Back from London

Today at the gym everybody was wearing green. I'm not sure why. They just were. I happened to be one of those people wearing green. I talked to some other people wearing green, and apparently it was just a random coincidence. Funny but cool.

So...London.

I cheered/danced in the Parade--which was a once in a lifetime experience. You can probably find this on YouTube under "London Parade All-American Cheerleaders 2011" or any combination of those words. I'm pretty sure it'll be all over Facebook very soon as well.

Favorite touring moment:
I'd have to say Windsor Castle. There's a guard that keeps watch with a bayonet and a VERY TALL furry black hat and marches along this line every 5 minutes or so. Some of the girls on my bus were part of a scavenger hunt that included taking a picture of the guard pretending to kiss his cheek. I didn't know whether I should feel sorry for the guard or extremely happy for all the girl attention he was getting. Literally, he was being swarmed by girls who wanted to take pictures with him. It reminded me a little bit of an animal at the zoo, everybody crowding and pointing while he's not allowed to talk or smile. He was fairly young, maybe one or two years older than me, and he was pretty cute! I personally felt bad for him so I held back, although once I met his eye and he just very slightly smiled, probably as a "thank you for not getting in my face like everyone else." But then I tried to take a picture with him and two friends and time came for him to march along the line again. He stomped and cocked the bayonet, just before the cameras clicked. I think I leapt three feet into the air.

Favorite food moment:
I have to say I have three. Everything in America is too sweet. In London, it's just right, although it's pretty bland. The desserts rocked though. I primarily hung out at a pub called Wetherspoons. Their sticky toffee pudding with hot custard is to die for. So is their warm fudge chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream (apparently they served over 8 million of those since 2000) and the jam roly poly with hot custard. Walking into there, I had no idea what a jam roly poly was. It's like a Cinnabon except instead of cinnamon, there's jam instead. Compact that with the hot custard and it's heaven. I miss it already...

Favorite accent moment:
The subway--"Mind the gap." Here we say "Watch your step" or "Please don't fall in the space between the train and the platform." In London, they mind everything. In the elevator, "Mind the door." On the top of St. Paul's Cathedral "Mind your head." For some reason, "Mind the gap" just seemed so funny (but you have to have been there to get it) that I bought a souvenir keychain that said "Mind the gap." :) Also, a subway in London is actually just an underground passage, while the subway is called the underground. Biscuits are cookies and cookies are biscuits. Fries are chips and chips are crisps. I was in line in GAP (yes they have GAP!) to buy a white polo that was missing from my uniform, and a guy asked me, "Are you in the qeue?" in his awesome British accent. Luckily I remembered hearing about this somewhere before. (I think in a Harry Potter movie?)He meant "are you in the checkout line." Even better--instead of "For Rent," buildings for rent in London are labeled "to let." Now, I'd heard that in England, the bathroom was referred to as the toilet. When I saw the sign that said "to let," I thought it was toilet mispelled. (Maybe someone scratched off the "i"?) So I went to look for the restroom, and it was not a restroom at all. :)

Favorite architectural moment:
All the buildings look like they could belong in Peter Pan. The houseboats in Chelsea rocked. Apparently at low tide, which happens twice a day, the boats tip sideways and are stuck like that for up to 4 hours. In that space, if you set a cup of tea on the table, it would slide right off. Fun, right?

Favorite laws in London:
Mince pies were outlawed by Oliver Cromwell in the late 1700s. Apparently nobody bothered to lift that rule, so mince pies are still illegal in England. But people still eat them. I always learned in school that England had no death penalty, but they do: for traitors and for pirates. Apparently nobody really follows that either, just nobody bothered to nullify that law.

Yup, that's London in a nutshell. :)
Tomorrow I'll talk about the awesome movies/books I encountered while staying up all night before my flight. (That rhymed!) I hate plane rides and will do anything to sleep the whole time without waking up. Even if it means pulling an allnighter the evening before.