I Think I'm from London Now

I have been in London for just under three weeks now and I can honestly say it feels like home. I am very confident that I could get myself anywhere in the city that I could possibly want to go. With my Oyster card in hand, the Tube and bus systems are a playground waiting for me to explore. I no longer go to the Tube station and study the map figuring out how to get to certain places because I have memorized the majority of the routes that I frequent. To show just how savvy I have become with the London mass transit system, I headed to the train station early this morning. When I arrived at London Victoria station, I was seeking train tickets to Brighton, England for Thursday July 1. I walked up to the counter discussed what I needed to purchase, and I will be boarding a train to the beach tomorrow afternoon. I am quite proud of this accomplishment because I would have no idea how to go about doing something like this at home. I haven't the slightest clue how public transportation works at home, but I know how London's does and I think it is fabulous. Out of all the things that I could possibly do in London to feel like a local, my absolute favorite is having picnics at a park. Today I enjoyed my third picnic in a third park. My park of choice today was St. James's Park, which sits just in front of Buckingham Palace. Before making my journey to the park, I headed to the local Sainsbury's (grocery store) to pick up my picnic contents. For today's picnic, the meal consisted of a variety of dunkers and dips, fruit, "veg", and scrumptious cupcakes. After purchasing all of my picnic goodies and taking the Tube to St. James's Park, I found a nice shady spot under some big beautiful trees. Directly in front of me was a large pond with beautiful flowers surrounding it. After enjoying my lunch, I laid in the grass for a few hours enjoying my surroundings in the lively park. I eventually decided to head over to Buckingham Palace and take some photos of my dream house. This palace is quite large and always surrounded by visitors hoping to catch a glimpse of the queen, or a prince in my case. :) Instead of jumping on the Tube back to Sloane Square, my home stop, I decided to venture back to my flat on foot. I decided that a real native would know how to navigate the streets just as well as the Tube and that is just what I did. After playing native all day, I decided to put my tourist hat back on for the evening. My Travel and Tourism class had planned to go to the London Eye this evening and I was quite excited. The Eye is similar to a Ferris wheel, but on a much larger scale. About 20 or so people can fit in each cage on the Eye. As it rotates its way around it provides breathtaking views of London. Situated right on the River Thames, the view of Big Ben, Parliament and Westminster Abbey are incredible. Visiting a tourist attraction such as the Eye would not be complete without visiting some sort of souvenir shop. To fulfill this requirement, Dr. Barb, Angel, Katie and I went into an arcade-type place in search of coffee. After getting coffee and tea, the real tourist actions began. Katie and I spotted a photo booth and practically leaped at the opportunity. We had been looking for a photo booth all over London, so this was a great find. The remainder of my evening has been spent as a native again doing dishes, having a snack and spending too much time Tweeting and Facebooking. Just wait and see what is in store for tomorrow.

AM :)