London Calling!

'ello from Merry Ol' London, again!

I walked about 11 miles today, my legs are sooooo tired. I went on a walking tour that went from Monument by the Tower of London to Parliament and Westminster Abby. That was almost 3 miles. I'll tell you all about the tour in a sec. After that, I had a little bit of a meltdown (details in a few) and then went back to Monument to see if I could go up inside it. On the Metro on the way back I realized that every other attraction was closed because I looked in my guide book, so when I got off, I wasn't surprised to see the Monument was as well. So, I decided to take a walk along the Thames. Walking near water always calms and soothes me. 4.5 hours later I arrived at my hostel... It was a very long walk.

Back to the tour, it was one of those free '[insert city name] Walks!' that I took in Amsterdam and will also be taking hopefully in Paris and definitely in Berlin. It was a lot of fun and about 3.5 hours long. Our guide was interesting, his name was Jessie. I met two other cool guys, Simon and Jon on the tour. Simon was staying at an amazing hostel, St. Christopher's and he and I talked about our hostels and city experiences. Jon was studying to be a London Walks! tour guide, he was really cool, but he and I talked mostly during the walks between stops, because he had to take notes. He told me his first tour is on Saturday and that he's super nervous and is going to do it hungover. I laughed.

The tour ended at Westminster Abbey, my number 1 place I want to see while I'm here, and Simon and I actually tried to sneak in on advice from Jon, but they were closing it for Mass. After that, Simon tried to help me out by giving me the number for his hostel so that I could try to switch rooms, unfortunately the rates they gave me were far too steep, but it was nice of him nonetheless to wait with me while I made the calls. He's going to be in Berlin in a week and a half or so, after I get there, I told him to give me a ring so that I could stop by with him and his friends that he's traveling with and we could check out the city, maybe take the Berlin Walks! tour.

Simon left and I continued to try more hostels, but no go. I was getting upset by then, because I really don't like my hostel. I broke down and called Nick, even though I know it's going to hit me when my bill comes and I was interrupting him at work. I was all weepy when he answered the phone and talked to him for a few minutes. He wasn't very sympathetic about it, but I can't blame him, he's right that this was my choice to stay in London in a hostel and that was the chance I took. However, on the other hand I really can't afford any of the other options. He did send me a sweet email that I got a little while ago, and that cheered me up a bit. Though, I'm starting to worry about my hostel in Paris now. Lets hope it's better than I'm expecting (eh Jenna?).

After off I got off the phone with Nick was when I took the metro back to the Monument, and then began my walk. I walked by the Thames to the Millennium Bridge by St. Paul's, and then crossed and continued east along the Thames, crossing back at Westminster, then went south passed Big Ben and Parliament. I turned away from the Thames at Lambeth Bridge and made my way to Victoria Station, then from there up Buckingham Palace Road to Grosvernor, which led me to Hyde Park. I walked around there, saw the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain (I think, it was a little unclear) and also saw the Peter Pan statue. That, was amazing. Absolutely incredible. If you know me well you know I absolutely love Peter Pan, and seeing that statue meant a lot to me. I then turned back south to leave the park, crossing into Kensington Gardens passing the Kensington Palace at a distance, and then exited at the Queens Gate. I walked the block to Palace Gate and turned down that. Palace Gate soon turned into Gloucester Road, and then it was only a few short turns to my hostel once I reached the metro station.
To make that shorter: I walked from City to South Kensington. In a round-about way.

I don't know if that meant anything to you, or if it was just boring, but I like having a record.

I think I got sun today, my face is really hot. I'm probably going to get stupid glasses tan lines. Oh, yeah, about that. My first night in Amsterdam, I put my contacts in my case that night, and woke up in the morning to find that the left one had shriveled and cracked, and I left all my others in Berlin with my luggage. Boooo. So, glasses from now on it is.

Well, that's all for now. Seeing (hopefully) the Tower and WESTMINSTER ABBEY tomorrow!!!!!

Love to all at home,
*Miranda