more london adventures!

i slept most of my first day here, unfortunately. i couldn't help it. i kept trying to get off the couch, but falling back to sleep. eventually i got going. i wandered down some backstreets, looking at the little shops and taking pictures of the amazing architecture. i walked down to piccadilly circus (a central fountain/statue/turnabout). i curiously watched two men painted a phone booth hot pink. i spotted an huge, intricate tower off in the distance, and set out to see what it was. i passed tons of different statues (do you pronounce the 2nd "t"? cuz i know someone who does...), walked all thru st james (?) park, past parliment buildings, to buckingham palace. the guards at the palace stand perfectly still forever, then deliberately goosestep along the front of the building. i passed the phone booth again, and was relieved to see that the hot pink was just an undercoat for the usual red color.

i seriously don't know who named the stuff here. whoever it was definitely was a freethinker, definitely outside the box. well, you already know about piccadilly circus. also: glasshouse road, tattenham court, westminster abbey, haymarket way, shaftesbury way

after my lengthy stroll i stopped at a little diner for bangers and mash! i was incredibly full by the time i ate a third of the potatoes and one of the sausages, but felt obligated to keep shoveling it in to get my £4.50 worth. the little men who worked there were adorable! accents are so inherently cool. uh, brilliant, i mean. you know what i don't get? vegetables and fruit seem to be nonexistant here, yet i've only seen two fat people (yes, i've been counting) and i think one of them was american.

the young men here are very good looking. yes, all of them. unfortunately the only dudes who are forward enough to actually strike up a random conversation with a strange girl are arrogant american guys. eww.

i went to bed for another couple hours, then woke up to my new roomates asking, "is she still sleeping?" i'm in a 4-bed room, so i have 3 roomates. there's one girl, jessica, from san francisco, and two girls from sweden. they were all very sweet, which took care of most of my nervousness about staying in a hostel alone. i still wear my money belt under my clothes/pajamas constantly, and try not to think about how mad crusty it's going to be after a whole month. oh joy. so yeah, i think LONDON is actually the city that never sleeps. there are tons of people out on the streets, in clubs, and eating in restuarants even at 3 and 4am! i was trying to figure out how i could eat a whole pita and chicken kabob meal at 3:30am, when i realized that 3:30am is actually dinner time in Pacific Standard Time. hunh.

today i woke up in time for my "free breakfast" and realized that that consists of two oh-so-dry pieces of toast and a small cup of juice. oooh baby, way to start the day. ok, just so that we are all on the same page: me complaining is actually me laughing at my situation. if i ever sound irritated, disappointed, or down: i'm not. i just find it humorous to be sarcastic. anyways. after my hearty meal i started off on a 2nd selfguided walking tour. as i headed out of the hostel i saw that same tower from yesterday i realized that i never actually made it that far. it was quite a walk, but i made it to what apparently is another parliment building. the thing is huge...and attached to Big Ben! one of my guide books suggested that i call home from a pay phone nearby on the hour so that people back home can hear it ring. sorry guys, i'm cheap.

i crossed the River Thames on a funky bridge, walked and walked to waterloo station. i wanted to go on the london eye (a gi-normous ferris wheel thing that goes over 400 feet in the air!) but it cost £11.50 (about $22). i found a huge catholic church, and wandered thru victoria station. i passed buckingham palace again, then came "home" to the hostel.

tomorrow: berlin.