Bus Tour of London

On Saturday we spent the whole day on a bus touring London.  It was mostly so we could get a feel for different parts of the city.  It was very overwhelming as Edgerton has one stop light and I could probably give a tour of it in under 2 hours.  I wish I could remember the  names of all the cities within the city that we visited! 

We saw the American Embassy in Kensington.  Outside is a park with statues of Eisenhower, Reagen (a poor choice if you ask me) and some others.  There is also a little cottage-like building to commemorate the victims of 9/11.  We also saw the Canadian embassy and the Australian, which was the set of Gringots bank in Harry Potter!  We saw lots of statues of important royals and military men, as our guide Britt says "this city is full of dead men on horses!".

9/11 Memorial

One of the coolest places we saw was the Parliament building and Big Ben (whose name has been changed to Elizabeth Tower in honor of the Queen).  We got to go right passed it and also got a great view of it from across the river.  We also drove passed Westminster Abbey but didn't get to go in. I'm definitely going back to see it.  It's massive and so pretty. It was cool to see the entrance they used for the royal wedding!

London Eye

Parliament and Big Ben

We went to Buckingham Palace, which is in the City of Westminester, London.  We first saw the house that Charles (is he a king now?) and Camille live in and the guards that stand outside.  And then walked over to Buckingham.  It was insanely busy because it was a day for the changing of the guard.  In the months that aren't summer the changing occurs every other day.  Our guide says it's a very big tourist attraction but its really just housekeeping, and I agree.  It was pretty cool to see but I probably wouldn't choose to go watch it.  I plan to go back when its warmer so I can see them in their famous red and blue uniforms (and so it will be less busy). 

Buckingham Palace

We also got to see the Olympic Village.  Its currently being dismantled which seems like a lot of work and kind of a waste of time! The buildings are humungous and have very interesting architecture.  We also saw the apartments that were built to house the athletes.  Oddly, they do not have kitchens!  Near the village is a shopping mall that is probably 1.5 times bigger than the Mall of America.  It is just insanely huge.  My roommates and I ate lunch at a greek place in the mall, which was delicious.  And after we went to a place called Primark, which is like a target but better!  They had so many cute clothes, we plan on going back often (sorry mom!).  But once again I forgot to buy a towel, so I will have to continue using a tiny travel one.  It's really great to look at price tags here and you think "wow only 9 pounds!" but then you convert it and that joy is gone.

As we wrapped up the tour, we saw Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, the Shard (Europe's tallest building) and about a million restaurants serving friend chicken and pizza.  The number of fried chicken and pizza places is probably equivalent to McDonalds, cheese chalets and waffle houses in the U.S. It's so weird.  As a huge Harry Potter fan I was excited to see the place where Diagon Alley scenes were filmed.  The girls in my flat plan on taking a Harry Potter scene walking tour!

Tower Bridge

Because I'm still a poor college student over here I had mashed potatoes and wine for dinner, but it was actually delicious!  Some of the girls in my flat decided to go out last night.  We got a recommendation from our RA, Mike (who we all swoon over) to go to a place in Soho (Chinatown and a very "happening" borough) called O Neill's.  After an encounter with a very rude cab driver who refused to take us if we did not know the address (even though he had a GPS-which I pointed out to him and he promptly drove away) we took the double decker bus!  It's very odd here though, you have to hail the bus if you're at its stop.  They do not stop automatically which we learned as it whizzed by us.  I decided to wear a pair of bootie platform heels, which I quickly regretted as I could hardly walk and half way through the night my feet were screaming!  But anyway, the pub was really great.  They played all American music, the good stuff like Backstreet Boys, N*Sync, Britney Spears and of course the Spice Girls!  We had a blast there and plan to go back many more times!

Horse Guards-Near Buckingham Palace

I start class tomorrow morning and I guess I'm looking forward to it.  It also probably means I should start reading Beowulf (ugh!) and find a notebook or two.