This summer, I had the privilege of going to London with my teacher, Mrs. Jones, and several theatre students at Thomas Dale. It was truly an amazing experience that I would like to share with all you readers. We arrived at Heathrow Airport in London at 11 something that night, where we rode a "coach" (charter bus) to our hotel room...The Royal Sussex. The room was much smaller than we expected and had no air conditioning. We knew right then it would be an interesting week.

The next day, Wednesday, was our first day in London. We went to see Antony and Cleopatra at Shakespeare's Globe Theater, which was really cool. Some of us enjoyed being at the Globe more than the play itself. We also went on a walking tour earlier that day and explored some more after the show. It was pretty much an easy-going day with a lot of sight-seeing. That night a small group of us went to see The Rocky Horror Show, which was a musical based off the movie, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It was so much fun!!! And we had the chance to see some Londoners on a night out.

Thursday we saw the changing of the guard! Afterwards, we went to St. Paul's Cathedral, which was one of my personal favorite memories of the trip. The Cathedral was so beautiful, and huge! We explored the Church and all the Crypts inside, which was truly incredible. Afterwards we took a little road trip to see Windsor Castle, a retreat for the Royal Family for 900 years. The castle was beautiful, and the landscaping around it was also very beautiful. We walked throughout the castle and then left for dinner. For dinner we had what everyone must have when in London...fish and chips! That night we also had the dining experience of London. We learned that waiters and waitresses over there do not wait on people like in America. For example, our table didn't have water refills for what seemed like forever. They do not cater to your every need like waiters do here. It made me feel spoiled! After dinner, we saw the show We Will Rock You which featured music of Queen. It was so cool!!! Becky and Heather and I also got to meet some neat people! They were a group of South Africans visiting London for Cricket tournaments. It was so awesome to meet people from such a different place.

Friday we went to visit the Tower of London, which was another great historical sight. After that we had a great lunch at the George Inn, then off to the London Dungeon. The London Dungeon was really neat...it was basically a haunted house type thing with a ride. It showed us horror stories famous in London such as Jack The Ripper and Sweeney Todd. Then that night was a free night, so my friends and I went shopping.

Saturday was a very fun free day. A group of us went to Kennsington Park, which is the park with the famous Peter Pan statue and also the sight where Finding Neverland was filmed. The park was so beautiful...and we saw a lot of people. We ate some great ice cream then headed over to Abbey Road. Some of us got some pictures taken like the Beatles Abbey Road photo. We had lunch at a place called Camden, which had a lot of punk and goth clothing as well as vintage. We saw many different people and did some more shopping. It was a really fun time.

Sunday we went to The Globe Theater once more for a workshop. It was nice and short, but very educational. We heard some history about the Globe and learned about specific acting techniques. After that, we saw The Blue Man Group. I highly recommend seeing them. They tour America frequently and put on a fabulous show. They do a lot of physical comedy, which is great for a group of actors to see.

Monday was our final day in London… and what an amazing end. Our whole group went to see Stonehenge and Bath. It was my favorite day of the whole trip. Bath was so pretty, and had so much history behind it. We had plenty of time to visit, which was great. But Stonehenge, hands down was the best. It was so beautiful...and it gave us a chance to see the countryside.

I may have left a few events out of this because of everything we did! It was so much to keep up with but the trip was wonderful. I recommend making your way over there if you ever get the chance to.