Yesterday, we had about 5-6 inches of snow. It started snowing on Sunday evening (Kevin and I played in it for a bit when we went out to dinner at this great Chinese place) and didn't stop at all on Monday. The entire time we were outside, these huge snowflakes were falling to the ground. =) It was great!! I read an article in the paper today about how some people were complaining about the buses being down, how much money everyone lost because of the snow, etc., but I agree with the author: all I saw the entire day was people with huge smiles on their faces enjoying the snow. I saw tons of families out in the snow: parents whose workday had been canceled teaching their children how to sled, children (and college students) making elaborate snowmen, and at least 50 people in the park adjacent to Parliament just enjoying the snow. I felt like the entire day was a gift from God; a reminder to slow down and appreciate life (and I definitely appreciated that day -- having all of my classes canceled so that I could see London in the snow? YES PLEASE). Everywhere I looked struck me with a new beauty... you'll see from the pictures.
My friends and I started off the day at noon by meeting for a huge snowball fight. The building to the back left corner is where I live. =)
I didn't win the snowball fight... haha!
After we had done that for about an hour and a half, we decided to head over to the park right next to campus to go sledding. Here, all my American friends and I are pausing for a picture right outside the gates of Queen Mary... so beautiful!
This is a view of the canal from the street. You can see QMUL's campus on the left hand side of the picture. I've never seen a place so transformed... I've seen snow before and it's been beautiful, but living somewhere and then seeing it covered in snow (an inch in Vegas doesn't really count) is really something else.
Once we were at the park, we climbed a big hill where a bunch of people were sledding (we got there at the best time -- later in the day there were about 50 people and it just looked crowded). We found an old blow up mattress to sled with when 2 or 3 people wanted to sled together.
Most of the time we used these trays that I may or may not have "borrowed" from the cafeteria. They worked great! =)
On the tray, ready to sled down! It was SO MUCH FUN.
This is a view from the park... gorgeous, isn't it?
After at least another hour and a half of sledding we got a bit cold, so we decided to head in for some hot chocolate (which was AMAZING). After we had all changed into drier clothes, we decided to brave the tube system (which had "severe" delays) and head to Westminster to see everything in the snow.
It was so beautiful! I won't bore you with tons of pictures of Parliament and Big Ben, but there were some great ones on our walk.
This is the walk by the Thames which has a view of Westminster Palace.
How pretty!
I think this is the best snowman I've ever seen. I'm kind of upset that this picture is blurry (it's of Vanessa and me), but maybe she'll have a better copy of it.
Here's Mr. Snowman with Westminster Palace behind him. Whoever built him has my thanks (and the thanks of many others -- there was a small line to take a picture with him).
When I got home I was exhausted, but very, very happy. What a wonderful day!
Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them! =) Until next time!
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