(with up so floating many bells down)

Busy, busy, busy is the only way I can describe today. Our professor promised in class on Wednesday to take us on a “Walking Tour of London.” In typical fashion, my flat woke up late and we rushed to the Holborn station to catch the tube to St. Paul’s cathedral. After we walked around there a bit (in order to find our class), we headed towards London Bridge (the long way). We walked down Cheap Side (a street and yes, it lives true to its name) and passed the Banking District. Then passed a “building that looks like a ship” (my professor’s exact words). Then across the London Bridge (beautiful view) to the cathedral where Shakespeare’s brother is buried (the name of both escape me). Next to the cathedral there was a winding staircase that took us into a little market void of tourists but brimming with whole pig heads and large chunks of cheese (and other various foods – those were the most striking).

St. Paul's cathedral

banking district

"A building that looks like a ship."

cathedral where Shakespeare's brother is buried

"To market, to market ..."

"... to buy a fat pig."

We walked through a few more traditional London streets (small, winding, narrow roads, little space, cute shops & homes) and passed a dungeon & torture museum. After contemplating the price, my class decided that we would rather spend our £££s on the Tower of London. We continued our journey.

The Clink!

From there, we visited the Globe Theatre. We went to the gift shop and bought some pins (or badges) and took a few pictures. From there, we walked along the Thames to a small pub that was pretty empty in the off-season. (We also passed by the bridge filmed in one of the Harry Potter films … SO COOL!)

HP BRIDGE

The pub was nice enough. I was still not feeling well, so I asked for some water and had a little of C’s bread that came with her food. After lunch we could have walked to the Tower of London, but it was so cold our professor decided it would be best to take the bus.

I don’t really think I can sum up everything I saw at the Tower of London in words … so I’ll just post pictures and try my best to describe them in the captions. If I have to sum it up, it would have to be: mystifying.

After a great day, we headed back to the flat and had dinner (plain crackers and water). Some of my friends and I decided to go to the student union pub our TA told us about. So around 8:30 we walked over to the University College of London and had a few drinks. There, we met some awesome students from the university. Two of the guys were from America, studying through an exchange program. There was another kid originally from New York whose family had lived in the UK for the past two years. The other two guys have always lived in England.

At the union, I bought my first drink at the bar, which was really cool (they didn’t even ask for my ID … I guess I look older than 18!). When the union closed, we went to another pub called Rocket with the UCL boys. We had a really nice time getting to know them, learning more about London (where the best places are for people our age to go on the weekend) and just hanging out.

Then we walked home and went to bed!

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