The Monument

In London, there are some pretty cool monuments. One of them is cleverly named, The Monument. The Monument was dedicated to be a monument to the great fire. The great fire was in 1666, and it lasted for 3 days. There are only 6 deaths recorded, but it is known that many others died from indirect causes. It has 311 steps to the top.

You are able to climb to the top for a cost of 4 pounds for adults and 2 pounds for children. Last time we were in London, we did not climb The Monument. This time we decided that we would all climb The Monument. 

While we were there, we climbed all 311 steps. Once we got to the top, my mom and I had a little bit of vertigo. The staircase was a spiral staircase, so when you looked down you saw a HUGE drop. I put the picture on here so you can see just a little bit of the experience.

At the top, there is not a lot of space between the wall and the edge. As you can see, now there is a rail and netting. I really enjoyed this, but it is the kind of thing that you do once and then you're done. I would really suggest doing this.

Mom and Dad on top of The Monument.

Knox and I on top of The Monument, if you look closely in the background you can see the Tower Bridge.

The Monument from the bottom looking up.

Knox and me on the staircase up.

The spiral staircase looking down from the top of  The Monument.

Sound of Music Favorites

  "Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes, snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes, silver white Winters that melt into Spring, These are a few of my favorite things."

                                                               -The Sound Of Music

I can probably sing this song forwards and backwards. Unfortunately, it has gotten harder and harder for me to watch the movie. I know this might be a little shocking to everyone, but I only have "The Sound of Music" on VHS. I haven't gotten the movie on DVD, but that is enough about the actual movie. What I really want to talk about is the amazing tour I went on in Salzburg in 2007. 

   

Rewind 9 years. I was in Kindergarten and my dad was given the opportunity to teach study abroad in Italy. My family took this as an invite to travel Europe, only actually being in the town where my dad was teaching a few days a week. As one of our side trips we went to Salzburg, Austria, and went on an awesome Sound of Music site tour. 

We got to see the fountain where Maria sings about going to the Von Trapp house to be the children's nanny. Of course, being my six year old self, I absolutely had to sing and dance around the fountain (though I would totally do it again if I could). Also, we got to go to the abbey where the scenes with the nuns are shot. They also shot the scenes where the Von Trapps are running away. (The pictures are below) Lastly, we got to see the gazebo where Liesl and Rolf sing and dance together. Sadly you couldn't go in to the gazebo, but it was still fun to look at.

The tour in Salzburg was amazing, and I only got to touch on some of the things we did. I came home wanting to watch The Sound of Music, singing Edelweiss, and pretending to be Maria non-stop. The song, the movie, and the tour are definitely some of my favorite things.  

Shopping in London

Many of the stores in London have a huge sale in June making almost everything in the store discounted. Being a Boyd, I, of course, love to shop. Though Lafayette does have some shopping, it is not quite the level of shopping I prefer. Since we have been here, I have been introduced to many different stores, many of which are super cute. In this blog post I am going to tell you about a few of my favorites.

This first store is probably my favorite--Cath Kidston. This is a store that sells clothes and bags and decor. It is kind of a combination of Matilda Jane, Laura Ashley, and Anthropologie. My favorite parts are all the bags. They have unique patterns that are super cute and would go perfectly with my Matilda Jane. Though this store isn't unreasonable, it also isn't completely in my price range for everything. 

After going to the some of the actual Cath Kidston stores, I was kind of sad that I couldn't just get everything I wanted. As I was thinking about how sad I was that I couldn't get anything, I found the ultimate steal. At one of the many charity shops (like Goodwill) we go to, I found one of the bigger bags in a flower pattern. Normally in a Cath Kidston shop this kind of bag is about 50 dollars. At this charity shop I got it for about 10 dollars.

Another store I enjoy is called Oliver Bonas. This store is more like a cheaper Kate Spade type store. Although I haven't actually gotten any of their products yet, I think their style is super cute. I am one of those people who doesn't actually buy that much when I go into a store, I just like to look and wish. 

The last store I am going to tell you about is more of a food store. It is called the Chocolate Hotel. This is a store that has walls lined with different kinds of chocolate. So far, I have only tried the passionfruit chocolate, but it was delicious. I also just like to go in and see all the different chocolate.

Although I love all of these shops, I haven't gotten much from any of them, if I got anything at all. I know that I will get to continue shopping (in my kind of way) at many other stores during this long trip.