Watching the Guard, I meet Aslan and eat Indian Food

So today was quite a bit of fun! We woke up early and ate breakfast before heading for the train to London. It was about an hour to get in and a couple more minutes on the metro before we arrived at Big Ben. That was pretty cool, yet it was not what I had come to expect. As an American I've always envisioned Big Ben as being pretty huge, unique, I must admit it's smaller than I'd originally expected. After Big Ben we headed over to see Westminster Abbey, which was pretty cool, continuing onward to the Changing of the Guard Ceremony at Buckingham Palace. There were a lot of people lined up, yet luckily I was able to stand decently close to the fence behind a lot of midgets..or at least really short people. At first it started out pretty slow, finally becoming real when the stereotypical queens guard - ie the guys in red suits with black hats - came in playing instruments and such to herald their arrival. The queen was in residence that day as evidenced by the royal standard that was flying. I thought that was pretty cool. The ceremony lasted fairly long and afterward it was time for lunch.

Lets just say I had a healthy appetite as we found a place to eat - Pizza Hut- and settled into a nice buffet. Next on the list was Downing Street, home of new prime minister David Cameron. Though we could not get close it was cool to see. After that was Trafalgar Square and that's where I got to climb up onto one of the lions whom I've henceforth nicknamed Aslan. ^_^ That was fun and we were there for around 30minutes before heading off to our final stop of the day, the Bank of England.

The Bank of England was fun and I learned a lot, winning a prize even at the end for opening a safe they had their. We headed back riding the train before going to a restaurant close to our school. I was quite hesitant to eat the food they'd picked as I usually HATE Indian food. But it was not that bad - Yes Aunt Ralene, I ate Indian food and liked it - though I am loathe to admit that. Finally going back to the dorm and collapsing for the evening...what a day!