Marissa's Monday

Happy Memorial Day! Today was our last free day of the long weekend. I spend my morning sleeping in and relaxing. It has been a hectic week and a hectic week to come.

I decided to spend my day at Kensington Park and the Kensington Palace. I spent time under a tree by the lake reading one of my books from home. As I read, I couldn’t spot eavesdropping on conversations. Many people talked about the weather and where they were going. One conversation was about meeting up for drinks on the steps.

I also couldn’t help but watch all the adorable dogs walk by. I noticed that many Londoners have well-trained dogs. They don’t need leashes, and they come to their names’ right away. I had a Weiner dog sniff my sandwich and the owner called her name and she left. It was pretty amazing.









After a couple of hours in the park, I headed over to the Kensington Palace. They just celebrated the 200th birthday of Queen Victoria. I am a big fan of Victoria. They had two new exhibits dedicated just for Victoria.









One was about when she was growing up and how she was educated to be a Queen. She started lessons at four years old, but her mom said she was learning at eight months. There were many paintings of her and many quotes from her diary. They also talked about Prince Albert.








The other exhibit was about her life after Albert died. It was very sad and depressing for me. They showed many of her gowns and they were all black. She only wore black after he passed. She still did her job as Queen, but it was hard to do it without the one she loved. Even though their marriage was arranged, they found love and respect in each other.








I ended my day with a musical called The Phantom of the Opera. I had to go because I read the book in my French class and had to experience the greatness. It had many “magical” stunts and fire. The actors sang beautifully, and the sets were magnificent. I would highly recommend it.