London, Day Two

Wayne’s alarm went off.  Annie’s alarm went off.  And . . . I didn’t hear them.  Annie woke me up at 9:40 wondering if I wanted breakfast which closed at 10:00.  I did.  But man, we all Zonked last night. Out Cold.   It was greatly needed though, and helped us get rid of the worst phases of jet lag. 

The free breakfast here at our hostel wasn’t the best, but hey, they had some coco pebbles type cereal and toast, which suited me okay.  We headed off to walk through Kensington Gardens before church.  They were lovely.  All the parks are nice and big.  These dudes were playing futbol and I just wanted to go hop out on the pitch and start playing with them.  I kept thinking, “Here’s Totti!!!” 

Kensington Gardens

Church was nice.  We got some pass along cards, which we hope to quickly use up.  The talks were great as well.  We also ran into Ellen and her family there.  Crazy huh!  We sat by them and we had dinner at their flat later on in the evening. 

Church

More fascinating than our singles ward was the second service we went to.  We walked over to St. Paul’s cathedral after sacrament meeting ended.  Much to our chagrin, it was basically closed---they were only letting people in a small portion of the cathedral on one of the wings.  But wait!  We asked around and found that they were having a Eucharist service shortly, and so we waited for it.   You see, this would give us the opportunity to be right underneath the central dome of the Cathedral, the most amazing part of the cathedral.  It was beautiful.  Spectacular.  I wished we could’ve walked around to get some closer looks at things, but the Bishop (Or whatever title he carried ) was walking in with his staff and special robe, and so we had to sit tight.  The service was very good, and I think that parts of it moved me, Wayne, and Annie.   We even took communion.  It was good for us to experience a Catholic service and see a way in which they draw nearer to Christ.    

St. Paul's Cathedral

My highlight of the day was eating a picnic lunch in little park called Brunswick Square.  We bought some chorizo, cheese, baguette, and some drinks at a little market called Tesco, and then walked over to this park.  We sat down on a bench and leisurely ate our sandwiches as some fellows played futbol right behind us.

Lunch

Quote of the Day---

“You don’t have to kill yourselves in culture, you know, just drive yourself full of it.”

                                                                                                                                ---Nate    

Well, we’re surviving, and we’ve been having a pretty swell time of it.

Peace in the Family,

XOXO

-N

--BJC:  Tomorrow, for part of the day we’re headed to the neighborhood which is the center of London's Caribbean immigrant community.  We'll be getting there on the Underground, the awesome subway system of London with an awesome map, and it's at the very south end of the light blue Victoria line.  Good luck!  Email us if you find the answer!