Day Two- London Bridge, Big Ben, the London Eye, and The Tower of London

I feel like a new person today after 12 hours of sleep. Victoria and I woke up once around midnight to a very warm room, as the heat vent was on too high. Once fixing it we went back to bed until 8 am time here.

The street is really busy this time of morning! Lots of schoolkids in uniforms and people walking to their jobs.

As you can tell by the title, today was absolutely fabulous! We started our day with breakfast here at the flat. Then we took the good ol' tube to a station nearby St. James' Palace, where we walked a good while through St. James' park. It was a lush green place with a large reflector pond in the center. We could see Buckingham Palace from the park across that pond! Then we continued walking until we came upon Big Ben, Westminster abbey, and the Parliament buildings. Our tour next week will show us these places in detail, so for the moment we simply gawked and snapped pictures of the iconic place.

We had planned to eat lunch at a little restaurant called the Red Lion, which was almost directly across from Big Ben. It was a teensy little place and we took our table next to 3 businessmen who were happy as clams taking their tea along with a "fry-up" or full English breakfast. We all got the fish and chips, which was a large slab of sustainably harvested halibut, battered in an extremely light and airy batter served with peas, "chips" (aka light, fluffy home fries.) It was really quite delicious! After lunch we took a tube to the Tower of London, where we spent about 3 1/2 hours. It was absolutely amazing! The history of the place was just fascinating, from the tower that held the Lost Princes to the underground torture chambers (just don't go there before lunch.....blech!) and everything in between. I cannot go without mentioning the architecture! Oh, I could just eat it up! Everything is symmetric and ornate, with lots of stained glass and beautiful crown molding.

Next we opted for a little pick me up from a local starbucks-esque coffee chain. Victoria got a cookie, and I got a water and some dark chocolate. We both purchased our items and when we got outside. We then commenced to engaging in a rather funny conversation about a word that British people attach to the end of a sentence. They often use the word "love," as in, "that'll be seven pounds fifty, love."  It is as common a phrase of endearment here as using "honey" is in the south. I hadn't ever been called it before, I had only  seen it used before in the movies, so that was interesting, :)

We then toured the London Bridge, another fascinating place with a great view. Afterward, we set off for the London Eye, which is like a giant ferris wheel that gives you a great view of the city. We got some awesome pictures there which I hope to upload soon.

After trying to find our restaurant we were hoping to go to, we ended up eating at...wait for it...Chipotle. Yeah, they have them in London, and there's nothing more funny than hearing an Englishman prounounce "guacamole" and "pico de gallo." (yes I'm a dork) The food was great and I overheard a gem of a conversation too boot.  We were getting ready to leave from the restaurant when I overheard a conversation at table nearby. Three brits were eating at the table, a lady and two men. One of the guys asked the lady, in a very serious, matter of fact tone of voice, "So, when you were in America, did you have any of this stuff they call.....peach cobbler? I couldn't pick up much of her reply, other than she said "I've never met a pie in America that I didn't like."

Here's some things that I noticed but don't have time to write extensively on. I'm calling it quick bits, or British-isims:

Cultural things and British-isims
Retractable mirrors bulit into city vans for parking safely on the street. Clever!
The licence plates are obviously different, all yellow or white with numbers/letters and a EU sign if it's a euro car and a GB if its a British car
walking up the other side of the walkway/street/etc.
"Cheers" the thanks/farewell of choice
The word of choice for a man is "bloke" or "gentleman."
"Surf" (their version of tide) is how British people smell. Second place goes to cologne or fancy perfumes.
Booties are in high fashion with the female population here (ick)
Hearing British people say cuss words is bizarre. Can't get used to it!
Pronunciation is wonky, and if you didn't know the right way to say it, well....you know. Embarassing, right? :) Galen has trouble pronouncing "Gloucester" "Marylebone" and "Edingburgh." I have to keep correcting him or he'll pronounce it "glowchester" or "maryleebone" or "edinburg"

If I have internet there, I'll update from Scotland. We are planning to leave on a train for Edinburgh tomorrow!