Day 6

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Hey everyone!

WEll, I am quite tired at the moment but I think it's mostly from staying up really late the past couple of days. I am sleeping about 6 hours without waking up now so I think it's a good thing!

The past few days have been quite busy. I had a relatively easy week, just hanging out with the kids.

I took the bus to their school stop on Thursday, just to practice. Dave took me with the kids and found a park in that area as well. I went for a run around town but it's really hard with all the driveways and traffic so I think the parks around here will be a better option for that. They have a card (Oyster Card) that is swiped for the buses (every one I've seen is a double decker!) and the Tube (we'd call it a C-train) to get around England. It's actually quite a neat system for payment because for trips on the tube, you swipe when you get on and where you get off and that's how they determine the fare price. It's still quite a bit more expensive than in Canada though, don't get too hung up on prices of things over there, that's for sure! Oh, and although I know gas prices are crazy, it is about $2.38 a litre of gas here in New Barnet. So, there are people paying more for gas somewhere in the world. I went for a walk with Alex in a different direction than the previous days so I found more new shops, of note - a gym, thrift shop, restaurants/pubs and miscellaneous shops (flowers, motorbikes, etc).

So far I've spent all my days and nights with the family, haven't got to really meet some friends for myself. I am having quite a bit of fun just hanging around anyhow but it will be nice to make some friends one day.

Yesterday, Friday - I went on the London Big Bus to sightsee with Lynne and the kids. It took about an hour or so to get through the tube stations to where we were headed. We got to Green Park and went to Buckingham Palace. They have changing of the guards every other day for the month of August (maybe Sept. too) at 11:30. We arrived around 11:10, it was packed. I couldn't really see what was going on but they have quite the parade that comes around, horses and everything. So, I've now seen the Queen's Palace. Then we started the bus tour. It was fun but we never even got through the whole tour and i was completely exhausted. I learned a lot about England, not soo much that I remember but Big Ben is incredible. It's a very cool clock, take a peek on google. It's definately worth it. We got off in Covert Gardens to watch some street theatre and find some food at the random restaurants there. Oh, Indian cuisine is huge over here. We generally go for Chinese food or something like that in Canada but Indian food is like every second restaurant I think. It is also very multi-cultural here. Back to the day, I checked out some shops but managed not to buy anything. I am still kicking myself about not getting this cool blue golf tank top I had seen, it was neat. Maybe it will be there when I get adventurous enough to go there alone one day....

Well, I've watched Wedding Date and Runaway Bride with Lynne the past two nights, Dave went out with his frends so it was "girl time". We;ve had some good chats and I think I'm really going to enjoy my time here. I am starting to miss home a bit but mostly just my phone chats that were easy with the time, 8 hour time difference can make it difficult. So, that's my story. I will post some pics later, probably monday. Hugs, C

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Photos

Buckingham Palace
Changing of the guards!