Happy Diwali / Lord Mayor's Day / Remembrance Day

This has been quite a busy weekend!

Friday evening after work I went with some friends to the largest Hindu temple outside of India, called Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden. We went to celebrate the new year, called Diwali. We watched spectacular fireworks and ate homemade Indian food.


For more pics, go to this site: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=67386&l=4fe68&id=72388536

Saturday was Lord Mayor's Day, which is when the new Lord Mayor of London is sworn in. There is a 3 mile long procession over a 1.7 mile route. The Lord Mayor is first blessed at St. Paul's Cathedral and then Sworn in at the Royal Courts of Justice. We watched the whole parade, called the Lord Mayor Show, and then, on the way back, we stopped into the Church of Scientology because they were having free tea and biscuits. They tried to get us to take one of their stress tests, but luckily we got out before they could ask us a second time. :)

The next day I went with a couple of friends to mass at St. Paul's cathedral. I was unaware that it was an Anglican Church. It was different because instead of a priest, they have a president and it was a woman. Also, the prayers were a little different, but just a word here and there. I was in awe the whole time of the cathedral. It was beautiful and decorated with lots of gold. I wish I could have taken pictures, but we weren't allowed. :)





Once again, for more pics, go to these sites: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=67403&l=a6fc9&id=723885367

I hope you enjoy the pictures. I have to get to sleep now. Buenos noches!

"Remember, remember the 5th of November..."

"The gunpowder treason and plot
I know of no reason
Why the gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot."

These are the words said on the 5th of November, a holiday that seems like a big excuse to light a bonfire and let off fireworks. It is Guy Fawkes day and at 11:30pm, I can still hear the occasional firework go off. For those of you who don't know, Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the House of Parliament by filling the cellar with gunpowder 402 years ago. You can also click on the title above for the Wikipedia link.

I heard the fireworks this whole weekend as well. I tried to go to Battersea park to see the bonfire and watch the fireworks with some friends, but we were given bad directions and got lost. :( Oh well, I hear there will be much more fireworks this coming weekend for the Lord Mayor. I will tell you more about that later.

Okay, sorry for the short post, but I must hit the hay. Goodnight!

Feliz dia de los muertos

Today I finally got to see the musical Wicked. It was such a great show! I have been waiting to see it for about what, like 4 years now? I will definitely go back to see it again (and again and again). I went with a large group of Mountbatten interns because one of them was nice enough to plan the outing and buy the tickets. It was awesome! I wish I could afford to buy a souveneir, but a t-shirt alone was 17 pounds ($34USD)!

After that, I convinced some people to come with me to check out a Day of the Dead event that was actually right up the street from our tube stop. Unfortunately, no one was there was dressed up for the occasion and it was 3 pounds to get in. Since it was almost midnight and we all had to go to work tomorrow, we went ahead and called it a night and went home.

Ok, I really need to get some sleep. I have to be up in around 6 hours for another day at the grind! Buenos noches!