Update: London

Please forgive the long pause between posts, as well as my poor spelling in this post because I am on a time limit at a French internet cafe and the keyboards here arent the same as in America. We had to pay to use internet at the London hostel, and the family we are staying with in Paris has no access to it.

London was very fun, but we did a ton of stuff so I`ll just give a brief overview. Megan and I had to move around the hostel due to a shortage of beds, and the place was HUGE. There were six floors and something like 40 rooms per floor, so it was pretty hectic. The showers were very European and saved water by only running for 8 seconds at a time (NOT exaggerating). We saw several parks over the course of the week, including Regents park with its beautiful flowers and Hyde Park which contains Kensington Gardens, my Mecca, where Peter Pan was inspired and written, where there is a statue tribute to the story, and where the play was being performed that week. The parks there are all green and floral, and we spent a lot of time lounging in them (I think that London was the height of our achy feet from walking everywhere).

We also got to go to Portobello Road (Bedknobs and Broomsticks, anybody?) which is this great antique flea market. We also saw Picadilly Circus, London`s Times Square. Oh, and did I mention that I went to Wimbledon? It was kind of a last-minute decision, and we waited in line for HOURS, but we read up on the Michael Jackson situation in line and made friends with some very nice Australian people behind us so the wait wasnt so bad. The tennis was totally worth it and it was a fun experience... we didnt get to see any big-ticket matches, but we did manage to get into the 2nd court to see Andreas Seppi and Igor Andreev play a very very close one. They were about even when it was postponed due to poor lighting.

I think that my favorite part of London was our tour of the Tower of London. It was SO touristy, but our guide was fantastic and we got a lot of history out of it. He is a Yeoman Warder, or "beefeater", and is descended from the people who would guard prisoners like Anne Boleyn and Elisabeth I. We found out that in order to be a Beefeater one must serve at least 22 years in the military (but not the Navy, they dont trust them) and reach a certain rank. Our tourguide has a 12,000 pound (currency, not weight) uniform that he wears for special events like coronations. He also lives with all of the other Yeoman Warders and their families within the Tower of London complex. I thought that it was cool that someone with such an important role was giving tours to a bunch of Americans.

Side note: American cutlure is way bigger over here than I would have expected. They play the same music in bars and at restaurants, only more ABBA (which is okay with me!).
Whenever someone finds out that we are American, they ask us about Michael Jackson. Yes, we are devestated. Please stop pouring salt on our open wounds!
Anyway, there are memorials to him everywhere, its kind of funny. There was one at Notre Dame cathedral and someone made t-shirts.

Please see next post for Paris!