The French

If anyone picked out severe gramitical errors in that last post, i will let u know that it is this french keyboard. I only just now found out how to put in commas.... only took 2 hrs..... the a qnd q are qll mixed up too.....Ahhhhhh

London 5/20/04 The day of being touristy

Lisa stu and I all decided to see the main spots of london. A bit of it I saw the last time I was here but it was nice to see it with someone else this time. We saw Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, Buckingham palace, St Pauls Cathedral, The national gallery, tower of london, tower bridge and Picadilly Square, yada yada, the usual. Overall it was a pretty full day and LOTS of walking. We had lunch in a park and took a quick nap. Oh yeah when we were at the tower bridge, we watched them draw the bridge up and let a boat pass. Pretty cool actually. We came back to the hostel famished and had some pasta for dinner. Lisa and I sat on the balcony overlooking the street and the park and talked and people watched. The sun doesn't set here till around 10 or so each night. It took a bit to get used to.
Oh yeah I had a new roomate from Gainsville Fl. Great. Wasnt a big fan of this guy, but atleast he didn't snoke.

London 19/5/04

Today I woke up late but well rested. I headed to the Tate galleries- the old ones, not the new. I spent the entire day(ok from 12-5) there looking around and trying to recognize some British artists from my art history classes. Around 2 I sat out in the lawn, ad lunch and took a wonderful 20min nap. I need to incorporate these power naps into my daily routine. I feel wonderful afterwards! On my way out, I saw a statue that caught my eye-ah! I wanted to draw it. The gallery guard offered me a stool to sit on while I drew. WOA!! They need to provide these services into American Galleries as well. Awesome! After an hr or so, I meandered back through the train systems and got to the hostel. There, right next door to mine where my traveling companions...LISA & Stu! By sheer luck, they had a room right next door. We grabbed dinner at a nice English Pub right around the corner. Stu passed out from complete exhaustion. Lisa and I enjoyd a peaceful relaxing evening on the porch outside our room. A little sign said "Standing on porch is forbidden" Whoops, it was fun, despite their warning. We had a nice view of a neighborhood private park, and other houses 5 stories tall and all white georgeous row- houses. We sat out there and watched the sun set and came in to bed. I unfortunately had the opposite problem of last night....I couldn't sleep....freaking jet lag again.

London 1.5 18/5/04

Today was also rather interesting. I found out that my roomates were from Brazil and only one vaguely spoke english. They were really cool, quiet and fun to talk to, and laugh about not understandign each other. I grabbed dinner and went for a walk in the park. It was pretty cool- the parks here are much more social, and community oriented. There were people alllll over the place playing frisbee, soccer, flying kites, and just being bums. Hyde park is where we were- NW part of Lonon. After that I came back to the room. I found my Brazilian friends to be asleep and my 3rd roomate, who I had never met, hard at work at the desk. I went about my stuff, getting my pack organized. When he stood up forom the desk he asked(keep in mind, this is the first time I ever met this guy)... "Do you want to go smoke a joint?" Uh, hi nice to meet you too?? I declined, laughing to myself. Later after he came in from the porch and I had the effects of second hand smoke- he introduced himself as so-and-so from Ottawa. Nice to meet ya- you pot head. After this strange introduction, I never saw him again- he was on his way to Amsterdam.
I fell asleep very quickly and slept incredibly soundly. Jet lag is a pain.

L:ondon!!!

Yes, I've made it! Woo Hoo!!! No problems with the flight. Acually I'm havimg more problems with the keyboard. |I want to type I's and they always come up with that little extra line next to them... I think it's just the shift key. Anyway I'm staying not too far from the place I was last time. Its a bit smaller and more "hostel-like" aka it looks more like a dorm than a hotel. Thats what to expcet though :) My bunk may collapse on the person below me, and the shower stall is IN the room. Like someone droped a little box with a shower right against the wall....actually, I don't even know IF it is against the wall. I didn't freak out about flying. |I think that lack of sleep and a little medication went a long way. I woke up a few times on my flight and then "Gofoij Do lc la cieng 20 clke howk" Which translates from Icelandic pilot jumble into "Uh, good morning ladies and uh gentlemen. We will be landing in about uh, 20 minutes. Please fasten your seatbelts and make sure your seats are in the upright position and the traytables are stowed. uh, thank you" Cool, I really did sleep through the entire flight. From iceland to Lon, I slept the entire way as well. now I'm still tired but FREAKIN hungry as. So i'm going to go wander around the streets of Notting Hill and see what I can find. More later....
Love, Jen

Day 1

Today offically begins day 1 of my travel. It is 12:42am and I am still doing laundry. Ok, ok call me a procrastinator(however you spell it). Anyway, I'm nervous about flying and about going away for sooo long, But I'm also REALLY freakin' excited. Today everyone was at Lisas house in the Poconos and we were all sitting around, looking online, calling hostels, and just having a good time of organizing stuff.
I leave at 8:45 tonight out of JFK. I'm flying Iceland air to Iceland then onto London.

More from London.....