Last Weekend in London

As the time to go home draws closer, the weather just seems to get worse and worse. Maybe it's a sign.

Thursday was the last official day of classes, so that night SU threw us a going away party, complete with prizes, photo slideshow, and chocolate fountain. They also fed us dinner, and people I haven't seen since the day we landed seemed to crawl out of the woodwork. It's funny who shows up when there's free food.

Friday night Rick and I headed to a Winter Festival in Hyde Park. There were stalls set up with vendors from Lapland (the Scandinavian area waaaaay up north) selling Christmasy and homemade items. The festival also had food stalls and carnival rides - there was even a Christmas-themed haunted house.

The highlight of the festival was a miniature version of the London Eye. From the top we could see the real Eye, Westminster, and many other highlights of London. It was very pretty all lit up at night.

We woke to a very rainy Saturday, so we headed to the museums for the day. We went to the Science Museum. I had hoped this would be like the MOST, but it was more about the history of science, especially engineering. They did have some interesting exhibits on medicine through the ages. We then popped next door back to the Natural History Museum to catch the exhibits we missed last time we rushed through.

Today (Sunday) we went to Buckingham Palace in the morning to see the changing of the guards. I'm glad we went to see the Palace, but the guard ceremony was not very impressive, especially after what we'd seen at the Swedish Royal Palace.

The remaining bits of the weekend were spent putting our flat back together for our departure. I can't believe it's come so fast. I have two finals on Wednesday, but that's it. Tomorrow Rick and I head to Paris for the day. Be sure to check back soon for details on that trip...