the never ending bus/boat tour

Welcome to my home! Most people know it as Buckingham Palace- I simply call it home! These are pictures from the bus tour of the city we took Thursday. We started off at LMU after another batch of very important meetings (read: nap time). We had the worst tour guide who actually took a nap on the way to Greenwich, where we caught out boat to Big Ben and Parliament. In between the boat and Ben, we got off at at the Palace and meandered around a bit. This next picture is of me and Jessica, my roommate. We are on the boat tour along the River Thames. She took very good care of me on the boat because, apparently, I don't do so well on rocking boats. Thanks Jessica!
This nex picture is of Big Ben. I found out that Big Ben is not the name of the tower, but actually the name of the bell in the tower. I was told it has a unique sound (it just sounded like a big bell to me) because the bell got a crack in it when it was being shipped. You learn something new every day!
These last two pictures are from St. James's Park near Big Ben. We only walked around for a little bit, but as you can see, it was a beautiful walk. You also get great reception when you call Reading, PA USA. Who knew? :)
After St. James's Park, I met up with my study abroad group and we all went to dinner at a Medditeranian styled restaurant. It was lots of fun and the food was really good. I had filet of lamb (make sure to pronounce the "t" in "filet"!) and a prawn cocktail with avacado. Translation: a salad with shrip and avacado. I was feeling pretty full but I still had some money left on my tab, (We were alloted 15 pounds each to spend on dinner.) so I got dessert. I got tiramisu and boy was it good! After that, we went to a pub called Porter House that had a live band. Shortly after we came in they started to play "Sweet Home Alabama" and it sorta felt like home. Not the pub part, but just being around familiar music.
Today was beautiful. Not only beautiful because of the sun and warm weather that we had in the city (even the locals are finding it unseasonably warm), but because of the fact that I got to sleep in today! Jessica and I went to the British Museum for a few hours. Wow do they have a lot of stuff! There was no way to see all of it in one day, but I'm sure we will go back another day. It's only a few tube stops from the closest tube stop (King's Cross).
After we got back, I went church hunting. I had found this one church online that was in Islington (where I am) and also that had a sound mission statement. It was getting to be dusk and I was going to put off going until tomorrow. Ever encouraging, Jessica said that it wasn't too late and that I should go ahead and try to find it. So armed with my London A-Z street atlas and the address to the church, I was off! It took about 30 minutes to get to St. Giles and I didn't get lost! I was so proud of myself and my map-reading abilities that I had to thank the person who gave them to me. So I called my dad! He was thrilled. After I got home, I realised that I have developed the mother of all blisters on my left foot. Right on the ball of my foot. So excuse me if I hobble a bit. I'll just be in pain for a while, don't mind me!
I leave you with one last picture. It's a tree in St. James's Park. I saw it and instantly fell in love. Not because it was the prettiest thing I've ever seen, but because of it's situation. It's a little tree with green supports at different parts of the branches. Alone, that tree might not be standing. I'm realising that every one needs a little help sometime, or a lot of help most of the time. If it hadn't been for my friends and family, I might not have even tried this study abroad thing. If I didn't have people to call while I was settling in, I don't even know if I could get out of bed. Thank you for being my support. In case you didn't know, I appreciate your thoughts and your prayers and continue to covet them for the rest of my trip.
I'm off to clean up from dinner and dessert ( a salad and a few bits of my Galaxy smooth dark chocolate bar) and figure out a way to make my blistered foot stop hurting!