I love London!

The past two days have been a blur! This city is incredible--I can't believe all of the stuff I'm seeing. Sunday we took a "Big Bus Tour" around London and saw most of the sites. It was a double decker-open top bus, and we all had a blast! We drove by all of the famous buildings, up fleet street, down Oxford Street, over Tower Bridge, London, Bridge, and Jubilee Bridge! After a quick dinner at a local pub, the rest of the students and I were going to go on a walking tour of London titled the "Ghost Tour," during which the tour guide points out all of the "haunted" places around the city. Well, it turns out the tour was actually just a disguise to get us to spend money at local pubs, so we bailed and gave ourselves our own walking tour. We walked up the Thames River, crossed London Bridge, walked to Big Ben and Parliament, then alongside Westminster Abbey. It was almost dusk, the sky was clear, and the weather was beautiful. It was so awe-inspiring to walk alongside these buildings that have been standing for over 10o years. Then we took the Tube to the Tower of London and watched the sunset from Tower Bridge-the bridge that opens to allow tall ships to go through. It was beautiful, and I hope we get to do it again while we're here. We also successfully navigated the Tube a couple of different times--all by ourselves! It is SO easy to do--STL should definitely look into putting in a public transportation system like that!

Yesterday we went on the boat tour that came with our bus ticket. We sailed down the River Thames to the borough of Greenwich which is the home to the Prime Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time, the start of time changes. From this point, 0 degrees latitude, all other latitude lines start. All of the time zones around the world originate at that point. It is also the dividing line between the Eastern and Western hemispheres. Also on the on the boat ride, we sailed past Shakespeare's Globe (I can't wait to go there), many old pubs, and the boroughs of The City, Bankside, and Westminster. After, Jenna and I wanted to shop while the rest when back to the flat, so we hopped on the Tube and went to Covent Garden. (This public transportation thing is so EASY!). We walked around, looked in many different stores, tried on some clothes, and bought a few things. It was a blast! On the down side, things here are VERY expensive, especially with the pound-dollar conversion, so I'm going to have to be careful about how much I shop! I'm a sucker for a good deal! Last night we had a pretty casual, easy-going evening. Most of the other students came up to our flat, our RA came up to help us with the fridge, and we all hung out for a couple hours. It was a great, relaxing end to my second full day as a Londoner!

Today we have our first day of class and our first trips to museums. We are going to the Museum of London and the National Portrait Gallery. Those should be interesting. Tomorrow we're going to Westminster Abbey, and I am super psyched for that. So many famous people are buried there--I can't wait!

One last thing-- Last night I posted pictures of our first weekend in London on Photobucket. Check them out! :)

Cheers!