Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend

So Sunday was yet another day we had completely open.  We debated on what to do, where to go, but ultimately we decided we were going to attempt to get into a panoramic tour of London that was available through the BU "social programme."  We agreed we would wake up and arrive at the bus stop early so we could snatch up any open spots; students were supposed to arrive at 9:45 am.  Good thing we ended up waking up at 9:15, asking each other "do you think we have time?" and bolting out of bed.  After record quick showers, we walked over to Harrington Gardens, our hair still dripping wet, hoping that this rush would be worth it.  And what do you know, there were about five spots open!
We boarded the bus to be greeted by our tour guide, Penny.  This tiny older woman had quite the spunky attitude and a brash British sense of humor to go along with it.  She (with the help of our trusty coach driver, Andrew, but we'll talk about him later) would be leading us around London on what would turn out to be an eight hour journey throughout the city.  We stopped at many of the quintessential tourist spots, including Royal Albert Hall, Trafalgar Square and the London Eye.  With our packed itinerary, we were ready to easily cruise all around the city, but it turned out Sunday was the Mayor of London's city-wide initiative called Skyride.  They had closed down all the major roads to allow bikers to travel around the entire town and enjoy the last days of warm air.  It actually looked kind of fun to me, but Penny was having none of it.  Whenever we came across a diversion, the whole coach could hear her scream "bloody hell!" or "where's my machine gun?!"  A little over the top but it was hilarious at the time.  Now back to Andrew; at one point he had started to make a left turn on a street until Penny started yelling, "no, right!  go right!"  He then proceeded to back up but stopped suddenly.  When Penny questioned him why he had stopped, his cool reply was "I just rolled over that car behind us."  He then calmly walked out of the bus, stopped to talk to the driver behind us and jumped back in without any look of worry on his face.  Guess you get used to rolling over cars when you drive a coach.

The Tower of London - the "skyriders" are in the yellow jerseys and were everywhere!

By 1 in the afternoon we were running low on energy and all starving, so they let us out at the Tower of London, where we had tickets to enter the grounds.  After a quick lunch at wagamama (nom), we met back with Penny who took us inside the Tower.  This place is amazing; there is so much history and so many interesting things to look at.  I loved hearing all the little stories; who met who here, who got executed there - maybe it's a bit nerdy but I just think that type of stuff is fascinating.  But THE best part of the entire day, by far and away, was seeing the Crown Jewels.  After waiting in the "queue" watching videos of the royal coronations, we got to ride the conveyor belt and catch a glimpse of the bling itself.  It was absolutely amazing!!  Lauren and I were literally drooling, mostly at what is the biggest diamond ever (around 3000 carats, no big deal) called the First Star of Africa...gorgeous.  It made us even more determined to try to find the princes in the next few months :)
After a few hours at the Tower we boarded back onto the bus, exhausted and ready to take relax!  By six we were back to our beloved Kensington.  After saying our goodbyes to Penny, we ran over to Waitrose, another grocery store close by, to grab something for dinner.  The rest of the night was spent in the kitchen chatting with our friends and anxiously talking about our classes the next day.  Monday marks the start of our first full week of classes, and even though we have enjoyed having a lot of free time, I think everyone is kind of looking forward to getting back into a routine.  We're still giving ourselves plenty time to explore, of course!!  Wish us luck!
     ~Carolyn