London vacation pics, contest

Posted on May 4, 2009

Sorry I’ve been gone so long — the days leading up to my break were pretty busy, and then I spent one wonderful week in London. But you know what that means:

Ah, London.

On Sunday, we went to visit the Tower of London. This is the info sign in the courtyard, which gives helpful directions to the phones, the buses, etc. But one thing on that sign is not like the others —

From the Tower of London, we had unexpectedly terrific views of the London Marathon, which was run the Sunday I was in the city. Although we mostly watched from the Tower high above, we did manage to get an up-close look later on:

This is the statue of the heroic queen Boudicca, which is one of my favorite sights in all London:

We found Beefeaters wandering free from the Tower, for reasons only they know:

Thanks to my friend Ruth’s ingenuity, we were able to take a tour that took us inside Parliament, so we could see the meeting chambers of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Photography wasn’t allowed inside, but here’s the pic I took on the way in:

We also toured the British Museum, where (among many other astonishing exhibits) we saw the Elgin Marbles:

Despite my fear of heights, I rode the London Eye, aka the ginormous ferris wheel. This is what it looks like from a distance:

This is what it looks like when you’re on it:

And these are the views you get that make it all worthwhile:

We went to a play at Shakepeare’s Globe, where they put on the plays in the original style. The entire theater area is a pretty precise reconstruction, complete with a place for the groundlings to stand.

What play did we go see? “Romeo & Juliet” — what else? 🙂

On the way home, we flew over Greenland. There was absolutely no cloud cover, so for about half an hour, we had amazing mountain and glacier views:

**

So, what with one thing and another, I am behind on cataloging the many (FABULOUS) entries for STARGAZER Contest #7, which was meant to end tomorrow. And I am enjoying reading them all! This means that I am extending the contest for one week! You have until next Tuesday, May 12, to post publicly about STARGAZER and e-mail me the link at evernightclaudia at gmail dot com, with “STARGAZER Contest #7” as the subject line. The winner gets to name a character in the fourth EVERNIGHT series book, AFTERLIFE, so you know you want to enter!

30 Responses to “London vacation pics, contest”

  1. marinarusalka

    These are fabulous! Now I’m all nostalgic for London and want to go again, even though I’ve been about fifty times.

  2. quiet_rebel

    Wow. I want to be there NOW.

    And that sign–it took me a moment, but were you referring to the “beheading?” Hah.

  3. shayheyred

    Is it peculiar that for me the most thrilling photo was soaring over Greenland? How many people have seen that? Wow.

  4. dianora2

    Awesome pictures. I want to hear all about it soon. (I think the Tower Bridge is one of my favorite structures in the world. So beautiful.)

  5. archiwench

    You have no idea how jealous I am that you saw Shakespeare at the Globe! When I was in London last they were still building it (20 pounds of the building costs were donated by me!). You’re so FREAKIN’ COOL!

  6. tinkandalissa

    just in case

    Just in case the books ever get made into a movie and you have a say so in who plays the characters, I thought I would mention someone…I’ve been watching the new series Castle, which I love. On the show one of the main characters, Castle, has a daughter who would be a perfect Bianca! Her name is Molly Quinn. If you dont watch, you should check her out…

  7. amy0819

    Ahhh London, I want to go there so bad. I am an artist and a writer so I feel like london calls me with it’s beautiful art, architecture and writing history and these are just a few things. I hope you had a great time. I will go some day!

    I haven’t got to read Stargazer yet because my little hometown bookstore hasn’t got it yet (arrrgh) but they will. It’s not like I don’t have a bunch of books to read in the mean time (lol)!!!!!!!!!

  8. Anonymous

    wow!

    i went once when i was 15! that was ages ago!!! these pics are great!!! so glad you had a good time!!! ~ Keri

  9. silentalchemist

    HOLY CROW THOSE ARE SOME KICK-A PICS, chica! Makes me want to go.
    How come you didn’t go to King’s Cross. Seriously now. ^.~
    Anyways! Again, awesome pics!

  10. Anonymous

    great pics +

    awesome pics 🙂 i want to b there now. I just finished your book stargazer and i loved it!!!! Wow i really wanna read the the next book; write faster! haha. I’ve always dreamed of becoming a writer and even though i’m only 13 right now I’ve started writing a couple of novels. Anyway, great job so far, everyone at my school loves you so keep going! (By the way, I love your randomness! The way you brought vampires into the first book and then ghosts into the second book was genius! If one of my friends hadn’t told me they were about vampires I would’ve been so surprised when I got to that point with lucas and bianca in the first book! Well, I was still surprised cuz I was expecting Lucas to be the vampire instead of Bianca!)
    Oh, and i was thinking that you can even do something with Mrs. Bethany in the next book like say that she was always evil and charity realized it. And maybe u can say something about how that night when Bianca and Balthazar drank each other’s blood they somehow bonded like how she and lucas did when she bit him a second time. just some suggestions and u don’t have to take any of them cuz i know im still pretty young. But I know you have some good stuff coming! Just hurry up! haha but still take your time! 🙂