Our train back to London was much more bearable than the ride there, probably because it was not combined with endless other forms of travel. After arriving at the london train station, we had an hour bus ride to the area where our hotel was. This place we found was actually a "hostel" type hotel accomodation, so it was modest, but just what we needed. We had our own sink, and private room, but a shared bathroom/shower. We settled in a bit and then ventured off to explore the area around our hotel. It was past dinner time, so we found this amazing Italian place and had a pretty inexpensive meal there. It is crazy here because drinks at restaurant are so expensive, like 2 pounds, 50 you do not even get refils! A little bit of an odd concept to an American, but I suppose the people here squeak by just fine.
We stayed right near the Victoria station, and there was much to see and do, we found that many theaters were there and thought that maybe the next day we could catch a matinee of Billy Elliot or Wicked. (More on that tomorrow).
We stayed at the Italian restaurant well after it closed and chatted with the staff about what we will have to do while we were staying there and got some good tips for the next day.
One of Kristin's friends from high school is actually living in England, and he and her set up that we would meet at Buckingham Palace the next day to venture around with us.
The only bad thing about today is that I was so bummed about Michael Jackson. Today would have been the day that we saw him, and at 8pm, I looked at my watch and practically cried just imagining what it would have been like to see Michael appear on the stage and begin his tremendous show. We really planned this whole trip around his show, so coming into London on the day of his show really made me sad. But, our trip has been amazing so far, and we really don't regret coming to the UK and Europe. FYI, I did get a refund for one of our tickets and I got the commemorative souvenir ticket to keep for myself. I hope it is waiting for me when I get home.