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Thursday we played tennis. It was incredible to look to the side of the courts and see the London Eye in the distance. The weather is starting to get warmer and much less rain. Here is the tennis group (yes, all of our mom's who wanted us to take tennis camps in the summer...it definitely paid off)

(Andrea, Me, Audrey, Hali, Hannah, Madeline,  Abbie, & Jillian)

We couldn't figure out the right pose..
(Abbie, Me, Andrea, Hannah, Hali, Jillian, & Audrey)

(Jillian, Abbie, Madeline, Audrey, Hannah, Hali, Me, & Andrea)

On Friday we went to Charles Dickens House & the British Museum.

The wedding ring he gave his wife

The Rosetta Stone carries an inscription in different languages which helped decipher the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic script. At the top the decree was written in hieroglyphs, the traditional script of Egyptian monuments, already 3000 years old. In the middle the same decree was written in Demotic, the everyday script of literate Egyptians, and at the bottom in Greek, the language used by the government. The decree records the decision of the Egyptian priests to establish a royal cult in return for Ptolemy's concessions to the Egyptian temples. 

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A stone coffin (sarcophagus0 was used to bury people of very high ranl. 

Mummification of animals 

On Saturday we went on a countryside walk. A local member from the ward here always volunteers to take BYU study abroad students on a walk. We were excited to go on this walk and found out the night before it is a 10 mile hike. It was beautiful! 

Lavender fields in July, poppies later

The man told us to try Ginger Beer (non-alcholic) it was strong! Burned my throat! Glad I tried it.

A little shop he took us too.

So thankful for rainboots

The cutest houses

 The local man told us that there is a Ramblers Charter here. This charter says that if you are a farmer or landowner you are to provide a path for people to walk across your land. If you don't want to let people walk across, then you must provide a path for people to walk around. This is encouraging people to get out and walk for health. If people do not walk on the land for a year the farmer can take away the paths. There is a group of people who make sure someone walks along the path at least once a year.

(Andrea, Me, Hali, Jarom, Hannah, Abbie, & Jillian)

We took a train to get to the spot where we started our walk.

After our hike we took the train back home. We went grocery shopping and did laundry. We had to get ready to leave for our trip on Monday!

Sunday was the best weather we have seen since being here. We went on a walk around Hyde Park for 2 1/2 hours! Just walking and talking. There were so many people at the park. Many couples were walking around holding hands, some families were having picnics, and then all the tourist were taking pictures. I was amazed at how many people were out so just kept taking picture after picture. 

This is a large pathway that goes from one side of the park to the other. It is perpendicular to Kensington Palace. 

You can't see in the picture but next to the building in the back is the London Eye.