Day 2

Today was our first full day in London, and as first days go, it was pretty phenomenal.  We started out with an orientation meeting for the London portion of our program, but after the meeting, the excitement of the day truly began.  After the meeting, we went directly to lunch at a small restaurant near Kensington Park.  I had a delicious bacon cheeseburger, which I realize wasn't very British of me, and a much needed cup of coffee.  With lunch complete, it was time to begin our sightseeing adventure through London.  

The Front of Westminster Abbey

We met up with the group and got on a bus that would drive us through the city to show us some of the most important and famous sites.  The first stop on our tour was Westminster Abbey where we got off the bus and took a tour of the inside of the Abbey.  I had been through Westminster Abbey on a previous trip, but it was really interesting to learn more about the construction of the abbey and some of the people who are buried there.  The way that various monarchs had each constructed a portion of the abbey over several centuries and yet still seemed to blend all of the individual parts to create a fairly uniform look was amazing.  In addition to the astounding architecture, the politics of the process to select who would be honored inside the abbey was quite interesting.  I was surprised to learn that Charles Darwin is actually buried inside the abbey, which I think is quite ironic given his contributions to the scientific community.  After completing the tour of the abbey, we got back on the bus and continued on our tour of the city.  For the rest of the tour, we didn't get off the bus, instead we just drove by various sites and learned about them from our tour guide.  Some of the sites we drove by included the National Gallery, which I am planning on returning to visit; Buckingham Palace; the River Thames; and Trafalgar Square.  The tour concluded in Piccadilly Circus where we got off of the bus and were set free to find our way back to the apartments.  

View of the London Eye From St. James Park

As we walked through central London, our group gradually got smaller as people broke off and decided to go their separate ways and explore different parts of the city.  Together with a few friends,  I walked across the River Thames and walked through the area surrounding the London Eye.  We decided not to ride the eye, since we had all already been on it on previous trips and didn't want to waste the time standing in line when we could be seeing more of the city.  As we approached Parliament, we crossed back over the river and started to make our way back to our apartments.  On our way back, we walked through St. James park which was absolutely magnificent.  From there we walked by Buckingham Palace, through we will have to go back at some point to see the changing of the guard.  Once we had seen the palace, we decided that it was time to get dinner and get back to our apartments.  

The fastest way to get back to the apartments was the Tube, the subway system in London, so we made our way to the nearest station, and after a few minutes staring at a map, got on a train hoping that we were headed in the right direction.  Sure enough we were on the right train and were soon back in the neighborhood of our apartments.  For dinner, we decided on Thai food and found a place that looked pretty good, so we sat down and enjoyed the best Thai food that I have ever eaten.  After dinner, we called it a night and returned to our apartments to get ready for our first actual classes which are tomorrow morning.