Adventures in London

So, it seems that London is a bit larger than I was giving it credit for! On Saturday, Laura and slept the morning away, getting up a little after noon, and feeling great! We got ready and went off on a grand adventure to find us each a cell phone. We were told the best place to go was Carphone Warehouse, a surprisingly large company in London. There happens to be one right down the street from our flat, so we walked to it and made our inquiries. Well, there was no luck. Apparently, when you have a group of 90 U.S. students close by, you sell out of international calling cards for cell phones! We were told that they could order it, but it would be Tuesday before it would arrive. When the nice saleslady checked the Carphone Warehouse in Piccadilly Circus and said they had 14 cards available, we decided to go there by way of the tube, after getting what we thought were very clear directions from her. We stopped by the flat for a quick break and lunch, then went on our way. We took our first trip on the London Underground together, and made it out alive! Our Oyster cards came in handy, making it cheaper to travel, and quicker than getting a ticket every time. We save nearly 5 dollars every time we use the Oyster instead! Here's a picture of my first tube ride!

We got to Piccadilly and came out of the tube stop, going left and walking for about one minute, just as our friendly direction-giver had told us. We were to look for the Carphone Warehouse on the other side of the street. We walked, and we walked, and we walked and still saw no sign of the place. We turned around and walked in the other direction, and walked, and walked, and walked. Still no Carphone Warehouse. We tried asking someone for directions, someone who worked in the area. He said, "No understand. I don't know" with a thick accent. We walked down another street, this time walking one minute to the left from the tube station on the other side of the street. No luck. We asked two older women for directions..."I'm not sure, maybe that way?"So we walked in the direction she pointed us. Still no Carphone! We asked two younger girls who said, "We're not from here, but I know there's tons!" Laura took these pictures of Piccadilly. Beautiful!

By this time, we were tired and frustrated, so we stopped in Starbucks (yes there's LOTS of them over here) for a bathroom break, and a cappuchino and shortbread. Laura got the cappuchino. Unlike American cappuchinos, there seemed to be no sugar in it! But it was still good. I got a chocolate chip shortbread, and it was good. For some reason, coffee and chocolate are good comfort foods for frustrated walkers! While waiting in line, we asked a younger woman who was also waiting if she knew where the store was. She said, "Go down this street until you get to" and then named a certain street. Once we got there, we were to turn left. Well guess what was at that corner? The tube station we were supposed to come out of! We turned left from the tube station and walked one minute down the street, and low and behold, there was a Carphone Warehouse! We were praising the Lord when we finally saw it. We walked inside, told them what we wanted, and after a few confusing explainations, the salesman, Laura, and I all understood what the other was talking about and figured out the exact plan and phones we needed. He went to the back to get the things we needed, and we waited. After a few minutes he returned and said they had sold out! There were fourteen in that store the moment we left the other one, and in the time it took us to find this store, they'd sold them all! We got directions to another Carphone Warehouse down the street, which we successfully found, but we unsuccessful again in getting what they needed. They had neither the phone nor the SIM cards we needed. We were again directed to another Carphone store, also right down the street.

Finally, we saw progress! We met a nice Indian salesman who said he's moved to London for the money, and warned us that our time in London would be "absolutely miserable." Great encouragement, huh!? But they did have most of what we needed. We got phones and a local Orange plan SIM card so that Laura and I can call each other while in the UK. But the card for us to call the US cheaply was sold out, so we have to wait until Monday to order it from the store closest to us. It may take a few days for me to be able to call you, Dad and Mom. But you called while I was working on this too! Thanks for the call - it brightens my day to hear from home! I love you both!

We headed back to the tube after our long day, with plans to return to our flat, make dinner, perhaps watch a movie, and go to bed. That's exactly what we did, too!

Now, Sunday! We got up and got ready to go, and went to none other than Westminster Abbey for church! For those of you who don't know, it's a huge famous church known for its gothic style in London. It's the "Church of England" denomination, which is Anglican. We were amazed with the gorgeous inside, full of stone sculptures and stained glass. It was pretty awesome to be sitting in such a beautiful, famous place, and worship the Lord at the same time! The choir was beautiful too - they sang some songs I had heard before in Latin, making it hard to understand, but wonderful to listen to. It was like listening to Benedictine Monks singing together, in perfect unison and tune. We partook of communion there and heard a sermon by, surprisingly, a woman with her doctorate. She did a good job, but obviously read the sermon instead of preaching from the heart. But to each his own...God can speak to me no matter the medium! We met an English young man who sat next to us. Stuart was also a college student in the area, and took a liking to Laura right away. What can I say, it's her sparkling personality and beauty! They had a friendly chat while we left the Abbey and he kindly walked us to Trafalgar Square, assuring our episode of getting lost the night before would not be repeated! We parted ways at the tube station in Trafalgar Square. It was a nice to know that not all Britons are shy to talk to us loud Americans!

Trafalgar Square was the site of a Russian New Year festival that I.E. had told us was going to happen Sunday afternoon. They set up a stage in the middle, with drinks (not the type of drinks we would have, so we drank the water we brought) to the right and food to the left. We tried out

some yummy Russian food. We just pointed to what we wanted when we were finally noticed after Laura waved her hand and said "I'm next!!" at my suggestion. There were so many people pressed around the food stand that we had to shout to be recognized, or get trampled! Don't you love crowds?

Here's a picture of Laura enjoying her meat-filled pastry with sour cream! I had some Russian dumplings, which were also delicious and filled with meat! (Don't ask us what type of meat..we don't know!)

We got our food and moved to the stage area and watched the strangest performance I think either of us has ever seen! This group was called the Aquatic something, and they were dressed in bright neon colors as you can tell from the picture. The main singer's hair was inflatable, along with those huge guitars her back-up singers were holding. She was not that good of a singer, and considering her second song was entitled "Look At My Body," we were sure to notice that morality is not a big deal. At least it wasn't for this concert. I cannot make a judgement call on the whole country, but it seems we are being exposed to the different ideas the world has about what life is really about. It makes me sad to know that so many people in the crowd do truly think that singing songs like that and making yourself look perfect is the only way to feel good about yourself, but I know that I have the Lord to make me who I am! He loves me no matter what, so the best thing I can do is be the example for Him that I need to be and witness when given the opportunity.

After we finished eating, we walked around a little more, hoping that the 'unusual" singers would get off stage and that we'd see some traditional Russian dances! We found these gigantic nesting dolls set up for people to take pictures. Here's me! We also saw three or four clowns dressed up in outlandish outfits. Here's the most fun-looking one!

We kept walking and went to the National Gallery which was right there in Trafalgar Square. Here's a picture of the outside, and one of the inside (that was before we were told we couldn't take pictures!)

We walked around inside looking for quite a while, taking the opportunity to learn more about art and to warm up a little! There were some very beautiful paintings, and especially portraits inside. We took our time, but maybe we'll get a chance to go back.

Next we left the Gallery and went back outside to the festival, but they were attempting to break the Guiness World Record with the largest karaoke singing group! They put words to a Russian song up on the screen, but unfortunately, neither Laura nor I can read Russian! We decided to leave and attempt to walk back to our flat. I say "attempt" because 1 - it was very far and we had on our dress shoes since we'd gone to church that morning, and 2 - we have a tendency to get lost!

We walked along the "Mall" road, which is very similar to the Mall in Washington D.C. They had closed down the road...I'm not sure if they do this often, or if they did just because the Russian Festival was down the street. Anyway, it was pretty to see the trees lining the street, leading to Buckingham Palace at the end. I cannot wait until the trees start to grow leaves! We walked through a park-type area as well and saw some interesting sights...including this one!

The geese, ducks, and even swans were very people-friendly, as we've discovered the pigeons are as well! The pigeons are so friendly they ran into Laura's head once since we've been here and nearly ran into mine as well!

I also got a picture of this bird on our way down the Mall. Does anyone know what type of bird it is? I have no idea, so don't expect an answer from me!

We continued walking and ended up somewhere we didn't expect - near Marble Arch. We found this statue of the Duke of Wellington, with a handy map beside it, quickly figured out where we were, even though the map was upside down, and headed off in the direction of our flat again! Here's me under the Marble Arch!

We kept walking, our feet sore from the dress shoes, and even got locked into Hyde Park! We had to walk a lot further to get to the one open gate to get out, because Laura didn't want to hop the fence! I was all for it, but we decided to be civilized Americans and walk out of the gate instead. Thanks to the Lord's direction, we made it home! We relaxed, made dinner, and went to bed too late again!

Whew! This post is a lot longer than I intended it to be! It just takes so long to update on everything, and then I let it slip by and then I have to update on another day! If I kept up, I guess it would work better. Anyway, Laura and I have finished two days of classes already. On Monday, I have an 8:30, 9:30, and 10:30 class. They are all over by 12:30, so I have the rest of the day off! Laura met some missionaries via email through a professor at BC, so we actually went to their house last night for dinner! They have three talkative children (well, one's not old enough to talk yet, but he sure did smile and giggle a lot!) and a cute house about a 30 minute tube ride and a 15 minute walk from our flat. We enjoyed dinner and some English pastries with them, and also English tea (with milk in it! Yummy!) We had a great time fellowshipping with Rob and Michelle, hearing about their ministry in London. We went home tired again! We still didn't get to bed as soon as we should...we just aren't tired! Class this morning went well also - on Tuesdays my classes are over at 11:30. We have our first British Life and Culture Lecture tonight - and we will be touring the Museum of London tomorrow. I'm sure to have some more pictures and fun adventures up in a few days! Post some comments!