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Melanie's Travels - Europe 2005
Reminder to self: when arriving at tube station do not rush onto the first available train as it may be the wrong one. I got onto the wrong train today, twice. Luckily I realized the mistake and was able to backtrack, twice.
Jet lag caused me to wake up at an ungodly hour this morning, so I took advantage of my restlessness and went for a walk in St. James Park. It was so peaceful to look out over the city as it was just waking up. The park was surprisingly busy, but not with tourists, instead there were joggers, people walking their dogs and mothers escorting their children to school. I found an empty bench, sat, and watched the people pass.
Hannah and I met up together today. When I realized this morning that Westminster Abbey was closing at 1:45 and we were supposed to meet there around 1:00 I knew there was going to be a problem. So, I decided that I needed to try and find Hannah before she tried to get to the Abbey. I retraced the path from Westminster Abbey to Victoria Station in hopes of running into her along the sidewalk. When I was about to lose hope of ever finding her, I spotted her curly hair bouncing off a bus at the station, pure luck!
Today I showed Hannah classic London. We walked by Westminster, the Houses of Parliament, we heard Big Ben, and gawked at Buckingham Palace. We enjoyed some ice cream in St. James Park and while walking around I heard some music, so I walked towards it and was able to catch the tail end of a concert. At the end of the concert the orchestra played "God Save the Queen" all the Britons stood up and placed their hand on their hearts, while I whispered the words to "My Country 'tis of Thee" in a quiet and resolute voice.
Hannah wasn't really up for doing anything tonight, since she had spent the past night drinking and smoking with the students on her exchange program. To tell you the truth, her lack of enthusiasm was kind of a downer on the entire day. I tried not to let it get to me though. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am not going to let her ruin it. If needs be I will just take off without her, that would not be good for her, considering I planned the entire trip and have all the guide books and I paid for her rail pass. There is some devilish satisfaction in knowing that you hold all the cards in a relationship...
Later that night I met my very good looking roommate, Louis. Louis spoke only Italian, Spanish and French. I was actually impressed that I was able to hold a conversation with him; we used a mixture of French, Spanish and sign language. I'm not sure if he understood everything I said, I sure didn't understand everything he said, but we still became friends. The joys of hostel living.
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