These feets were made for walking

\Alright, so still no luggage. Did I mention I bought a hair dryer? I decided that since they have a normal return policy at that store, I will just return it at the end of my stay in UK. It’s got the UK plug on it, so it’s of absolutely no use in the US.

Friday was spent wandering the city. I left the hostel, headed east, and went to a different subway station than I’ve been using. I got off at the stop near to the British Museum. So, off to the British Museum. This is the place to go to see what all the treasures the Brits took from the rest of the world while they reigned over the Empire. Saw a piece of the beard of the Sphinx, saw parts of the statues and other things from the Parthenon in Athens. (Which was pretty cool!) and saw the Rosetta stone. That was impressive, but at the same time not. If you don’t know what it is, people found it quite a long time ago. There’s hieroglyphics, another ancient language, and Greek writing on it. All three say the same things and it was from this that researchers learned how to translate the hieroglyphics. I learned about it in my History of Western Civilization class a couple years ago. (OK, more than couple) My professor would be so proud! If I thought that he’d remember me, I’d send him a postcard saying that I too had made the pilgrimage to see the almighty Rosetta.

I wandered around a bit more, saw some of the Native American and Aztec and Mayan things. They even have one of the statues from Easter Island. The only thing I looked at on the second floor was medieval things. There was a cool exhibit of early clocks. One very large, intricate one started chiming while I was in the room. Everyone--about 30 people--stopped talking and just turned to it as though it was some shrine and just watched until it was over.

Also in the building is the Reading Room. This is where some rather famous people hung out….reading…and went on to make some major changes. I’ve read about it -- at the moment--being still not quite awake (oh yeah, it’s Saturday, I am writing now b/c I was just entirely too tired last night.)anyway…where was I? Karl Marx hung out there getting ideas for how to revolutionize Russia. I thought about asking for a book to read, to see what revolutionary ideas I could come up with. Instead, I decided to leave that to someone else, I wanted to see more of London.

I left, and headed down one of the side streets and made my way back to where I’d exited the Underground. I turned south on what is Charing Cross Road. I wandered in and out of shops there. Interesting. Sort of like Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles. I continued and came to Leicester Square. This is where a lot of the theater is. I do need to decide which show I want to see. I am split between seeing the play ‘Life in the Theater’ which has Patrick Stewart and Joshua Jackson (Pacey’s hanging out in London!) or Mary Poppins or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. If I could, I’d go see one every performance, just to catch up on my theater going!.

My journey didn’t stop there, I kept walking south or west, or whichever direction…. I next came up to Trafalgar Square. It’s got a huge column with a statue of Lord Nelson, there’s a museum I didn’t go into (close to closing at this point) and the huge lions. Took a few photos here. Kept on…next up, walked past 10 Downing Street. Was going to wish Tony Blair luck with the upcoming election, but the guards wouldn’t let me through. Oh well.

I ended up back down by Big Ben and Parliament. I turned, and walked the length of the building and was amazed at just how large that building is. I crossed and went around to the front of Westminster Abbey. Also just amazingly huge. From there, I figured I may as well keep going. So, I crossed a couple streets and this time I was headed towards Buckingham Palace. From my direction, I got to walk through St. James Park. Very pretty. Saw several types of ducks and birds I’d never seen before. Also saw regular ducks and some coots (koots?) like what come to Disney World for the winter and hang out on Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon. After I left the park, I tried to get a peek at St. James Palace and Clarence House- former and current home of Charles…and now Camilla. The flag was flying above Clarence House, so I wonder if Charles was back, or maybe William or Harry was hanging out at dad’s house for the week.
Buckingham Palace seemed a little smaller than it looks on television. It’s still huge though. There were several bobbies at one gate. I really wanted to go ask (beg) for just 5 minutes on the grounds. Heck, everyone else seems to be gaining access to the Queen’s homes.

Continued walking. I think I hit that 10,000 steps that they say you should do every day now - latest in exercise fads.

Now, I was just trying to get back to the subway and I probably did a huge loop around a neighborhood and went at least a mile out of the way, but I am in LONDON and there’s cool architecture EVERYWHERE, so I didn’t mind! I finally ended up at Victoria Station and all was well. Back on the train to my stop up here at St. Pancras, and up to the room

Oh yeah, I finally found a cord with the British plug for the laptop. That was the best find of the day! No adaptor needed. Just hook it up and I can charge my toy!

Must go get breakfast and head on out. Portabello Road Market today…and a visit with British Airways.

Cheerio!