Yesterday morning started with an excellent cooked-to-order breakfast at our bed and breakfast. The morning was spent at our leisure; I walked around the shops of this adorable ocean resort town (including getting ice cream at 10:30 am!) before having a DELICIOUS Cheddar Ploughman's Baguette for lunch! After lunch, we went on a fossil hike along the Jurassic Coast (a 90-mile stretch of coastline along Britain's southern shoreline rich in fossils). Our guide was extremely knowledgable and taught us everything from facts about famous scientists that lived in the area to how to find and identify different types of fossils.
A big ammonite fossil.
Low tide!
One of the coolest things about the hike was getting to explore the tide pools along the coast, since we went out at low tide!
Strawberry anemone
Another big ammonite fossil!
These were the fossils I found on my own!
After the hike, I got some dinner and relaxed on the beach for a while! It was a beautiful day! I also learned that Jane Austen holidayed in this town and set her novel Persuasion here! They even filmed the movie that was based on the book here out on the cobb (the curved pier)!
After another delicious home-cooked breakfast, we traveled back to London. (I watched Frozen on the train 😊). It was a long train ride! I am very happy to be back in the city. I'm a city girl. After lunch (I found a cafe that actually served American pancakes!), our professor took us on a walking tour of the Soho district.
Map of Soho with pictures of famous people that have lived here.
We saw lots of places where famous scientists have lived: people like Darwin, John Snow, and Isaac Newton! One of the places where Darwin lived is now a music store!!! It was super cool because there were World Cup jerseys in the window with a composer's name on the jersey who was born in that country! They even had Albeniz from Spain! (I played a piece by him last semester.)
Chinatown!
Trafalgar Square
Florence Nightingale monument; she essentially made nursing a career through her work in World War I
The old Royal Navy Headquarters! They would not only organize defensive ships for war, but also organized the exploration voyages, like the voyage of the Beagle, for example.
Our tour ended in Westminster, with a walk across the river.
Big Ben from a distance
The London skyline from across the river.
After the conclusion of our walking tour, we went to dinner in Leicester Square (the theatre district). I had what was probably the best salad of my life at Muriel's Kitchen. It had orzo, spinach, red and yellow peppers, and red onion. After dinner we went shopping!!! We found the M&M's world; it was huge!! 4 stories of chocolate!
I hear the biggest Disney store in Europe is in London. Lauren and I are going to find it tomorrow. It has a castle inside of it!!
