26 February 2011

I had a request from one of my followers to update you on my excursion to London last weekend. For starters, the fact that I have been surrounded by Spanish for almost two months now is actually taken a turn for the better. When we got to London, I had trouble remembering that I could speak English there and that everything would be in English. Thankfully, the only people who caught me saying little things in Spanish were my fellow students, Matt and Nick, who both had their moments as well. When we got off the plane, we took a train ride that brought us closer into town where our hostel was. We stayed at the Astor Victoria, which was my first hostel experience, and I liked it there very much. We left our luggage in the luggage room and then proceeded on our journey. After lunch at a quaint little cafe, we then walked along the Thames to the Tower Bridge. I do not know the mileage, but that was not a short walk. We did happen to pass most of the major monuments to get pictures at, such as Parliament and Big Ben,Westminster Abbey, the Millennium Bridge (only famous to Harry Potter fans- the one that the Death Eaters attack and destroy in HP6),and of course the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. We decided to take the tube back to the hostel and then on to China Town for supper. The next day we went to the British Museum to see an exhibit on the Book of the Dead. The last item was a 37 meter long "book" from a rich man's daughter's tomb. It had originally been one piece, but they had trimmed it so that they could frame is easier. I was just in awe at how well preserved this stuff is. We then continued our hunt for the last few major stops along the way (such as Buckingham Palace and Platform 9 and 3/4). After all of this, plus an excursion that got Nick and I lost trying to find a knitting store (which was closed anyways) we went to the London Apollo and enjoyed the Ben Folds Lonely Avenue Europe Tour, the thing we were coming to see. We did have to deal with drizzle and the fact that we could see our breath, so it was really nice to come back to the sunshine here on the Med. coast.

Today was one of those days that I thank God I chose Alicante. Who doesn't like the idea of spending a few hours relaxing on the beach with friends?