Camden Town!

April 3rd, 2010

We woke up early to take showers today. There was no one in the bathroom when we got there so 9:00 must be a good time. At first I couldn't even get my shower to work, so I put my clothes back on and tried the other one on the other side of Valeria. It didn't work either. When I went back to my first one it was running. But the water was so hot I could barely touch it. And in the meantime Valeria was screaming about how cold hers was. So I was talking all her hot water and she was talking all my cold. We both showered fast because of it but I still think I got the better choice of the two. I didn't bring a blow dryer but there is a hand dryer in the bathroom so I went and flipped my head upside down under that thing and it did the job.

We were going to see the if the changing of the guard happened today because we read that it didn't but our roommate's told us that it did. So we went early and took the bus to the Tube station and the Tube this time that took us directly to town. We got off there walked towards Buckingham Palace, but when we asked someone where it was he said that the changing of the guard isn't today, it's tomorrow. So we'll miss it because we're going to Stonehenge tomorrow. So we took our time getting there. We saw this huge, amazing looking cookie in the window of a little shop so we went in there to get one. One each that is. The cookie itself wasn't that good but the chocolate chips inside were to die for. I couldn't stop eating it even though I knew I should. When we reached Buckingham Palace everyone and their mother was there! We knew nothing was going on but I don't think anyone else did. So we took some pictures and got glared at by people's who's pictures we accidentally walked into and we got to see some of the guards ride through on their horses but I think the thing that makes the Palace cool is the changing of the guard. That and the fact that Her Majesty the Queen lives there. I'll have to go back one day.

From there we saw the Westminster Cathedral and we got to go inside this one. The whole thing is made of marble and brick. It really was incredible. From there we took a double decker bus (and sat on the top) to Westminster Abbey. It was £12 to go in so we decided against that as well. It was beautiful from the outside though. Then we wandered around looking for the cemetery my mom told me was around there but we couldn't find it for anything. So we decided to go to Camden Town, in the north of the city, because Romain told us it was his favorite place. We took the Tube there and when we got out we were on a long street with lots of people. The buildings were colorful and there were lots of little tourist shops and I liked it a lot but I couldn't in my life imagine why Romain liked it. It seemed to crowded for him. I text him and told him we were there and he text me back, "Yeah!! London baby! Camden Lock!" I looked up and there was Camden Lock. So Val and I went to check it out. We took just a few more steps closer and we realized why he loved it so much. There was a little river running under the road and there were boats that you could ride down the river it. The willow trees were just blooming over the river and there were people everywhere eating and walking outside. There was a little bridge down the river a little that I just loved.

We walked inside the building that said Camden Lock and it was just like something you would see in Mexico. Lots of little shops with pictures, paintings, hand made crafts, linens, and dresses...dresses galore! We spent almost all day there. It was a huge market area and it used to be an old stable for horses I think because further down into the building were some statues of horses and it was called Old Stable Market I think. It was really incredible. Valeria and I both bought a dress. It's the only thing I'm allowed to buy here besides my British flag. We got lunch in there at a restaurant that had a Japanese sign above the left side and a Indian food sign on the right, but the workers were wearing Chinese food shirts. Classic...haha. Mine wasn't that good. She didn't give me anything I wanted, mainly because I don't think she speaks English but I got a Dr. Pepper :) So I was happy. And it was cheap and actually filled me up.

We kept walking and we went to the bridge that I saw earlier and we had a Mexican couple take a picture for us. Val asked them in Spanish and the picture is adorable. We still had a lot of the day left but we didn't know what to do. Since we were in the north part of town we decided to see the library that Aaron said was so cool. We took the metro there and then it was closed but the outside was HUGE. It would have been neat to go in.

We decided that we were going to go out to Piccadilly square later so we thought we'd go home and write in our journals and take a nap. When we got we tried on our dresses. I like mine but I'm going to have to make some adjustments to it. It doesn't fit me quite right. I went downstairs then and I got on the internet and talked to Romain, wrote my parents and some friends on facebook, and also checked out things we still needed to do in London. It's £1 every hour for internet and I was on for 2. I went back upstairs where Valeria was sleeping and because I was so cold I crawled in bed too and thought I would try to sleep. It didn't happen. I was thinking too much and trying to remember all we did today knowing that if I didn't write it down I would not remember it. I was also thinking about how tired I was when Valeria woke up and asked me if I was napping. I told her no and I was just thinking about how I didn't want to go back out tonight. She said she was just thinking the same thing. So we decided to go write our blogs downstairs. The thing is I write everything on my blog and Valeria writes everything in her journal. So I've been down here for and hour longer than her writing to all of you.

Now I'm going to go see if we can find some food and plan our trip for tomorrow. Let me know if there is anything I should see still. We still have all of Monday to spend in London and I don't want to miss anything really important! Love from London XOXO!!!