-A Londres!-

By piloting my own airplane and craftily dodging the volcano cloud, I was able to make it to London just as planned.  I did get in late at night (thank you, cheap airlines) and had a bit of a fiasco finding an ATM, discovering the Tube (subway/metro) station only accepted coins, finding the only open business (McDonald's) and buying fries so I had change for a Tube ticket, getting back to the Tube station just as it closed...and finally taking a taxi to meet Erin and Karun at their LSE dorm.  Fortunately payphones are nearly as populous in London as pigeons, so I was able to make contact with my AU amis and tuck in safely for the evening.

Thursday was much more fun.  Erin took me on a lovely stroll about the scenic bits of London, from Trafalgar Square to St. James' Park, past Buckingham Palace, by Westminster Abby, the House of Parliament, Big Ben, the Eye, and around to St. Paul's Cathedral where we met up with Karun and Maria - who had just arrived from Paris.  London was full of sunshine and English-speakers, a very refreshing experience after 3 months in Paris.

Naturally, the first thing travelers want to do in a new city is walk until their feet hurt, and go up oodles of stairs, if possible, so Erin and Karun led the way to "The Monument."  I'm not kidding, it has no other name.  But Brits are known for their creativity.  After hiking the circular steps up to the top of that 15th century stone tower, looking around, and walking very carefully back down, I was handed a 'certificate of completion' which almost made up for The Monument's lack of a real name.

Yet another AU student arrived after that - Dan flew in, and Caleb wandered over from his own London lodging, and to the Burrough Market we went for lunch.  Minty lamb pie?  Sure, I'll try almost everything once.  And I will tell you that it was delicious.  I almost got two.  Except I followed it with a cherry almond tart instead.

And my afternoon was a lovely solo wander through the National Gallery, until I was yelled at by a chubby security guard for taking a picture of Monet's Japanese Bridge painting.  Come on!  I saw people eating chocolate while staring stupidly at the beautiful Turner's and snapping photos all over this museum, and you yell at me?  Joke's on the security guard - I still have the photo.