Final Week!

So I have been decidely lax about updating my blog in the past two weeks! Shame on me. I'll try to make up for it in this entry. This last week I've been checking things off my list of stuff to see and do, so my days tend to be a mishmosh of experiences all over the city. Today I made it out of bed in time to get a decent spot and watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. The best part was hearing the guard's band play. You would expect them to play really stuffy music, but they were fabulous. They played marching band type songs that you would expect to hear at a parade or a football game. They also played some jazz which was awesome! I then sauntered over to St. James Park where I ate my lunch under a tree. I felt so bohemian and chic! It was sunny and gorgeous for once so I read a book and watched everyone go by. The parks are definitely one of my favorite things about London. They are always full of people and they are all gorgeous. I hopped on the tube after lunch and rode north to Hampstead Heath. Hampstead Heath is part park and part forest. It was nice to wander around for a while. They also have a house there which acts as an art gallery, so I looked around. Then I stopped for tea around four o'clock as any true Londoner would. They have a cafe in the park looking towards the garden house. So I sipped my wild berry tea and delicately nibbled my scone with clotted cream and jam while gazing at an adorable little cottage with roses and wildflowers growing all over it. I read my book again and just enjoyed the atmosphere. I wandered around the rest of the park then hopped on the tube to visit Abbey Road, the shrine for all things Beatles here in London. The long tube ride was putting me to sleep and I almost decided to call it a day and go back to the dorm, but I pushed through and made it. The studio itself is right behind the famous cross-walk where the Beatles were photographed. Obviously you can't go in because they are still actual studios there. Oustide there is a white wall enclosing the studio where people have written their names or Beatles' lyric. When in London . . . I chose the lyric from "Hey Jude" where they sing "take a sad song and make it better." I added "Let It Be"since that's another of my favorite songs and then added my name and the date. I also walked the famous cross-walk and took numerous photos of the ground and different people crossing it. It was definitely a trip highlight for me. "All you need is love, bum ba bum ba bum"