Day Twelve

Day twelve was another one of my favorite days, but it is also quite a blurry one. By the end of the day, I was so delirious with exhaustion that I couldn't remember a lot of it. I'm going to try and recall as much as I can, though!

I slept very well because our beds were amazing! I took a few pictures of the hotel room, but all after we made a mess of it, and I can't locate them on this computer, so a loss.

We started our day with a walk to the tube, the part of the London train system that is mostly above ground. It was about a fifteen minute trek through the city and road construction. It was a very pleasant day, though, and the walk was equally so. Because our group was so large, we had to wait for the "Walk" street signal to pop up twice to get our whole group across.

We arrived at our train with perfect timing, courtesy of our wonderful delegation manager. We didn't have to wait for more than ten minutes. We each grabbed a train buddy, so we could keep track of each other. Mine was a girl named Crosby, and we spent a lot of the day together.

A train going through the station.

We rode the train got on a few more trains like this, and then we hit the Underground station, where we rode for about thirty minutes on several different trains. It was a little difficult keeping track of everyone, and making sure they all got on the same train. Sometimes we didn't succeed, and some people got left behind! In the event of that happening, we would just wait at the boarding station until the next train with our buddies arrived. The system is so efficient, that we don't have to wait very long for each train. London, I must say, has a much more efficient train system that Washington D.C. At least in my experience.

And so we arrived where we were meeting with a former member of parliament. I can't remember the building or the street, because I was in Sheep Mode. But I remember it was a rich district that . . . had to do with COLLEGES. I'm not going to say more because I'll sound like an idiot. But anyway, we went in a building, up several flights of stairs, and into the the meeting room.

I was expecting that we would be the only delegation there, but there were tons of delegations. Texas was the majority population, but there were several others.

Our meeting was about an hour and forty-five minutes long, and our MP talked about how he got his position, what his position entails, and how the government works. It was very fascinating. I was surprised to learn how chaotic parliament meetings are. Ideas and suggestions are thrown around rapidly from any member that has some, and yet it is somehow contained with strict rules of propriety and rituals. I doubt I would be able to learn how it works in an hour and a half. No pictures, because somehow I thought that would be rude.

We went to lunch at Medieval Banquet (that's its actual name), complete with its own King Henry VIII! They had gowns that you could try on, but I decided not to. Surprisingly, it was the guys that actually tried stuff on. We had a sit down with Henry, who had decided to take a break from his grave and talk to us humble folk. It wasn't an actor or anything. Seriously.

Looking slightly creepy in the natural, purple, medieval glow.

Some of the building.

We went to the Tower of London next! We grabbed a few trains and walked the rest, and then we were finally there. I never actually knew what the place looked like, and when I saw it, it wasn't what I was expecting. It was a hodgepodge of different structures, a beautiful, but irregular hodgepodge. It has had add ons, things removed, things remodeled, and so it was very large. It was impossible to take a picture of the whole thing at once.

Tower entrance.

We were all sent off, with buddies of course, to explore on our own. My group was the smallest. It was just me and Crosby, but that meant that we could do what we wanted on our own time, really, so it was nice.

We saw a lot of really cool things. One of my favorites was the exhibit of the suits of armor worn by the kings through the ages. It was interesting to see the differences in style as time went on. We also so reconstructions of the horses that the kings rode.

King Edward VI's armor. He was a child king.

This particular horse stared through my soul and petrified me with its unusual smile.

Time flew by, and we soon only had thirty minutes left. I suggested going to see the crown jewels. Crosby, being ever practical, said that with the line, we might not get through in time.

"Nah," I said, with a wave of my hand, "we have plenty of time."

So we hopped in line. It was very, very slow going through the building. You didn't even get to see the jewels at the beginning, just a walk through video presentation that took fifteen minutes to get through. By the time we were out of there, we had 2 minutes to get back! We didn't get to see the jewels for more than thirty seconds, but they were gorgeous. I don't regret it, and I'm glad that we were in a short line, or else we would have never gotten out of there.

I had a blast there. It was full of history, and there was so much to see and do, that I couldn't name it all.

Next to the River Thames with Daisy and Luke.

China town was interesting. You walk five feet, and then all of a sudden everything changes, and you are in a totally different area.

 Guess what kind of food we had for dinner!

It's Chinese! I bet you guessed wrong, eh, eh?

When we got inside, there was a wedding ceremony going on, which I found very odd, but it was really sweet, too. The couple was lovely. We headed upstairs and got our food. I had the best sweet and sour chicken ever! I want ALL of the chicken! I want some right now...Mid dinner, I went into the bathroom and changed into my dress. We were going to see a play, baby!

The play was Million Dollar Quartet, a long walk from China Town, indeed. I had changed my shoes from tennis shoes to five dollar flats. I forgot to bring my comfortable dress shoes, and so I had to buy mine at a French supermarket! They went with my dress, though, polka dots and all.

The play was really, really, good. It had the best Johnny Cash and Elvis impersonators. The music was fantastic. Mid way through, they started singing "Down By the Riverside", and I started crying a little because it's a song that we sing a lot back home. Kind of uncanny, huh?

It was great, but when we got out I was so tired I could have sleep walked. By the time we got on the train, I was delirious. I started to babble. I put a flower hair clip in my hair (like an actual, 3-d, large flower clip) sideways on my head, and I turned to my seat mate/friend and said, "Do I look pretty?"

"Yes, yes, Esther. You look pretty."

I turned to my delegation LEADER and said.

"Kathy!"

And Kathy said, "Hi Esther! Are you tired?"

"Oh yes, very very tired. DO I LOOK PRETTY?"

"You look very pretty Esther."

Such good people. My friends carried me some of the way, like I was a drunkard. It was a lot of fun, though. As soon as I got to the hotel, I was out like a light. And that was my day!