Second day in London

Oh I love free wifi. I don’t guess it’s actually free if it’s from the hotel we’re staying in (the Grosvenor, if you wondered), but nevertheless.

So we’ve been in London two days now. We got into town yesterday around 7am, and dropped off our luggage at the hotel. We then walked down to Buckingham Palace where we did not see any royalty or changing of guards. It was somewhat surreal still, just because it’s a famous courtyard. We then walked down to the Thames, over to the Eye of London which we didn’t have much interest in riding, and walked back past Big Ben and parliament. Got back to the hotel, took a nap, and then went out for drinks and dinner. And then went back to bed. Heh.

The were two highlights today. First we went to Baker Street where we did not tour the museum (the line was long, and c’mon guys, he wasn’t a real person), but we did go into the gift shop were I spent like £35. Which is a lot more than $35. But it’s all good. 🙂 Katie took my picture under the 221B sign, so that was nice too.

So we walked through Regent Park and ended up at the British Museum. Which was amazing. Omg it was amazing. Saw the actual Rosetta Stone. And that bust of Alexander. There was a piece of a column from the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, and also a whole room of reliefs and statues from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. ALL ORIGINALS. And there was so, so much more. It was …just an amazing piece of humanity’s story that I hadn’t been expecting to encounter. Museums that house largely reproductions can still be interesting, but there’s just something really special about being able to see originals. It makes you feel insignificant, and part of a bigger story. Pretty great. IMO.

The subway system here is called the Underground (or the Tube) and is super easy to navigate. I was so relieved after I realized it was so simple. The only bad part are the people! Most of them are in such a huge, terrible rush to get somewhere. I realize that most big cities are probably this way, and that Nashville doesn’t provide a very good example of urban life like London does. But geez. I seriously feel like I’m in someone’s way at least 50% of the time.

Ok, enough of this for now. Tomorrow we are headed to Cambridge – just booked a hotel room for one night. Still trying to decide where to go after Cambridge though…..