England Game. We met a ton of Americans there...first a group from the University of Arizona then another group who had just graduated from school in California. After the disappointing games, we decided to check out the Ministry of Sound with our new friends.


Watching the Games


New American Friends!


The Ministry of Sound was so crazy and fun. There are tons of rooms and different areas and lots of DJs. The main room, The Box even has a warning that said "Caution Excessive Sound Levels." We had so much fun and even though we were out late, it was worth it. We even attempted to take the Night Bus home, which was a disaster. After getting home in the wee hours, we slept almost all day.

Caution!



Great Night...


After waking up at 2pm, we wanted to do SOMETHING fulfilling on Saturday. We ventured out to the Tower of London with our friends from Bryant. Also, while we were there, the Tower Bridge went up! It was really cool to see. Here are some pics!


With the Guards



Video of the Bridge


Feeling adventurous, we went to Brick Lane for dinner, for world famous Indian Food. Immediately we were harrassed by different restaurant owners trying to get us to come to their place. We settled on City Spice, which turned out to be delicious. One catch- I ate a forkful of veggies without looking, and downed a fresh green chili pepper. I honestly thought I was going to throw up on the table. I survived, and we had a relaxing Saturday night to recover from Friday and prepare for the birthday festivities!

Delish...




Now for the birthday! I woke up to a wonderful brunch from my lovely roomies! It was complete with nutella stuffed french toast, fruit salad, and mimosas!

Yum!




We headed off to the Church! for a lovely Sunday bday! This was a crazy place! Only open Sundays noon to four...and there is a "show" each week. We were lucky enough to see the end which involved a lovely female dancer and some hilarious drinking games onstage. The last part of the show was a girl's dance and all the girls get up on stage, including Rachel and I!

On stage


The View from the stage


It was so much fun and I got lots of free drinks being the birthday girl! My roomies helped me out getting me water and finding poor bar-goers to buy me drinks. I ended the afternoon covered in sharpie and paint on my face that said 21! I scrubbed it all off later!

This week we'll continue working and this weekend is Stonehenge, Bath, perhaps seeing a musical, and going to the Hard Rock Calling Music Festival!

cb