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So this morning we took a train into London from Selby. Hannah unfortunately couldn't come with us because she has a final to study for, but she hooked us up with everything we needed and gave us great directions. On the train we sat by this older man who was going to London for a meeting and was really friendly. He talked with us about Ghana and what all we had done and we just chatted it up with him. We got to London and he helped us with our bags which was a huge help.
There is a little bit to talk about when it comes to our bags. When you are in Africa for almost 5 months, you require a lot of crap plus you end up accumulating a lot more. I personally have 2 incredibly heavy bags, a backpack, and a very large "purse" (Just another bag that I'm claiming as a purse) and Bethany has the same. This isnt too bad when we are in airports and have carts, but when you are a small girl on public transport, things get sticky pretty quickly. Luckily when we got to the train station in London they have
luggage lockers where you can pay and hold your bags there for the day. It was a little pricey, but we didnt have any other options because we definately were NOT bringing that stuff around all day.
Once we got off the train we hopped on the Underground or "tube" which is the Subway in London. You know how you see that symbol that is the red circle with the blue line in it and it usually says things like "mind the gap" on it? Thats from the Underground. Well we took that over to the Green Park where Hannah gave us directions for our walking tour to hit the main points of London.
We walked through Green Park to get to the palace. We noticed a huge crowd around the palace and police officers all over the place. Also the guards with the big fluffy hats where doing some sort of march and they were playing music and we wanted to know what was going on. I was trying to cross the street and get closer to the palace, but the police officer wouldnt let anyone on the street and It made me so mad! Luckily it
worked out for the best because not even 2 minutes later a car drives by and guess who is in it?! THE QUEEN!!!! Seriously! I am not overexaggerating when I say she was withing 15 feet of me, she was wearing a purpleish pink suit with a matching hat with a cream bow. I cant believe I saw the queen of England!!! The palace was beautiful adn the ceremony just for the queen entering into her own home was crazy.
Afterwards we walked down a ways and saw the palace where Princess Di lived, I forget its name. It was smaller, but I liked it better, it was sort of hidden by the trees and was prettier, not so out in the open and gaudy. Then we walked down to a little place where we got sanwiches and sushi and had a little lunch picnic in the park. The sun was out and it wasn't raining so it was in the mid 60's. I layered up so I wasnt freezing, but was still surprised by how chilled I was the whole day.
Next we walked down to Westminster, another section of London, where we saw the horseguards and
the horse fell in love with me. I think he just liked the yellow jacket I was wearing, but he kept rubbing his head on me and was so sweet! and beautiful! then we walked past the House of Parliment and Big Ben. I couldn't believe how beautiful the buildings were! We saw Westminster Abbey where a bunch of famous people are buried. We didnt go in because it cost 15 pounds (over 20 dollars) to go in!!! No thanks. Everything we saw they had some sort of fee if we wanted a tour, but we are on our way home from a semester in Africa and are pretty broke, so we just did the poor man tour of the outside of everything.
Once we spent several hours wandering around the highpoints of London and doing the really touristy things, we took the underground to Oxford Street where there is some awesome shopping. It made us a little sad because ond of my favorite places in Ghana was Oxford Street in Osu, and we couldn't buy anything in the stores. Eventually the girl instinct gave in and we both bought a little something and left before it got ugly.
London is just too expensive, especially after coming from Africa!
We went back to the train station and gathered our bags and got a taxi. We were going to take the busses and tube to the hotel, but it was rush hour and there is no way we would have made it with all our bags. The taxi was really nice and the driver was helpful, even helped us with our bags! We checked in to the super nice hotel and felt like we were in luxury after some of the places we've stayed in Ghana.
I can't believe I will be in America this time tomorrow!! I dont even remember some things about American culture, I'm really worried about the reverse culture shock. I'm already experiencing it. I get a little overwhelmed in crowds because there are so many white people! And its cold, and the city is clean. I didnt realise that I was used to littering! guess that's a good habit to break. And regular fast food isn't agreeing with me at all! I guess my body got used to Ghanaian food and now I'm back to normal food and its like things were when
I got to Ghana. Oh well, with time I'll adjust back to things and be able to get settled and realise all that I have learned on this journey. The trip back home will be an adventure.
PS- I SAW THE QUEEN!!!
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