My largest impression in england is that we have gone downhill (as a culture) in the last 500 years. It is disturbing to look at the parliment building, St.Paul's cathedral or the lady's chapel of westminster and then turning the corner to see a hulking '60's building fall apart! It was extremely apparent when I went to the national gallery today. (This picture was taken from the steps of the national gallery.) There was a young artist begging for dimes with a ...

Of course I'm so jet lagged that I fell asleep at 7pm and woke up at 5am the next morning!! The other girls in my room must have been wondering what was wrong with me. But this is better than the way I am normally, since all the museums and monuments are only open 9-5. So, I quietly did yoga in the dark while my roommates slept and got to hang with all the late night staff before they went home in the morning. There was an Aussie girl who was jet lagged like me,...

I'm staying in a lovely old building right off Hyde Park, near Notting Hill. After checking in on monday I took a walk through the park to the Prince Albert monument and then down to the Victoria and Albert museum. It is about 40 degrees and raining (all week) just like CA in winter. The park is full of fat swans, geese, ducks feeding on sweeping lawns spotted with huge elm trees. The swans are tame, begging for tidbits just like the pidgeons, but huge! I've ne...