My Life Beyond the Sea

So I have finally arrived in London! My journey was rather unremarkable; first I flew from Oakland to Phoenix, from 60 degree weather to 100 in just an hour and a half. It was so cute when I got off the plane the little boy in front of me asked his mother, "Mommy, what planet are we on now?" haha. To me it certainly felt like a different world. I had finally discovered a place I found as unattractive as Utah! But thankfully I only had to spend a couple of hours in Phoenix and then it was off to London! So now I am here and it is marvelous and I am already over any jet lag I might have had. Here are a few of the things I have noticed that are quirky or that I love about London already:
* On our way from the airport to the London Center our shuttle driver kind of gave us an informal tour of London. He was so funny and really said things like "cheerio mates!" We drove by Buckingham Palace and I can report that the guards really do wear those funny hats. I love it!
* The bathrooms are called Toilets. Way to be frank Britons. And the stalls all go pretty much all the way to the ground. They're like the choir dress to the American mini skirt
* The architecture is all old and gorgeous! The townhouse I am living in is ancient and complete with fabulous moulding on the walls and the ceiling that makes me feel like I should be dressed up all the time. Downside: the plumbing sucks and the electricity blew out in our room this morning after it ate my hair dryer even though I used an adaptor!
* School kids have to wear uniforms and they walk in two straight lines just like in Madalyne!
* They don't sell peanut butter here, which is just weird.
* They do however sell this awesome candy called Randoms. Its basically like gummy bears but lots of different random shapes like sunglasses or icecream cones or turtles. My kind of candy :)And they're really yummy.
* The telephone booths. They're just cool looking.
* Free public museums! I went to the British museum today and the National Gallery. At the British museum I found out that certain sea salts can turn glass green (who knew!) haha. The National Gallery was awesome. It had paintings by all my favorite artists: Renoir, Marisot, Fragonard, Vermeer, etc. Outside there was a man doing these amazing chalk drawings and it was really funny because he drew himself a collection bowl.
* Some front door handles are in the middle of the door. What's that about?
* I love the tube! So, so helpful! We all got Oyester cards (Which is the really random name for the Underground passes) and I've used mine a lot already.
* Exit signs don't say "exit" they say "way out" which is way cooler sounding. And if it's an emergency exit it has a picture of a man running which I just think is funny.

Anyway that's all I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure I will add to the list frequently. I already have a million things I want to do, like go see Peter Pan the play performing outside in Kensington Gardens. I think this weekend some of us are going to try to go see part of Wimbledon... and the Transformers movie. Whatever we do I'm sure it will be awesome! I'll keep posting every few days or so, so stay tuned. Anyway I have to run but I will try to get some pictures up soon! Toodles!