Kew Gardens and Free Travel Plans.

So this past Friday we went as a group to Kew Gardens, which is a 300 acre parkland outside of central London. The area is really beautiful and I got some great shots of the greenery (and of a cute goose family and little field-trippers). The day was somewhat showery and gave us a short respite from the heat--yes, it has actually been hot here in London. I was totally not expecting this temperature when I was packing, and brought many cute, long-sleeved shirts and jeans when what I really need are summer clothes. But I was told that it will be cooler in Scotland (which we leave for on Wednesday morning at 4:15, if you can believe it) and look forward to not always feeling sweaty and unkempt. Haha, unkempt...anyway.

Kristin, Makayla and I made our plans for the free travel weekend, which is May 30-31. Let me tell you, the planning of such a small amount of time has never caused so much consternation and grief to three people in the entire universe. Ever. And I'm not being dramatic at all. Our original plans were Dublin, quickly changed to Wales or Cornwall, then escalated to the Lake District, and have finally settled on the Cotswolds. Stow-on-the-Wold, to be exact. Everything from the distance to the hostel price to the train ticket price worked out how we wanted it to, so we're all pretty happy to have that decided.


Saturday was a pretty fantastic day, for no other reason than we got to spend it however we chose. Makayla, Kristin, and I went to Westminster so they could draw for their art class and I to read for English. It was really relaxing to be feet from the Thames and just watch the people come and go as Big Ben tolled only a hundred yards away. During our couple of hours there, a random group of performers, consisting of old and young men, came right in front of us and began doing these dances. It was pretty impressive to see some of the old timers leaping in the air with all the panache of a ballet dancer, albeit a retired one. Whose career ended after a nasty fall on his ankle.

After the drawing/reading extravaganza, the three of us headed back to the Centre. The program directors kindly bought the group tickets to the Baroque by Candlelight concert at St. Martin-in-the-Fields at Trafalgar Square. That was pretty awesome; the venue was really intimate and the music amazing. They played mostly Vivaldi, which is good anytime in my book, and I totally wish my mom could have been there. She would have eaten it up.

Yesterday (Mother's Day!) was my first day in my new calling, and I'll tell you what, British kids are even more adorable when they start talking. The kids here are so confident and well spoken, and I just sit there and think, You're four years old! They're really great. My darling of the moment is Addison, who told me he has no animals at his house, but he likes blue dogs. ? Haha. They're all really cute and talkative, which made the time fly by. Sacrament meeting was really good. The talks were some of the best I've ever heard; they were really simple and straightforward, which is something I appreciate because no one is trying to be all doctrinally deep and pedantic. The thing is with this stake is that 80% of the members are converts, and the other 20% are the children of those converts born into the church. So there really is an amazing air of everyone learning along with and from each other. It makes going to church more enjoyable when no one is really concerned with keeping up a face of righteousness or of not having a past or temptations. Anyway, that was my church experience yesterday. I was a little sad at not being able to talk to my mom for more than five minutes because of the exorbitant phone rates, but I'm going to download Skype and bypass all that crap from now on. Go me! Miss you all, and would love to hear from you! Cheers.