Well, folks, I am back. I've been back since Tuesday, 27 June, evening, and just trying to get back in the swing of things. I'm pretty much there. I've been back at work since Thursday, and am almost myself. I did have class again, on Saturday, so that has slowed my return to normalcy. But, i am here to finish my blogging about London, and then to relate my reflecting on the the trip and where i am with things.

So, on to Wednesday, June 21st:

Wednesday

Today was our day off – our tourist day. Chrissie had done a fair amount of reading up on things to do in London, and J&K had also suggested one of those big red double-decker bus tours. Though pricey, it proved to be a great thing. It allowed us to make it all over London, seeing the sites and the monuments without hoofing it all over the city on our already tired and stressed out feet. Jayne had a great point in favor of the tour, namely that we could walk all over the city and see the sites, but if we took the Tube, which was easy for us to navigate, we’d miss the sites, and if we took the regular bus, we’d lose enormous amounts of time trying to navigate the system – and either way, we’d have no idea what we were looking at half the time, or why it was important. And the big bonus? It came with a free ticket for a little river cruise up or down the Thames. It was swell over all. Terry, Jayne, family Vare, and myself stuck together the entire time, with some of our classmates joining/leaving us at various points along the way.

We got off the bus for the Tower of London tour, which was fascinating. The Tower of London is more like the Fortress of London. It’s the old-school locale of royal safety. There are still 34 guards (Yeoman Warders, aka Beefeaters) who live inside the Tower with their families. The gates get shut at midnight and no one goes in or out until the morning. I was able to trot out the only date I can remember from any history class in my educational life: 1066, the Battle of Hastings, Invasion of England by William the Conqueror. (I do have 0 BC/AD for Jesus’s birthday, and a supposed 33AD for his death, but most westerners have that too). But other than that, I can’t recall the fall of Jerusalem, the fall of Rome, Martin Luther’s theses, nothing.

Regardless, the Tower was where people were imprisoned (usually of royal leanings) and some executed (Anne Boylen (sp?)). A Beefeater led the tour and it was lots of fun! We also got to see the crown jewels – stunning!

We then caught that boat ride down the Thames (or was it up? I dunno), and again, the weather was fantastic, clear and bright, with no rain, and not too cold or hot. The whole day it was like this and the boat ride was no different. Just perfect weather!

Big Ben, the London Eye (an enormous Ferris wheel), Westminster, Parliament, all of it was great and easily seen from the river. Just brilliant! (I’m working that into my vocabulary, now)

We landed and strolled along to Westminster. A few of us weren’t up for a £12 entry ticket to tour it, so me, Bob and Terry walked around while the others toured Westminster. We all met up again an hour later, and walked to Trafalgar Square, looking for a place to have affordable dinner. We ended up at a pub, The Silver Cross, and each had yummy and affordable food.

Sidenote: The exchange rate has been something to contend with over here. The exchange rate is about $1.93 to £1. So, it’s about double. The problem is, the prices are about the same, but after the exchange rate, it costs us Americans double. Like, you’ll see a sign for a sandwich in a pub or restaurant: £6, or a small latte for £2. And you think, “reasonable.” And then you do the exchange in your head, and that means $12 for a ham sandwich and $4 for a small latte: “not so reasonable.” One Londoner was relating a story, namely that his friend had just returned from New York City, saying how cheap NYC was!

So those of y’all who donated to my personal bank account to help keep me afloat during my time away, you can be assured that I didn’t go shopping on your dollar! :) I only bought what I had to, seeing that most things weren’t worth the price.

After dinner, we were going to try to head over to St. Mary’s for their Wednesday night “Jam Session,” but everyone else was tired. You know me, I was dying to stay in London as much as possible. “hey guys! Let’s stay in London later!” “hey y’all! Let’s go to London!” But most of my classmates were wiser and said things like, “No.” (I say wiser because they know that if they don’t get enough sleep, they are tired, cranky and slow the next day.)

So back to S., and a good night’s sleep (except Jayne claims that I made her stay up late and watch Whale Rider. Whatever. She is a grown woman who can put herself to bed anytime she wants. And it was a great movie.)