Day 2 - London

Do not let these titles scare you faithful reader, I am not planning on writing a novel for everyday over the course of the next four months. I just have so much sightseeing within the next two weeks that I have to document it. Day 2 was supposed to start at 8 am but Kimberlee and I later realized that I had actually set my travel alarm clock too late so we actually started at 7 am. We started by buying some breakfast snacks to eat on the tube on the way to Parliament and Westminster. We took some pics around Big Ben and Parliament but could not go in because it was Sunday. This fact did end up helping us in another regard, though, because we ended up doing a service at Westminster Abbey. This was very cool, because as you sit and listen to their awesome choir you also get to look around at all the cool architecture. Also, the sermon, which was on love, was very good. We walked around the abbey some more after the service and then across the Thames. We saw the London Eye and lots more from this bridge. After this we bought passes on one of those tour-guide-double-decker buses. Cheesy, I know, but we actually got to see a lot of the city that we would not have seen otherwise this way. We were able to get off and get back on wherever and whenever we wanted. Our first stop was at London Tower where we walked around, but did not go in because it was too busy and long. Our second stop was in Covent Garden to find me a bookstore. I told my group that I only had one request in London. I wanted to find a bookstore so that I could get all of my books that I can’t get in the US. This ended up being much more of hassle than I intended, but I did end up seeing a lot of cool bookshops on the way. In the end, we found a Borders (I know I am in London and I go to Borders). This ended being an ultra success, because a) I found three books (I would have gotten more but I barely had enough room in my bags for one) and b) the cashier was super cute. After that we went to a pub to get fish and chips. While we were waiting we watched a Man-U game at the bar. It was awesome. Kimberlee and I got fish and chips and Eric got a dish called toad in a hole. We felt these were pretty British. For dessert, we got this really good apple crisp and a toffee sponge cake. So good! After dinner/lunch we got on the bus again and just drove around and chatted until they kicked us off. We wandered around a little bit longer and then headed back to Chiswick. We started our quest of searching for an Internet café. We found one that was closing so I got ten minutes to email. We stopped at a café on the way home and got some ice cream. For those of you who have not experienced European ice cream, you are missing out. It is amazing. We walked back to our hotel and I got ready for bed. I fell asleep reading one of my new books. I am in bliss.