Day 17

So this morning I woke up strangely early, and had a nice relaxing start to my day. At 11 we left to go see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, but we got there late. Somehow that doesn’t surprise me. I really hope they do that ceremony more than once a day or else I won’t be able to go see it without having to skip class, which I don’t want to do. If not, I missed it, which makes me very sad. We went over there and it was really crowded. I was surprised at how many people were there, but it was a gorgeous day so that probably had something to do with it. So after that disappointment I was in line for another, only I didn’t know it yet. We walked over to the Crumpet Snack Bar that Danny told me to go try, and it was closed! I was very sad, especially because I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet and it was noon. I guess I’ll have to go back there one day this week after class. So we headed home after that. We stopped for lunch at Pret a Manger, a delicious deli, in the High Street Kensington station, and then I went over to M&S to exchange my last traveler’s checks. I think I have enough money to get me through, which is relieving. From there Marianne and I went to Piccadilly Circus so she could find a Waterstones (the equivalent of Barnes & Noble) to get some books to read. We got lost trying to find it and ended up walking down Regent Street. It was completely closed off to traffic because there was this festival going on called Taste of Spain, so we got to see a lot of that. It was interesting. There were lots of food samples, a makeshift museum of Spanish history in the middle of the street, and various other activities. We eventually found our way to Waterstones though, and then we went up to Covent Garden so I could get my build-a-bear. You might think that’s a lame souvenir, but I think it’s perfect. I now have an adorable snow leopard from England named Union Jack. It’s my perfect souvenir! So we headed home, and on the way we saw a lot of street performers in Covent Garden. Oh, fun fact, street performers are called “Buskers” here. Who knew? We saw Captain Jack Sparrow, a woman in period costume who was frozen in place until you gave her money, then she would move and re-freeze, and a magician. It made for a very interesting atmosphere. But we headed home and then got our stuff together and went to Kensington Gardens. We laid in the park for a few hours trying to catch the sun, but at this point the clouds were covering it up so we ended up freezing a bit in our bikinis. But it was nice to just read for a while, especially considering I’m reading another excellent Dan Brown book. This guy is the best author ever, right up there with Clive Cussler in my opinion. After the park I went to the library in our school so I could get books for my paper that’s due Wednesday. I’m actually pretty excited for it. I’m going to try to research the women who were patronesses of Almack’s. They basically decided who made up the upper crust of society and who didn’t. Unfortunately I had a bit of a tough time finding very much info about them or Almack’s for that matter, so it might end up that that’s only one part of my paper. I still have some more research to do, obviously. But that was it for Sunday. An easy day, topped off by a relaxing night of reading until it’s time for bed!


Love you guys!
Jaime