Krisi and I have had yet another adventurous day in London, and I am going to be really sad to say goodbye to it.  I really enjoy being in this city, despite the rainy and unpredictable weather. (Krisi ended up buying an umbrella - the London rain didn't seem to care that we were trying to share mine...)

Last night, after Krisi updated, we went out on the town to see what London has to offer.  We started at a party the hostel was holding, and it was very, very strange.  They attempted to have hostelers do this dance to win a free iPod shuffle.  First off, I think iPod shuffles are a waste because you can't even choose what song you want.  The other problem with this situation was that the dance was incredibly awkward.  Anyway, not many people did it, and we left the party fairly quickly after Krisi tried a Strongbow, which is a popular cider here that I have come to love. 

We then attempted to check out the night scene, but somehow ended up with an older crowd a lot of the time. We went to a pub first, and I think everyone was 30+, so we left after feeling sure we had the experience of a London pub.  Our next and last stop was a club, but somehow they were all older there, too.  I don't know if everyone just looks older or we aren't finding the right places, but now we know to ask the hostel or locals where we can find the typical night scene for younger people.  Tonight, though, I have some friends staying in London one tube stop away so I think we are going to try to meet up with them. (They are from America - boring...)  Last night was successful in that we got to experience different places, though.

Today we had our only day that we were able to sleep in, so we took advantage.  We went down to breakfast as 10:30 (and I have become a big fan of tea with milk in the morning...Krisi has yet to get on board with this tradition), and began our day shortly after that.  Krisi wanted to see Big Ben and other parts of the Westminster area, such as Westminster Abbey, Parliament, and Westminster bridge. Although I had seen those the last time I was here, I still really enjoyed seeing all the beautiful buildings with a companion.  I don't know how many of our many, many readers have read Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth, but the buildings are completely what I picture them building throughout the novel.  Anyway, on the way back to the tube, a lady asked us to "donate to the children" and forced flowers in both of our faces.  Unsure as to whether it was a scam or not but also realizing turning down a donation to children is terrible, we each gave some money.  Apparently Londoners don't believe in giving more information as to where the donation is going, such as a charity name?  Anyway, we saw many more people with the same flowers, so I am confident it was not a scam and we donated to the children.  (When I asked what children exactly, the lady just said poor children...very strange).

The next part was my favorite: we got to see Abbey Road! This was one of my life goals and I can check that off my bucket list now.  Despite the fact that is was raining, I did get a picture walking over Abbey Road.  Umbrella in hand, I looked like a true Londoner :).  I loved imagining that The Beatles walked across that same road for their famous picture.

With all of this sightseeing, Krisi and I decided to rest up in the hostel for a bit.  A short rest turned into a bit of a lengthy nap, but I feel like that is better than being tired.  The only rest of the plan for the night is to attempt to meet up with my friends.  Other than that, we are taking the chunnel tomorrow to Brussels, then headed to Amsterdam for the night! I love my life.