Grab a snack, drink, and use the bathroom before this one.

On Sunday, we bought tickets for the Original Bus Tour which takes people all around London, making various stops allowing us to get off whenever and jump back on a bus after seeing a landmark. This was very convenient because we still had many things we wanted to see. Some of the things we saw were: St James Palace, The Ritz Restaurant, Speakers Corner (where anyone can stand and speak out about anything except the Royal family on Sundays). We also saw the Dorchester where many of the famous people stay, the barbed wire fence of the Buckingham Palace gardens (41 acres), the street where the Duke of Wellington owns all the property and you can't buy, can only lease, and it's the most expensive homes in not only Europe...but the world. We got off the bus to see St Paul's Cathedral, which isn't open for tours on Sunday, but were able to walk through and light candles. Mom and Mom Mom walked up farther and listened to part of the Mass, while Lisa and I walked around. We then got back on the bus and stopped at the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London, where we saw the Crowned Jewels and everything else that was worth more than we will ever make in our lives...combined. Lisa and I walked around separately and saw many things. We saw the site where Anne Boleyn and many others were decapitated which was a glass memorial with a glass pillow on top of it. We also went into the White Tower which was full of armor and artillery used for many centuries before. For dinner, we went to the Sports Cafe near Trafalgar Square where Lisa had read that they show NFL games on Sunday night. Unfortunately, they did not play the Ravens game because they only get certain ones on certain weekends. We were still able to watch another game and see the scores during that. While waiting for our table, a very handsome young man walked by me and I hit Lisa and said "that was Josh Duhamel!" For those of you who don't know who this is, he was in Transformers, Win a Date With Tad Hamilton, the show Las Vegas, and All My Children. Shaking, we followed him outside and debated how to go about asking him to be in a picture with us. I guess we were pretty obvious because he saw us struggling and walked over and asked and we were like oh yeah of course sure. Lisa fumbled with her camera and knocked her earring out and I thought my knees were going to give out on me because I was shaking so bad. So we got a picture with him and went into the restaurant and realized that our booth was back to back with his and his fiance, Fergie of Black Eyed Peas. If you don't know who Fergie is, then look her up because she is very famous. We ate our dinner and when he got up to pay the check and get ready to leave, I (being the brave one that I am) walked over to Fergie's booth and said "um hi excuse me..would you mind being in a picture with my sister and I?" and she said "oh of course! you asked so politely!" I blushed. I frantically summoned Lisa to come over and join me and my mom got up also to take the picture. She was very proud of herself because every other time she took a picture with Lisa's camera, she accidentally pressed power and turned it off. She not only didn't turn it off, but was able to get all 3 of us in the picture without her glasses. Lisa was complimented on being a sports fan when Fergie saw she was wearing a Ravens jersey. I did not know what was going on because I was shaking and all I could do was smile. Lisa says that Fergie tried to shake my hand but I'm not sure what I was doing because everything was out of focus. We told her that it was nice to meet her and she said the same (we didn't think to ask why they were there or anything like that). I don't really remember what was going through my head at the time because we were so excited. Josh came back and said bye and smiled and waved (our new friend!) and he took her hand and they walked out of the restaurant...and our lives.
One of the best nights of our lives by far.
We slept in on Monday, went to get tickets for Wicked and then got on our Original Bus tour bus to go to the Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. It was really neat to see and be there but it was so crowded that it was hard to get good pictures although Lisa still managed to get up there in the action. After that, we went to Harrods and saw floors full of everything we can't afford and Lisa wouldn't try anything on with me. That night we went to see Wicked which was really really good and had some very catchy tunes. Tuesday, we slept in and missed breakfast which ended at 9am everyday. We went to the Portabello Road Market in Notting Hill. It was a pretty walk but didn't buy anything. We took a picture of the Travel Book Shop that was in Notting Hill (the movie with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant). We walked around inside and were intrigued that it was in a movie. After that, we walked around the Kensington Palace, the former home of Princess Diana. We were leaving that day so we didn't have time to walk to the other side of the park to see the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain.
Lisa and I began our journey back to Monmouth around 130pm, leaving for the Victoria Station. We found our way to the National Express office, bought tickets for that day and Friday to go to the airport and then got on the bus to Newport. In Newport, we experienced some confusion because no one, including ourselves, knew where the bus going to Monmouth picked up Newport passengers. We traveled around the area asking anyone and everyone who led us in all different directions and then finally found it under a bridge near the Newport Railway. Good thing we had some time to spare. We arrived in Monmouth and decided to not take a cab the short distance back to my school. With 3 bags between us, we realized this "short" distance (uphill) was much farther than we thought. We finally got to the gates of the school, and Lisa saw the hill that led up to the top where we needed to be. Finally got to my flat, talked to my mom to let her know we were safe, and spent the night catching up on some shows that we missed.
Today, we walked into town to get some groceries and see everything. We then hiked up to the Kymin which is the highest point around with the best view of Monmouth. This is a very steep, 45 minute walk or so, and Lisa and I can't move. We made it to the top, took some pictures, drank some more water, and then headed back down. It was beautiful but very tiring and our bodies ache. Made spaghetti, green bean casserole, and stove top for dinner (weird combo I know) and then relaxed the rest of the night. Tomorrow is another day and we are planning to pack, do laundry, walk to the Monmouth Castle (which looks close on the map), and see what else the day brings us. Early day starting at about 6am on Friday and a long day of traveling back to America for her and Italy for me. Hope you enjoyed our very long blog!:-) Sorry this one wasn't that funny but beggars can't be choosers.

xoxo
LP and DP