Day Two was even more amazing than day one (if that's possible!). This morning, I got up around 7:30.... which, after going to bed at 12:30 last night was mildly difficult, but I did it, and with a warm shower - things were okay. We made our way downstairs and (after repeated trips on the elevator for forgotten items) headed out for the Tube. (Prof. gave us our Oyster cards ahead of time so that we could Tube easily) Once there, though, we found that the train we needed (headed to the Tower of London - London Hill stop) was having problems ("Communication interruption issues") so we ended up crowding with about a million other people onto the Picadilly Square line and then the Circle line (only two changes, not bad). When we got there, we ended up walking for about 20ish minutes to get to the tower of London. We were looking around the general Tower of London area when all of a sudden, this man grabs Prof and asks whether we're the tour. It all seemed REALLY sketch at first, but we were on the right tour - Simon was our tourguide and hilarious, as I later found out. From there we took a boat down the Thames to have a river tour. It was BEAUTIFUL! We got to see soooo much from the river - London Tower Bridge, the globe, the Eye, Big Ben, etc. etc. etc. Basically, today was one big day of tourism.
After the boat tour, we landed at Big Ben where Simon told us massive amounts of history and stories. We walked around Parliment Square and saw that there was a HUGE unveiling happening today (Nelson Mandella statue).... Nelson was there AND the new PM. We continued around and stood in front of West Minster Abbey for a while - more stories and history - which were actually both very good and not boring (surprisingly). I took about a bagillion pictures all day so see pics/videos for more. ANYWAY... we then walked around the 'political' section of town for a bit. Simon told us lots - favorite was "Queen Anne was 4' 10' and 290lbs.... which basically means she was one enormous fatty. When she was buried, they put her in a cubic coffin." (All in a British accent mind you.... HILARIOUS!) From there, we moved on to St. James park and Buckingham Palace. We didn't get close to the palace, but you could see it from the bridge in the park. It was all breathtaking, of course. After that, we wandered over to Horseguard Square and then to Trafalgar Square (after taking pictures of the guards and petting horses). Trafalgar Square is where Simon left us so we hit up one of the pubs for lunch. I was kind of unsure of it at first but I'm so glad we went in there as I had the most perfect sandwich ever - Cheddar Cheese and Apple Chutley. It was delcious and exactly something I would eat - I was thrilled.
After the pub, we all met up again and started out on the bus tour. Prof bought us our tickets and then he and his wife left (they were with us all morning). We got on the bus and decided to mostly ride until we got to St. Paul's Cathedral. Once inside the Cathedral (8.50pounds) we saw a sign for no photography (although, I'd already snapped one picture) so I have basically nothing from inside. It was breathtaking. We did the free introductory tour - basically the woman gave us just some simple history and random facts about the Cathedral (Christopher Wren built, he didn't use much color hence the white stone walls and earth toned dome paintings, the color came when Q. Victoria was bored with the cathedral and decided to put mosaics around, beautiful paintings of Christ - kind of gothic looking rather than romantic, the crypt - Christopher Wren's inscription gave me goosebumps, the book and the woman who randomly was there the day the page she needed was open..... history lesson over). After that, we went all the way up in the cathedral.... first, to the whispering quarter (about half-way up the dome - there's a place where you can whisper on one side and hear on the other)... then to the stone quarter (outside about 2/3 of the way up the dome) and then finally to the massively high golden quarter (about 3/4 of the way up on the dome outside)..... the view was gorgeous! but the 433 step climb was intense. My legs are going to hurt tomorrow, that's for sure.
After St. Paul's (we spent over 2 hours in there), we got back on the double decker bus (top floor again, of course!) and basically drove around the entire city. Most of the things we had seen earlier in the day, so we thought we'd enjoy the ride more than walking. It was the perfect weather - slightly chilly (around 65) with a nice breeze and sun (with just a few clouds). We got back to South Kensington underground around 6ish and took the Tube from there to Sloane Square... then we walked back Kings Rd. to the cell phone stores (did some pricing) and then bought phones. If for nothing else, I'll probably use it to find where people are and what they're doing (just something cheap - 10 pounds for the phone and 10 for 100ish minutes). Then we came back to IES and Jess and I have basically been bumming ever since. We did leftovers (from the dinner yesterday) for supper and are not waiting to see what people have planned for tonight..... possibly the pub again? We'll see. Class starts tomorrow and then we're going to the THEATER! Prof. won't tell us what show we're going to - he's keeping it a big secret so I'm thinking it will be fantastic. Can't Wait!!!! I'm in love with London. I only hope the homesickness doesn't set in until loooooong after I'm home (aka never) because.... i'd hate to miss out on anything here. It's just gorgeous.
