The City Life

Pics.... first is of new friends Linda and Kathryn on the Lions in Trafalgra Square.

Second is in China Town with Linda. Chinese new year is soon!

Third is of my new friend the jack russell on a house boat in the canals! Cute!

And the last is of one of the last true double decker buses in London. Itis from the 1960s and still running!

I didn't blog yesterday, but it was the longest day I've had here yet.

Bright and early in the morning we went on a coach tour of the city. Our guide was the loveliest British lady ever. She made everything seem like it was the most fascinating site or object in the entire world. We hit all the major sites like Big Ben, Saint Pauls, the Tower of London, etc. We also went by the bigger parks and through some wealthhhhhy neighborhoods. Did you know that West London was where the wealthy lived back in the day because the winds came and blew the pollution through to the East? That is why East London is the poor section of town still today, because the population never shifted. Also, London was heated with coal all the way up until the 1980s, meaning it was a DIRTY city and has only recently been cleaner.

We also learned about the Olympics. The stadium will be in East London, and they hope it will help bring the area out of poverty. She called it the next legacy of London.

We had a lunch break, and then we went on a walking tour of our neighborhood. We walked along the canals, and saw some of the backstreets of the area. We also saw the home (hotel now) of a brilliant mathmetician during World War II named Alan Turing. His story is tragic, being that he was a homosexual during a time when it was illegal, and ended up killing himself after the government tried to treat his "illness" with hormones. The government recently apologized for what they did to him.

After that, I went on a run, because I had an appointment to meet with a fitness instructor at the local gym. This gym was in a sports park, and there were children and families everywhere because it was a sunny Saturday.

I then ran down to Regents park which was so beautiful and I can't wait to go back.

Now part II.... I told you this was a long day!

A group of us went to dinner at a Fish and Chips Pub downtown on Baker Street. I looked for Sherlock Holmes but I didn't see him sadly.

We came back to the flats and my flat was full of almost the entire group of Elon students partying before going out. It was a little overwhelming.... But we all went out to the city centre to "hit" a club.

The streets were packed, and there were girls walking around in cocktail dresses... in the freezing London drizzle, with NO COAT. Sheesh.

The club was called Oxygen and it had a basement with a dance floor and poles.. hmmmmmm. It was not my cup of tea at all, so I left with Linda and Kathryn, and we went and took pictures climbing on the lions in Trafalgra Square.

Many new experiences today...