Liz in London: "Let it Be"

Okay well I have sooo much to tell, but I don't want to make it boring so I'm just going give you points on what we did and what I liked and didn't like about each place we went to.

Thursday:

- Got on the bus, drove to the Fountains Abbey...ruins of an ancient Abbey, built in 1132. AMAZING!!! Everyone should go there. I absolutely loved it.

- Drove to York..Founded by the Romans in 71 AD. Carly, Ashley, and I went to a pub for dinner that night and got so much food for only 5 pounds! It was so nice staying in a hotel! We stayed in an Ibis hotel and there were two people to a room. We did it by bunkmates so Annie and I were roomies for two nights. It was really nice to be in a room with just one girl instead of 12. We had fun.

Friday:

- Walked along the Roman wall to Yorkminster cathedral which was way cool because the basement had a bunch of Roman ruins and the actual cathedral is the biggest in England.

- It was so cold outside a few of us decided to go to the Starbucks across the street and get some hot chocolate. I got the caramel hot chocolate. It was yummy and definitely quenched my coldness.

- Drove to Preston and had a Church history tour. We saw the square where Heber C. Kimball preached in 1837 and also where President Hinckley preached on his mission too. It was a very neat experience. We saw where Joseph Smith's dentist once lived...Just for you dad. :) Then we walked to the River Ribbel where the first 9 people of Britain were baptized. It was beautiful because the sun was out and was reflecting off the river. I loved it.

- Next we drove to the Preston MTC and Temple. I was a overwhelmed with peace when I saw the temple. We didn't get to go inside, but just seeing it made me feel so happy. I LOVE temples and I hadn't seen one in almost a month so the sight of a House of the Lord made me extremely happy.

- It was INSANELY cold during our tour. My feet were numb. So when we got to Liverpool that night we decided to stay inside, eat in the hotel restaurant, and play games in our room. We played Rook and Egyptian Rat Screw and I DOMINATED (aka I didn't win at all). It was me, Carly, Ashley, Emily, Sharon, Annie, and Ramzi. We had a blast. Ashley has been really good about not eating sweets since November and she decided to let it go for just a night. So basically she went crazy on sweets. It was hilarious. We were dying.

Saturday:

- Went to the Beatles museum...It was awesome! I'm not even that big of a Beatles fan, but I seriously enjoyed this museum so much. I loved reading the history about them coming together, and writing their music, and then breaking apart. It was very interesting to me.

- Kaylee, Carly, and I then went on a search for the statue that pays tribute to the Mormon families who migrated to America...MY ancestors came from that spot. It was inspiring to be there.

- Got back on the bus and drove the 5 hours back to London. It's good to be home....Yes, London is my home. THAT IS SO COOL.

It was a fun first travel weekend and I am excited for the many more to come! I feel like I became a lot closer to everyone here on that trip so I'm looking forward to that again. It was fun.

Today was a fabulous Sunday! We made it to church about 7 minutes early, which is better than our 1 minute, and we were talking to the senior couple missionaries who got here about a week after us. Their names are Elder and Sister Dempey and they're from Ogden. We were just talking and found out that Sister Dempey grew up in Holladay and went to Olympus! Go Titans! It really is such a small world we live in. Well about 1 minute before Sacrament meeting started, the first counselor in the Bishopric came up and asked if any of us play the piano. Of course Lyse, my Primary partner, says, "Oh yeah, Liz does!" So he very kindly asked me if I wouldn't mind playing for the meeting. SCARY!!! For those of you who didn't know I play the piano...There's a reason behind that. I hate playing the piano in front of people. I really love playing to piano, but I freak out if there's anyone listening or singing to me playing. I did an okay job and was more than relieved when the real pianist walked in after the opening prayer. It was a humbling and funny experience. Ramzi said to me, "I was getting ready to set off the fire alarm for you, but then you turned out pretty good!" Haha he's such a swell guy. Church was awesome and I really love my ward. It's been fun getting used to being one of about 20 white people in the ward. I know I'm going to have some amazing experiences here in the White Chapel ward.

Tonight Carly, Ramzi, and I mapped out where we want to go backpacking! We're going for about 11 days and I think we can do it! We haven't figured out the logistics of it yet, but we pinpointed places we want to go and here's what we have so far:

- Amsterdam

- Frankfurt

- Luxembourg

- Salzburg

- Zurich

- Venice

- Rome

- Pompeii

- Athens / Santorini

EXCITING!!! Like I said this is just the start of our planning, but still, it is a start!

My camera died half way through the Beatles museum so a lot of my pictures are on my friends' cameras, but I promise I will get copies of them and hopefully post them soon!

Me in front of the

Mormon Memorial Monument!!