London Calling...

LONDON.

I had an absolutely fabulous day 1. After landing with a smooth plane ride and a few hiccups at the airport, I found my way to join the rest of the group, and we went around town a bit and walked through Hyde park, which is incredible and so peaceful. I had some nice nature moments. We played with the swans. They're quite tame, actually. I then had an amazing dinner complete with strawberry beer (it was incredible.) at a genuine English pub, and then had fun walking back to the dorms as it got dark. Today was incredibly full- Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace (where I discovered British Police have the best accents yet), and St. Paul's Cathedral. St. Paul's was definitely the highlight for me; we climbed hundreds of stairs to the very top of the dome and walked out on a railing looking out over London. It was magnificent, the air was so crisp and cool and all of London looked so majestic. After that we went to the Tate Modern Art Museum and my favorite part was the Russian/USSR Propaganda poster room. I stayed far too long reading the posters and almost lost my group at closing time. The Globe theater and 'A Midsumer's Night's Dream' was next, and the Globe was much more relaxed than I thought it would be. Tomorrow we do more London, the Canterbury, then Paris, then Oxford! Oh how wonderful it is here. I get shivers when I see awesome and pretty sights, and while I'm excited for Paris, the thought of discovering the English countryside is so so alluring.

Casualties:
1 almost lost Metro Tube pass
1 umbrella
1 almost burnt/exploded mini hairdryer (which I saved just in time)

So long from Britain for now!