Hullo London!

Well, after 9 hours on a plane, and one in Iceland, I arrived at Heathrow Airport.  From there I drug my 100+ pounds of luggage onto the Underground and made it to King's Cross Station, then to the dorms.  I immediately fell into my bed.

I would love to upload some photos from my first day in London, but alas, a) I forgot my camera and b) my Internet is not yet working (I'm in the dorm lobby right now).  However, I'm already in love w/ this city.  I went on a 6 hour walk today.  I live just 5 minutes away from the British Library, which houses the Magna Carta, the King's Library, and lots of other really old documents.  Then I went onto to Regent's Park where I stopped to smell the roses (literally) in the Queen's Garden and saw the Lord's Cricket Grounds - home to cricket.  There were actually some guys practicing, so I stopped and watched them for a bit.  I must learn the rules of cricket, for it was very confusing.

After that I made my way to Hyde Park and walked along the Serpentine.  All the parks have these green and white striped lawn chairs with people lounging in them.  Green Park was probably my favorite (favourite), for it had these beautiful paths lined w/ huge maple trees.  I was coming out of Green Park when I "stumbled upon" Buckingham Palace!  I totally wasn't expecting it until I saw these guards in red jackets and tall black hats, not to mention tons of tourists snapping photos.  Gosh, to be in a place where I can just run into so many historical and beautiful places, all in a day - I love it!  

I also walked along Picadilly Road to Picadilly Circus, which is in the main downtown area, so there are people and shops and theaters everywhere!  And double decker buses and red telephone booths; they didn't lie, they're everywhere, too.  

I'm dead tired, though, and thinking about bed.  It was a good day, and I haven't even had to use my raincoat yet!  Miss you all!