19 May 2010

So today was a long day, but we were graced with beautiful sunny weather most of the day. We all met at the refectory as usual and we discussed our grades with Professors Wolfe and Parkhouse. After that we all walked to the tube station and went back to American Express to exchange more money. (This is due to the change in the exchange rate of the pound again.) Followed by that trip, we went over to the Financial District of London. According to Professor Parkhouse, that is the actual city of London, as opposed to where we are located at Regents College. While we were there we went to the Bank of England Museum where there was a whole collection of past coins (pounds), and the origins surrounding the founding of the Bank of England. Sadly, we were not able to take pictures in that particular museum. From the museum, our adventures took us to the Monument. It was a colossal monument that people can walk on and our group, or most of our group did just that. They walked all the way to the top and when they came back down, they received a certificate of achievement saying they had climbed the monument. I, and a few others along with Professor Parkhouse stayed down at the bottom. After seeing everyone was down from the monument, we all took a walk close to the River Thames, found a shady spot, and sat down to eat lunch. Then Professor Wolfe treated us all to ice cream down by the Tower of London. Then we all walked back to Professor Parkhouse, where we had lunch, and walked to the tube station, the Monument Tube Station. We took the tube to Westminster to go to the Westminster Pier for a boat tour down the River Thames to go to Greenwich and the Royal Observatory. The boat tour was about half an hour and was very informative. When we got to Greenwich we first went to the Old Royal Navy dining hall which is now used for banquets. The building was beautifully painted with such detail and was simply breathtaking. From there we walked over to the chapel, which was an Anglican Church. It was also beautifully ornate. The altar was simple as it is in all Anglican churches but was still beautiful. Here was where Professor Parkhouse left us, and we, with Professor Wolfe, went on to the Royal Observatory. It was somewhat of an uphill hike to get to the Observatory but worth the walk. We all took a picture on the Prime Meridian which is 0'00''. After we were done at the Observatory, we all trekked back down the hill, and headed toward to market. It was a quaint, quite cute market where Professor Wolfe bought us snacks to have for the trip back. We managed to eat them all before the boat ride. We said good-bye to Greenwich and got on the boat back toward London, and got off at the Westminster Pier. Today was a long day, full of walking and taking in the sites as we went. All in all, it was a fantastic day!

Until tomorrow, we shall see whats in store.....