25 September

I know, I haven't been updating this on a regular basis. I've had a bit of trouble getting this server to take my entries the 1st time. Hoping that improves. It's frustrating to journal online, then have to try to remember exactly what you said, so you can type it in again!

Two more nights here in the United States, then I'm off to Europe for 6 months. I'm so very excited, and sort of scared, too. I don't want to be scared, I want to scream with delight, but to be honest, this is something entirely new to my psyche, and the unknown factors ARE a bit scary.

27 September

7am: I'm almost ready to leave for the airport. Last minute repacking to do yet. I packed and repacked last night. Couldn't zip my bag! Now I'm carrying an extra, a tote with my day bag and sundry extras I "just couldn't leave without." (OK, quit laughing now. Really, I mean it. Stop!)

28 September

I made it to London this morning at 6:30am. Took the tube all the way to King's Cross station, where my backpack/rucksack finally fell apart. Bought a new one on wheels. It's heavy to lift, but those wheels are a breeze!

Have made 2 connections since I got here. The first was a woman I met at the bus stop. She promotes tours of the city. In the course of our banter, she asked if I needed a place to stay, and recommended the Holland House, in Holland Park, off Kensington High St. Called them on her cell phone and booked it for me, took me thru 3 bus changes to get me there, and then gave me a voucher for a bus and boat tour. What a friend!

The other connection is my roommate at the hostel, Heidi. She's from Providence, RI. We're going to Stonehenge tomorrow together. She just suggested it, while we are both sitting at the internet cafe, catching up. She arrived a day before me.

Oops, running out of time! Will post more later. I'm here!

29 September

Heidi and I bummed around Kensington High Street all afternoon. We went into Kensington Gardens, and saw the Prince Albert Memorial (can you say ultimate decadence? so much gold and frippery!). She has a video camera so she filmed me talking about my trip, and making comments on the Memorial. I'm gonna be a star! LOL!

We met some kids skateboarding in front of the memorial, and teased each other. Ate in another Italian restaurant (they don't cut your pizza into slices, here), got some Hagen Dazc at the movie theatre, took a shower, and was asleep right after 11pm. Whew!

Woke up at 7:30 this morning, but didn't get down to breakfast till 9. An English breakfast consists of hard cooked fried eggs, tough on the outside sausage, hash brown patty (reminds me of McDonald's), toast, juice, and tea or coffee. Oh, well, it was food, and included in the price of the room. It's almost 1pm now. I have that ticket voucher for the Original Bus Tours I want to use. I checked out of the hostel. Where to next? I'm getting that wonderful excited feeling, like something wonderful is going to happen today!

30 September

Oh, my...I feel hung over, but I only had a 1/2 pint of Guinness, I swear. Heidi is "not a morning person." She did drag herself out of bed long enough yesterday to have breakfast, but today she skipped it. I barely made it in time. It was too early for me, and I couldn't get enough tea in me to wake up.

After checking in here yesterday noon, we made our way up to Soho, and found Mildred's, a lovely vegetarian restaurant right off Soho square. The Hare Krishna temple is right off it, as well. Govinda's is their restaurant. The temple is Rhad Krishna, and I THINK the deities are Krishna's 3 brothers, including Jaganath. The temple is tiny, tucked between Govinda's and other businesses. Everything in London is "tucked in." All the toilets are downstairs at restaurants, down windy staircases. Most are clean, thank goodness.

Anyway, couldn't stay at the temple, so we headed back to Kensington High Street, and freshened up and went out looking for a pub. Of course, by this time it's 10:40pm, and the pubs close at 11, so we had to practically chug our drinks. Then we were going back to the internet cafe, and it was closing. Heidi decided she was hungry, so we went to Scoff's, an Italian cafe across the street from the entrance to the park and our hostel. The owner said they were open for about 10 minutes more. I was happy with dessert (amaretto cake) but Heidi wanted "real food." She took a couple of minutes to scan the menu, when the owner came over and berated her for not ordering sooner, as he said the kitchen was closed, and she had taken 20 minutes! She was incensed, and I thought they were coming to blows, but she finally ordered an omelet and we took our food back to the hostel to eat. I finally got to bed at 1am. And I wonder why I feel so bad!

update: 8pm

We ate lunch at 3:30 at Lee Garden, delish. Then headed to Soho to find the rideshare board at U. of London. Never did, but the girl at the Union suggested the National Express Coach, as it was very inexpensive. Back at the internet cafe (I don't have time to miss it!) I checked the Nat'l Express site, and it was only 26 for a single one way ticket to Edinburgh, so I went for it. We hotfooted it back to Kensington High Street, picked up my bag, and Heidi was going to go with me to Victoria Station, but decided at the last minute she didn't want to come back alone late at night in London. So I went alone TO the station, late at night, in London. No problems. Now go to next week's log page for what happened next.....