Hi everyone!
I’m here in beautiful, sunny – well, okay, rainy – London, having a great time so far, and I just figured I’d send off a short update to say hello to you all.
Well, we haven’t seen any sunny days yet, but at least today the rain has slowed to an intermittent drizzle. Right now, I’m still in my pyjamas at 2pm . . . but don’t worry, so is most of Jon’s family – we’re all gathered around the TV watching the soccer game. England is leading Argentina 1-0, so if they win it’ll be a big party tonight! Soccer – pardon me, “football” – seems to be more of a big deal around here than even hockey is at home, so it’s pretty exciting. I don’t understand much of the game, but Jon and his family are being very obliging explaining it all :)
After arriving on Wednesday, we saw the Wax Museum and the Planetarium. Very cool. I have lots of fun pictures with famous people. And I keep thinking that real people are made out of wax, and vice-versa. It was also pouring rain so we took a walk and got very wet . . . but we saw Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square. There was a movie premiere for Spiderman so there was a big group of people gathered around, but we couldn’t really see the stars. They get American movies much later here than we do at home, for some reason.
Yesterday, we toured Tower of London, where lots of royal people died by beheading or other such gruesome methods. Some of it was a bit history-intensive, but the weapons were cool, although the body armour looked quite uncomfortable. Oh, and the Crown Jewels were spectacular. I’ve always wanted a tiara.
After that, we got some great photo ops at the Tower Bridge, and then we pretended to be 3 years old and went to play in Hamley’s toy store before heading back to Jon’s for some delicious home-cooked Mexican food. Then, our first authentic British pub experience, when we went to a pub called the George, which looked like a huge coffee shop with alcohol. We’re going there again tonight. Despite how insanely expensive everything is in London, they had Smirnoff Ices for only ₤1.80. And you don’t even have to tip! Not bad. But, oddly enough, all their pubs close at 11pm and have last call at 10:30. They have to start their nights out very early, and Jon says that people regularly get into big fights on the street at around 11:15 after closing time. Not sure about the logic on that one, but anyway…
Off to watch the rest of the game. Bye for now!