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Published: March 17th 2009
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London Wetlands
Program 1 - London Wetlands Day 2 - Friday Hi everyone, we had a great first full day in London. After a long plane ride, we had a 3 hour program at the London Wetlands. You heard it right, after many many hours of being on the plane, three hours waiting at the airport, we now go to a 3 hour program at The London Wetlands. Read more about this on the
.
Short note on the cast of characters that I will be hanging with in the next couple of days:
Dr. Meyer is the lead professor on this trip and he has Lance Noe as the task master.
Luggi is our motorcoach driver and has been the DrakeSmart driver for the last 10 years.
Lew is our travel agent.
Marti is a friend that I met in 2003 when I was on loan to The United Way.
Susan is a new friend and a graduate of the MPA program.
Sarah is in the MPA program.
Carole is my roommate and good friend since 2007. She is one of the many people I have met over the years on the DrakeSmart trip.
We kinda got lost getting to the Wetlands. Luggi was unable to cross the bridge, the bus was too wide, so he took a 30 minute detour to come back to the same bridge. Luggi just took over both sides of the road and gunned the bus. It was like, bus vs car, and of course bus won. Luggi had a few choice words as he was crossing the bridge. Dr. Meyer called it "Luggi saying a prayer or two".
After the Wetlands program, it's now 3 pm, we took an hour tour around the city. Don't ask me why. We are tired, hungry and smelly. We finally get to the Hotel Corus at 4 pm and I do my usual task of getting the room ready for the day: Carole get's the key and I separate the beds. What do I mean by this? Most of the rooms have two twin beds which are joined together. I physically move them apart and put some space in between the beds. Love you Carole, but not that much.
It's now 6 pm. Time for a quick change and shower to get ready for the 7 pm dinner at The Albert Tavern.
Luggi got us there and we needed to get back to the hotel on our own. The group dinner was okay, nothing too fancy. We were in the lower level of the restaurant. We had fish and chips and as Susan would say, "it was just okay." We did not have a program and the group left about 9 pm. I left with Carole and we walked to Victoria Station. This is a main train station and the activity was bustling.
Here's the fun part of our first night. We stopped at the pub next to our hotel, The Pink Swan, for a quick drink. As we sat there, the group started coming back from their many adventures in London "bar hopping". The beer was flowing and the antics of the group was beginning to form.
So what did I do that I normally don't do? Drank about 4 oz of beer, tasted a shot (don't ask me what of). Dr. Meyer was in rare form, and those who know him, let's say he was egging the group on. I got to bed at 12:30 am after a very very long day.
Day 3 - Saturday
No longstory short today. Other than went into the men's bathroom this morning. I did not notice it until I was leaving and noticed the urinals. Thank goodness no one was in the bathroom.
Breakfast is great and this is one of many meals that I will enjoy over the next 17 days. We are off and running to see the city. I plan to hang with Carole and Marti. Hope to see the Churchill War Museum, go to Abbey Road and eat some delicious dessert.
LongStory Short,
Ann
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