Wifi Struggles (again)

Again I am late with my update, and again it is due to misbehaving wifi. We returned home from London Friday night only to find that our wifi and internet is down. Time Warner Cable, being the astoundingly incapable company that it is, can't get anyone out to fix the internet until Wednesday. This wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that we went through the same exact thing at the beginning of the year AND that it took them a week to fix our cable at the beginning of this month. Also, I'm sick and all I want to do is lie in bed with Netflix, which has cruelly been taken from me in my great time of need. But I digress. As my wise father said, you could beat your head bloody against a wall trying to get TWC to do something sensible, but all you'd get is a bloody head. So now I am sitting at Foster's market with a cuppa and putting off my homework by writing in this fine blog.

Let's see. I believe I need to catch up from Thursday. First thing we went to a police box located just a few blocks from our flat. For those of you who know me and my love of Doctor Who, you will understand why we made this pilgrimage to a somewhat tatty blue box on a street corner. For those of you who don't...go educate yourself and watch some of the Doctor. It's all on Netflix.

Then we went to visit the Tower of London, which was probably my favorite spot in London. I am quite intrigued by medieval history, so this Tower right up my alley. Our Yeoman Warder guide had quite a time picking fun at the American tourists, as well as pointing out some more of the grisly aspects of the Tower's history. After hearing some of the stories of the decapitations, it is no longer so hard to see how George R.R. Martin comes up with things like the Red Wedding. In the Yeoman Warder's defense he did offer us a choice between stories of decapitations and stories of kittens and unicorns (only later did he tell us he was glad we chose decapitations because his only story of kittens and unicorns involved a unicorn impaling a kitten...good old British humor at its best). We saw the crown jewels (jeez louise talk about big and shiny) and the armory, and basically just wandered around this huge old castle/fortress in the middle of London.

For those of you who don't know (because I didn't know), a Yeoman Warder is a ceremonial guardian of the Tower of London. In principle, they are responsible for looking after any prisoners that may be in the Tower and for looking after the Crown Jewels. In reality, they act as tour guides and tourist attractions, something which they do very well and with a great sense of humour. All warders are retired from the Armed Forces of Commonwealth Realms and must be former senior non-commissioned officers with at least 22 years of service under their belts. They must also have a dry British sense of humour (I made that last fact up but it seemed pretty accurate as far as I could tell).

The Crown Jewels are kept in this building

 We eventually exited the Tower, had a lunch of Fish and Chips (it was our last full day and we had to make it as British as possible), and made our way to the Natural History Museum. The building itself was enough to keep me entertained, let alone all of the things it held inside.

 To finish up our last full day, we took an evening stroll around Big Ben and the Eye. It was fun to people watch and just watch the city. Our feet were really tired by that time anyways, so we were perfectly content to sit about like creepers and watch and listen to the bustling city.

We finished up the night at a lovely Asian restaurant called the Hare and Tortoise, where I had my first vegetables of the week. Spring Rolls, Avocado Salads, Avocado and Asparagus "sushi" - I was very excited to see vegetables again. Chips are delicious, as are veggie burgers, but I missed my rabbit food (as my loving brother tends to call it). Dessert consisted of a mixture of Green Tea and Raspberry Mochi. It was delicious.

All in all, a very successful trip. Here are some things I learned:
1) Rubbish bins are impossible to find in large train/tube stations. Apparently this is because of the bombing that happened a while ago.
2) If you accidentally call the money "Euro" instead of "Pounds", you get some pretty nasty looks.
3) British runners like to wear backpacks whilst running...still haven't figured out why...
4) I still get called Taylor Swift, even when not in America. Even when the person calling me Taylor Swift barely speaks English.
5) For being toted as so much more health-conscious than America, EVERYONE AND THEIR MOTHER SMOKES. My lungs wanted to go back to America and I'm pretty sure they were thinking about leaving without me.
6) It's impossible to be a subtle tourist, especially when you have a map and giant camera out at all times.