London Pt. 2

Just one more day in London. I've settled in with Mariam and, like a true world traveler, am sleeping on the floor and re-wearing clothes that smell questionable at best. Oh well. I've done a bit more since last we spoke (read:I typed). We went to Oxford for one day and met our friend Susan W. She gave us a lovely tour and convinced me that I never ever want to actually attend Oxford for school. Way too difficult and they don't even have classes! Upside, the place was beautiful with a mix of Wuthering Heights and Venice that was unexpected. The sun also came out which I didn't know happened here in England. Last note on Oxford: it seems all that the 39 colleges collectively hold the majority of beautiful men of the world. It felt like I was walking through a Ralph Lauren advert and it was wonderful. Oh, and our train didn't run home because of a power outage somewhere else along the line so it took us 3 transfers and about 3 1/2 hours to get home. Lovely.

Yesterday, we went to the Tour of London. It is a veritable maze of cool stuff. We saw the largest diamonds in the world (Cullinan I and II) that were both cut from this single massive diamond. It made me very jealous of the Queen. And there were also tons of these elaborate crowns made and worn at only one occasion. I pointed out to Ellen that if they gave me a piece of jewelry with even one of the huge rocks from the crown, I would wear a lot more often and be a lot more grateful. Alas, I do not think Britain is overly concerned.

So, one more day here (we're going to see the Tate Modern) and then off to Prague in the wee hours of the morn. Final comment, Ellen and I finally got up close to a British guard in a puffy hat and he totally moved! Fidgeted tons, looked around, and even once removed his hat for readjustment. My illusions of Great Britain's pomp and circumstance have been thoroughly corroded.