January 16, 2009 first day in London

Today was a day of sightseeing. It was good. First we went on a run, and found this cute little quaint park, where we could run. There was tons of people playing soccer(they are so good) and girls playing field hockey. There was also so many dogs again. Bridget, Madison and I first took the Tube to Westminster and walked through a park with gorgeous old Lord’s houses like Lancaster and such. We then came across a busy place with tons of tourist, our home. Now we can look like tourists with out being starred or scuffed at! Yeah! After minutes of contemplation, we finally figured out that the big palace with golden gates and a golden statue was that of Buckingham palace. Though, it is not how I pictured It or how it is portrayed. It seems less grand and darker, maybe because it is in the winter and spring/summer. The guards were pretty sexy with there fluffy hats! Hot damn! We did not see the queen, however, which is quiet depressing. We did see her gift shop though, if I had tons of money I would go crazyyyyyy! Like buying cups, plates, wine, shirts, giant candy coins, and maybe even the God Save the Queen Pillow! After that little adventure we headed to a park with tons of birds and trees( I think it was the princess Di’s memorial park). It has been decided that the best thing about London is the Birds. After taking pictures of many different random buildings like the guard and war rooms(official looking buildings) and where we saw the guards doing exercising in the drive way (they looked ridiculous) We came across the old part of London which was awesome. It made me appreciate London as a whole. This was the London I was missing. We went to Trafalgar Square and this area was mad cool. It was so busy and happening. There was giant Lions and tons or old intersections. Very touristy, but once again, my home. I didn’t feel like an outsider. We went to the National gallery and it was interesting, but I am not really into art. Not that I am lame, but I don’t know, it is not my thing. I’d rather be chilling looking at old building or artifacts. It was kind of a rainy day, now I have truly experienced London weather, but it is still better that the negative 40 degree weather back home. People need to realize that Brits are refined and dignified in public spaces not all over the place like indecent Americans, I am not saying you can’t have fun, but you need to keep it in check. On the tube they were imitating British accents). On the Tube, Danielle and I, who got split up from the rest of the group and then decided to go to Piccadilly circus. This was amazing, especially at night. I recommend going to all the sights at night, it is so much better that way. It was so crowed and gorgeous, Danielle said a classy time squares. There was so much life and a TGIF Fridays. We ended up just taking some pictures and buying 16 post cards for one 1 pound. It was definitely a good choice to randomly do this. This is what London is about spontaneity and fun. Seeing the sights. We had a nice chat with a British business man about politics, state quarters, Wisconsin, Sarah Palin, and he even made a joke about Monica Lewinski and internships and stained dresses. He was so nice and funny. That was the first conversation I really had with a Brit. But then after he left some creepy British boys tried hitting on us and asking us our number and where we lived. God, they first started off by asking if my A’s(eyelashes) were real. They kept saying I was beautiful, and called me shorty. It was so icky, thankfully a couple(the women was American) was sitting across from us saved us from the creepiness and they got of at our stop, because I was afraid they would follow us. The man even walked behind us just in case. This adds a new fear factor, because what if someone from our house or complex tells people where we live. We need to all make sure we keep that private. We had to say that we didn’t really know and that it was some where in Northern London. My views of London are improving, I am liking it a bit more, I can not wait to travel, I love going to new places and being distracted.