January 21, 2008 First Free Afternoon

After a short class discussion, Leanne, Chris, Katie, Will, and I were the first people to venture to London. This was quite an interesting experience starting with the train station. When we arrived in Paddington station, we were all excited, but caught off guard by its size and activity. Once we actually figured out how to find the underground tube (which believe should not have been a long process but was), we headed towards Westminster. When we arrived at Westminster we first "minded the gap", and headed towards the way out. We chose the exit that went towards Parliament, and what we saw next was quite a sight. We were all talking as we went up the stairs and the first thing we saw straight in front of us was the the Westminster bridge and the London eye. Both really neat, but not near as beautiful as a sight as the large structure directly behind us. We all turned in awe as we were staring at Big Ben and Parliament not but 100 yards behind us. We all agreed we would ride the London eye first, but it took thirty minutes for us to even cross the bridge as we stared and took pictures with Big Ben in the background. After riding the London eye, we decided to see if we could enter Parliament. We went through security, and listened to debates in the House of Commons and the House of Lords (both of which we quite an interesting process). After that we had dinner at an Italian place (which was great!) and then we walked around Picadilly Circus and wound up in a pub for a little while. Everyone was friendly and it ended up being a great day.

Written by: Jeff Parrish