I made it! I'm in London! Crazy to think about. I'm surrounded by British accents. Maybe I'll have one when I come home. Then again. maybe not.
The airplane ride wasn't fun but I wouldn't really call it miserable either. The first plane ride was from SLC to JFK. I sat next to a Japanese couple that slept for most of the three hours. The lady has the smallest bladder. Maybe it is a Japanese trait, but that was the one flaw with sitting on the aisle. No room. We got really close, really quick!
JFK is a complete zoo. It's a good thing that I can stalk behind everybody else that is going to London too. Off the plane, down an escalator, and onto a shuttle bus. Yes, the airport is big enough that you have to ride a bus from one terminal to the next. Sure, I'm sheltered.
After the bus, then it is up, up, up a gazillion ramps. JFK is the airport of the ramps. Then onto the plane. I felt like I was in Mom's movie- "Last Chance Harvey"- because the planes look exactly the same. Obviously, but still. I was once again on the aisle. And Missy was right- you can watch movies all the way across the water. I felt like I was in the Ritz version of an airplane, but it is probably old hat to a lot of people. They served us dinner- pasta(good, but it was more of a big square of goo. I just didn't look at it.), salad, brown roll, cracker and cheese, and a brownie/cake. I sat next to a gentleman who was traveling with his wife but they had a delay and were separated between rows. He was funny but kept making me nervous when we were delayed an hour to fix something on the plane. "We're never getting out of here!" Well, not with an attitude like that!
I attempted to watch Invictus, but I kept falling asleep. I don't know whether that is because it is a boring movie or whether it had already been a long time on a plane. I'm hoping it is the latter.
Then I watched Leap Year, and Young Victoria. Luckily, I had seen both already so it was okay to fall asleep. I was thinking about watching Avatar, but thought better of it when there was no one there to explain it to me if I did happen to fall asleep again.
Maggie, my pillow is pretty awesome! It took me a little while to get used to how it works, but it really did help me sleep better without the window to prop up against.
We finally landed and got into London and the first thing I noticed out the window was how green everything is! Trees everywhere. It's beautiful. The group got off the plane and showed our passports. Then good ole Ben became our Room Mother and led us onto the Heathrow Express. Every switch of the train and he made a headcount of the whole group. I actually made him nervous because he walked right past me and didn't count my head. Then he was frantically checking the other car. Funny boy. I'm right here.
Lauren said to take pictures of everything and not to delete any of them. I was pretty out of it yesterday, so I don't have very many pictures to show, but today I'm thinking my camera is going to get tired.
We took a taxi from Paddington Station to Regent's College. These taxis are awesome! Not yellow. Big black cars like in Anastasia and stuff. I feel like I'm back in the thirties or forties.
The college is nice. My room is the window on the First Floor (not the same in London apparently. The First Floor is not the Ground Floor. So in the US, you would say I'm on the second floor) right behind the big orange crane-y thing. Seems appropriate that I leave all the orange construction in Sandy to look out my window and still see orange. Actually, I think my room is slightly to the left. Just so you get the right one.
I'm surprised at all the people here. We went down to breakfast this morning and I didn't know that there were this many in the same college. We didn't see ANYBODY yesterday. Where did they all come from?
The park is beautiful with flowers everywhere. Not just any flowers- but tulips! I love tulips. So so much. Some of the group had a picnic yesterday for lunch right by the pond. There was a little girl playing with somekind of frisbee. I think it is a frisbee. It flies like one but it is made out of aluminum or something. She kept throwing it to her dad and the dad kept dropping it. Lauren and I laughed and kept saying that we wanted to play. Maybe we can find one down the street at the Sports store.
Then last night, we traveled down to the grocery store called Tesco. It is the smallest store I have ever seen. Even smaller than the one we went to in San Fran. I would guess that it is 1/16 the size of Reams on 7th East back home. I think there are only 4 aisles, each about 10 feet long. But they have Dove shampoo. It's the only shampoo. My hair is going to get a treat for a few weeks.
After Tesco, we went walking down Baker Street. EVERYTHING is named after Sherlock Holmes around here. Sherlock Holmes Museum is just out of Regents. Then there is a poster for a diner that is Sherlock Holmes approved, a Sherlock Holmes dinky little hotel, an elephant painted like Sherlock Holmes- it's like the moose that are all over Park City. They are all over Baker Street. Better believe I found one like Sherlock- even took pictures.
I haven't yet seen Big Ben and Parliament and the London Eye. Turns out it is a little further away than I thought, but we think we heard Big Ben chime 9 o'clock this morning. We heard a clock and choose to think it is Big Ben until proven otherwise.
Tonight, we are going to the Tate Modern and around Westminster! I'm so excited! Tom said there are acres of Monet. I love Impressionism. I'm jumping up and down just thinking that I get to see all this stuff!
I'll have to brush up on my blogging skills, but you'll hear all about my trip. Don't you worry :)
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