London Bridge is falling down...

I am dutifully trying to cram all my updates at 6am today XD

Day 3 (Saturday 6)

Let's see... woke up at 8 and didn't have any breakfast because we were very smart and didn't think we should have bought groceries last night.

So far I haven't felt any jet lag symptoms (according to wiki) -even if it may seem as if I have by those who don't know me: Loss of appetite, nausea, digestive problems, headache, sinus irritation, fatigue, irregular sleep patterns, disorientation, grogginess, irritability, mild depression. My appetite is just like always (aka I'm always hungry T___T), no nausea or digestive problems (unless you consider so that I process everything too fast, and so I'm hungry way too soon), headaches are normal on me, no sinus problems, fatigue is a normal state on me XD though it hasn't been too bad here, my sleep patterns suck (or rock, depending on how you look at it -I can sleep whenever, however, wherever-). I'm directionally challenged, therefore usually disoriented, though again not too badly here. I'm just lazy, so grogginess is always there. Irritability? Me? Neeveeer... haha yeah right. And no depression, so we're good to go!

At 10am we went to the walking tour with our guide from yesterday and visited again Imperial College, then went to a Neo-gothic -decorative style- church (yes, I'm still an Art History freak at heart). We passed the Royal college of Music (*swoon*), Royal Albert Hall, the Royal College of Organists with its contrasting style. The buildings around there are gorgeous, I was such a happy puppy. Strolled around Hyde Park
and ended up in Kensington Palace. Visited the Queen's Gardens, 'Millionaires' Street' -where apparently Dustin Hoffman has a house, I think-. We also got to see the house where T.S. Elliot lived...
We went to have a late breakfast at an inexpensive sandwich shop.
At 2pm we had our bus tour. We went down Cromwell Rd. to Knightsbridge, passed Hyde Park (640 acres XD) -where I learned that for some 45P I can go horseback riding...uh, pass. sorry horseys-
Went by the Marble Arch, Picadilly Circus (aka 'circle'), Trafalgar square, the business district, Covent Garden, Notting Hill, Downing St., Parliament Square, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey (I went nuts here with the architecture), Central Methodist Hall, St. Paul's Cathedral, Millennium (wobbly) Bridge -from where we could see The Globe (reproduction of Shakespeare's theatre) across the Thames-

We came back from the tour and at 6:30pm we went grocery shopping (since we'd heard we might get some extra discounts after 5pm). It took us ages to get what we needed (and a few little treats), looking for the cheapest options and discarding half of our load. I even gave up my box of cereals *omigasp*. I am determined not to buy any until I finish the oatmeal packages I brought from SA. T____T Temptations, temptations....
ANYWAY. We did fairly well, and I spent the same or less than its equivalent while I was shopping for StMU, so I feel proud of myself. The journey back to the rooms was hell, though XD. Endless, it seemed.

Martha, Kim and I were hanging out in the rooms at midnight, when it occurred to us that the Big Ben hadn't seemed that far away when we went by coach. We prepared our bags and set off to walk over there, just like that. It was rather easy to follow the map, even at night. The streets were rather desolate for a long portion of the trip, but we were careful and didn't let our guard down.
Down Knightsbridge there were several window displays that were very interesting, so we went wild taking pictures of them lol It probably made us take twice as long as it would've normally, without the distractions. but it's London, so distractions are a given I'm afraid.

We did get disoriented a couple of times, though it helped when a couple stopped by and asked us if we could give them directions to... hmm I forgot where, but at the time we knew where it was, thanks to the map XD. After a while we could see a little bit of the Big Ben on the distance, and later the London Eye, so we knew we were on the right track...

After a lot of walking and being silly we finally made it. The pictures suck, but it all looked so pretty at the time. We walked a little further and got to the London Eye... we didn't cross over to the actual side where it stood... since we couldn't ride it, we saw no point in it... We'll get our chance to get in, I'm sure...


The view was unbelievable. I could've camped there all night, just to see dawn and the change of lighting... Unfortunately by then our feet hurt like you have no idea, so we retraced our steps for a little while and searched for a bus that would take us close to the dorm. A driver was kind enough to drop us off the bus stop we really needed, and from there set off on the second story of the red bus.

On the way some Mexican students got in and made asses of themselves. I really would've liked it if they hadn't made it so very clear they were from México... rather embarrassing. The gentleman sitting next to me had heard me speak to Martha in Spanish and he recognised the accent. I guess my mortification at the spectacle the others were making was obvious, because he chuckled and assured me that he knew not all of us behaved that way. We joked around a bit and throughout the trip had one of the most pleasant conversations I've had in a while.

We walked four short blocks home and got into our rooms at 4:00am... went to sleep almost at 5 though. Needless to say I didn't go to Mass at 9:30am next morning, like I'd planned XD. I would've loved to go to the Greenwich trip Prof Amen and the rest took, though; by the time I woke up and read the e-mail detailing the plan, they were already gone ;____;

I've fallen in love with this city... and London seems to like me back, which makes for a nice change, for once.





again, visit my photobucket for more pictures, though I'm still missing two days' worth of pictures