Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere: The first day.

I'll start you all off as I did prior to boarding my 9:35 P.M. Virgin Atlantic flight on New Years Day: with a bit of the "bloody 'oo".

Not British enough for you? Have some Stones, then.

We on the same page, then? Top.

So, let's talk about the first day. The best way to describe it would be "wonderfully exhausting". The oxymoron is real, man. But seriously, it was exhausting. We arrived in Heathrow at around 10 in the morning, which would be 5 A.M. our time. I got absolutely no sleep on the flight in whatsoever, and the plan was to tour London by foot all day long by foot. However, the excitement of seeing London once again was enough of an amphetamine to keep me peppy as could be. We then went to the hotel, dropped our baggage off, grabbed a bit of lunch at the local pub, and hopped on the Tube to central London.

Lunch at the pub

"Mind the gap between the train and the platform"-Every tube stop.

On our walk, we caught a glimpse of many of the landmarks that London is known for: The Thames River, Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament, and St. Paul's Cathedral. Having been to London four years ago, these brought back many good memories.

It's been a while, Ben. You too, Parliament.

On our way back, Dr. Chalk took us on a bit of a detour, down a tiny alley to the "Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese" Pub.

Photo credit to Emily!

This pub was frequented by many famous and significant writers, such as Charles Dickens. After that, the question was posed: "Who wants a pint?" The decision was unanimous: we all went in, bought drinks, and took up the largest table they had. An aside, what's astounding about this pub is that is is multi-leveled; it has seating all the way down in its third basement! We gave a toast to a great 14 days in London!

Photo credit to Emily, again.

Somehow, those 30 minutes in the pub sapped out whatever little energy we had left in us. We were greeted by pouring rain outside, to boot. We slogged our way back to the tube stop, passing St. Paul's along the way. On the ride back, everyone was nodding off hardcore; our chins touched our chests before we were able to snap them back up. After another 30 minutes finding our way back to the hotel, we were warm, dry, and quickly unconscious. All in all, I'd say it was a bit of a character-builder! The lesson? Learn how to sleep on a plane, man.

-Greg