The End of my First week...

Sorry that it has been so long since my last blog post. I started writing one on Saturday, but then I realized that I had lost my camera... so here is that post, and then I will continue with the rest of the week:

Today started much better than yesterday. I woke up on time, and made it downstairs to the charter bus that was waiting to drag us all over town. Cameron, who had decided to go out last night, which I did not do due to a lack of rest, did not quite make it to the tour. In fact, he did not quite make it out of bed until well after noon. The rest of us on the other hand got up and went on a tour of the city with our amazing tour guide Sarah. We started out in Kensington and were cut off quickly on our way to Buckingham Palace by soldiers on horseback. A few hundred of them actually, who were doing a practice run for the Trooping of the Colors, which is an annual celebration of the Queen's birthday. The actual event will be taking place on the 14th of June, which unfortunately is when Leanne and myself will be in Paris. Even though the garb was intriguing, the procession looked as though it would be far to long for my attention span. Due to this slow procession of horses, our bus took a detour and drove us through Piccadilly Circus and down Regents Street, where there is amazing shopping, and to St. Paul's Cathedral, which Leanne and I saw last night. We took a coffee break at St. Paul’s, where we got coffee from small restaurant called Pret A Manger, and then we were off again. We went by the original gates to the city, and the place where Sweeny Todd is suggested to have actually happened.

From there, the bus traveled to some places that Leanne and I had journeyed to last night, only by a different route before returning to Metrogate for a short break... (This is when I realized I lost my camera, and so I continue). We then went to this cheap, but delicious sandwich shop down the street and all of us got sandwiches and took them to the park because it was sunny out. For the first time in a while I didn't turn red after spending a couple of hours in the sun! It was very relaxing.

We then continued on a walking tour of Kensington with our guide Angela. Angela had lived only a few blocks from where we reside now, only in the 1970's, and so she had some very funny stories about her very old landlord back in the day. She told stories of how she used to travel the world and how she lived in Paris, Brazil, etc. We learned that Lord Snowden, Princess Margaret’s ex-husband, lives about three blocks from us. She also informed us that the cars left on the street over the weekend were the families’ leftovers since they would surely be in the country at their second houses for the weekend (yes, we live in that part of town... how I would love to be able to afford that lifestyle). We then took a tour down the mews, and through the quiet neighborhoods surrounding us until we ended up on High Street at a rooftop garden owned by Richard Branson. It was very cool. It had a church brought in from Spain on it and wonderful views and a fountain. Also, there is a nightclub there at night, which would probably be very fun. It is apparently a very popular club for celebrities.

She then took us down the mews on the other side of High Street and found these lovely little shops that are owned by locals. There was also a small, very old church hidden behind the new shopping complexes. Then, as we came out of the mews, we ended up on a private road full of embassies right next to Kensington Palace. After that, we went back to Gloucester’s Arms, the local pub, and watched what was left of the FA Cup Final match before coming back home and making fajitas. Then after dinner, we had a few drinks and went out to Club Sirocco near Piccadilly Circus. This is where I learned that I favor the pub culture to nightclubs.

Now, continuing with the week:

Sunday Leanne and I decided to go to Harrod's, a very large and expensive department store, but I managed to get us lost, and we eventually ended up on Regents Street where we did some window-shopping. The street there was also closed off for a Spain festival, so the street was incredibly crowded. We had a long fun conversation with a man working in the lower floor of Burberry about Croydon, which is where my internship is, and upon finding the Nike store, Leanne found new running shoes because in the UK the Nike Frees have the foam sole that they have replaced in the States with a heavier, plastic sole. We then took the tube and found where Harrod's is located, however it was closed.

Monday we spent at Harrod's, which I must admit was one of the best window-shopping experiences I have ever had. They had everything you could think of, and it was a fantastic time. I was tired after leaving there, but I had to run to Croydon to make sure that I knew where my internship was, since my interview was on Tuesday. Leanne and I took the tube to Victoria Station, where there is a National Rail Line service to Croydon, and we bought tickets and hopped on the above ground train to the East Croydon station. We proceeded to walk 10 minutes in the wrong direction before turning around and heading to the right place. All of the walking I was doing was killing my feet, even in my flip-flops, which are usually very comfortable. The worst of it was still ahead though; because as we got off of the National Rail train and headed for the tube, we saw that the tube station was closed, apparently due to a power failure. So Leanne and I were forced to set off on foot, in an area we did not know, without a map. About five minutes later we figured out where we were as we stumbled upon Buckingham Palace. This is a great place to be lost if you know London because you can simply walk the short distance across Green Park to the tube station, and off you go. For us however, this was a bad decision because when we looked at the map in the park, it looked to be a shorter distance to walk in the other direction towards the number 9 bus, which as I knew from getting us lost the previous day looking for Harrod's would get us back home. Eventually we got back home, where we finished leftover fajitas and called it a night.

Tuesday I had my internship interview, because apparently my job could not take me without meeting with me face-to-face first (it's a shame they had to waste their time doing that, but then again it's not their fault they didn't know me already). Anyway, I have my internship now, and I am the sidekick to the man that runs both the Croydon Savers Credit Union and another credit union outside of London. I will be making a marketing plan for the credit union, meeting with the board of directors and presenting it to them, as well as meeting with investors so that the credit union can look at expanding. After my interview, I returned home via the train, and the tube and then Leanne and I went shopping again, because I decided I needed more comfortable shoes and a briefcase and Leanne needed a bag for work. We headed to High Street and we looked at Marks and Spencer, TK Maxx, and then to Hornett's, which is where Cameron bought his briefcase for work. While there, I bought a dress shirt, Burberry cufflinks, a briefcase and a pair of Bally loafers (all of which was slightly used, but still in really nice shape) for 80 GBP. We then went to the Longchamp store to look at bags for Leanne and learned that before the exchange rate plummeted it would have been a good deal, but we were a few days too late, so she still doesn't have a bag for work...

Leanne and I hung around and relaxed for a while and ate dinner before we met everyone else at a pub about 15 minutes from the flat for drinks. It was a good, relaxing time, and some of the others were quite drunk. We then decided to chug what we had left after about an hour so that we could catch the tube home before it closed for the night. The drunkies ended up singing showtunes, which was fun for me since I grew up with musicals. Then we headed home and hit the hay.

Wednesday, it was decided that I would take it easy because I had been going a million miles an hour since arriving here, and so I woke up late and lounged around before attempting to solve my missing camera dilemma. Turns out that my camera was gone, so we went shopping for a new camera, since the bus company didn't have mine. We went to a sketchy part of town and bought a replacement camera for a pretty good price, and then went to see "Blood Brothers" at the Phoenix Theatre. It was a very good musical, and is in its 20th year of production. We all sat in the second row and got really freaked out at the end of the musical when police officers came down the sides of the theatre and fired guns (it was part of the show).

Then yesterday, I woke up around noon and went to class, where we talked about analyzing images. This was the first time my art history classes proved to be helpful in another type of class. It was great. Then, continuing with this theme of images, we walked the 3 blocks from our flat through the Imperial College of London campus to the Victoria and Albert Museum, which proved to be very large and full of art. It was great. The only downside was that we arrived there around 4:15 and it closed at 5:45, so we didn't have much time there. From there, we headed to the Royal Parade Grounds just down the street from Buckingham Palace, where we went to Beating Retreat. This was something I had read about in a monthly London hand out, and it turned out to be a much bigger deal than I expected. There were bomb sniffing dogs everywhere and at the last minute we found out that we needed tickets (which luckily were only 5 GBP). We had some time to kill before hand, so Leanne and I did our favorite thing and headed across the street to a pub where Leanne tried her first fish and chips and where I met a funny old man from Indiana. We had a great time with food, drink, and sudoku. Then, we headed back across the street to watch Beating Retreat. This is an annual presentation and marching concert of the bands of the cavalry, home guards (troops stationed in London), and this year the troops of the Royal King of Norway. It was very interesting, and at one point the home guard even played Eleanor Rigby, which was fun. Princess Anne was in attendance since she is in charge of the cavalry, and the ceremony was very interesting. Also, the soldiers from Norway had an amazing routine and the whole thing seemed a lot more important and interesting than anything we have in the States. I learned about the history of the bear skin hats and how to tell different divisions both by plume or by the buttons on their jackets from the ex-military guy seated behind me.

And finally, today, Friday, June 5, 2009, I woke up around 8ish, went to class, and on the way saw the bus that I had lost my camera on. So, I inspected the inside of the bus, but my camera was nowhere to be found. Now at least I know that it was stolen at some point. Then in class we watched a movie titled "This is Britain", which was about the skinhead subculture, and its roots. It was an interesting commentary on the political divisions within Great Britain, as well as on what life is like in the midlands of England, and how loyalties are known within Great Britain to the people of the four countries that make up the nation of Great Britain. Following this, I came back to the flat and took a nap, and made a sandwich before heading off to Brick Lane, which is a part of London comparable to Ellis Island in that it is a place for immigrants to London to go while assimilating to the culture and get on their feet before moving to other parts of the city. It was previously home to the French Huguenots escaping religious persecution, followed by Jews escaping from Poland and Russia, and now a large Bangladeshi population (the sun dial shown is on the Mosque on Brick Lane, previously a synagogue, but it bears a Latin inscription which translates to "We are shadows", from when this building was home to a Huguenot's church some 300 years ago). We then walked some more through the east end's markets and streets before setting off back for the flat and grocery shopping.

Now that all of the drama is done with my camera, I will start posting on here more often. Highlights of things coming up to be excited for are touring palaces, the England v. Andorra world cup qualifying game (which I am going to), a cricket match I will be attending, more museums, a tour of Parliament, a Dublin trip, Oxford, Bath, Stonehenge, and Paris).

The pictures in this post from top to bottom are: 1) Buckingham Palace with the Queen Victoria statue in the foreground, 2&3) Richard Branson's rooftop garden at 99 High Street in Kensington, 4) The Gloucester Arms aka best pub ever, 5) our neighbor's Aston Martin, 6) soldiers on parade at Beating Retreat, 7) The sun dial on the church/ synagogue/ mosque in on Brick Lane.