Tuesday June 28th: Hello from London Town! Well today was our first day out exploring London and I think that we did a great job! We first woke up and went down to check out what was for breakfast. Melanie was not impressed since it was cereal, toast, and apples. It was quite the assortment! Haha. After breakfast we went back up to our room to get ready for the day and then packed up our things since we had to check out of the room we stayed in and change to a new one. Since our next room was not going to be ready till three we purchased a locker for our laptops for one Pound and then put our luggage into the luggage room at the Hostel. After asking a few questions of the young lady at the reception desk about the Original London Bus Tour and how to get on we headed out of Palmer's Lodge.

We headed down the street in the direction that we were told to the Tube, London's subway system. Once we found where we were going and bought a ticket we were on our way to the bus tour. We got on the tour at the Marble Arch, which use to be in front of Buckingham Palace. We saw all of the major sights of London; Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, London Bridge, Big Ben and Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, etc. After we had ate lunch at a random place that the bus stopped we waited around for like felt like forever! Although that could be because it started to rain on us as we waited. Once the bus arrived we got back on and then saw then rode the rest of the tour either in the bus or on top of the bus under the cover. We also had a free ticket for a boat cruse, but since it was raining cool we decided not to do that.

After we were done with the tour we went back to our hostel to try to find tickets to a Broadway show here in London or for something to do for the night. We found cheap tickets for Wednesday evening so we decided to go then. Melanie used 'Yelp' to find a restaurant that had Fish and Chips, and found one that had Gluten Free! The place was called The Mermaid's Tail and to get there we had to once again get on the Tube. We really have the whole public transportation thing figured out after these seven weeks in Europe! After an amazing authentic English meal we walked around the area a little bit, played 1 Pound in a slot machine (another one of my first), and then found a English Pub and had a Cider. We then headed back to the Hostel to shower and head to bed early.

Today was a great start to our London adventures and will be continued tomorrow in hopefully better weather! We are getting anxious to get back to the States and see everyone!

Love, Michelle