London was our last port. It wasn't even a port, it was just a place for the ship to get rid of us. The ship didn't dock in London itself, but in Southampton. After we had said our tearful goodbyes to the ship and our new family there, we got onto a shuttle to London. I had a slight cold involving a sore throat and a stuffy nose, so I couldn't enjoy the first 2 days as much as I would have been able to. Don't worry about that though. Once we arrived at our hotel, we settled in and started to explore. We ate lunch at a restaurant close to the hotel. Then we walked to the famous British Museum. Inside the museum we saw the Rosetta Stone. The Rosetta Stone is an artifact that has Egyptian hieroglyphics and Greek writing on it. Since historians didn't understand Egyptian hieroglyphics back then, they used the Greek writing to figure it out. We also saw the Elgin Marbles. The Elgin Marbles are remains of beautiful friezes and sculptures from the ruins of the Parthenon in Athens. After we were finished looking, we went back to the hotel to take a nap.
When we woke up, we went to eat dinner. When we were done eating we went back to the hotel to sleep.
Next Day
This day Granddad and Doodah's friends led us through some of the city. Their names are Pau and Rosere with their girls Nuria (8 years old) and JoAnna ( 6 years old). We walked along the edge of the Thames river. I saw the London Eye (we didn't go into it) and many tall skyscrapers, including one called the pickle skyscraper.
JoAnna, Nuria, and I were talking and we kept saying different words that meant the same thing. It was really funny. Let me tell you a bit of the differences between British english and American english:
crisps: chips
chips: french fries
pants: male underwear
trousers: pants
sneakers: trainers
bathroom: loo or wash-closet
boot: trunk of a car
lorry: truck
knickers: female underwear
Walkers crisps: Lays chips
bangers: sausages
flat: apartment
glue: gum
pudding: desert (Harry Potter makes a lot more sense now!)
bonnet: hood of a car
torch: flashlight
lollypop man: crossing guard
lift: elevator
chemist: somebody who works at a drugstore
That is pretty much all I know, but their is probably a lot more. Now, back to what we did. It was beginning to be lunch time, so we ate in a small skyscraper called Tate Modern. It was basically an art museum, so we went to a free exhibit. I had fish and "chips" (french fries). Once we were done eating we took a taxi boat to a different spot a long the Thames and got on a red double decker bus. I saw Big Ben! I expected it to be a bit bigger, but it was still really cool. When we got of the bus we were really close to Nuria and JoAnna's flat. We stayed there for a while then we walked to a nearby pub and ate.
Next Day
On this day we did some of our own unguided touring. We went to the Tower of London. It had the Crown Jewels inside, but it was to expensive to go in plus there was a long wait, so instead we admired the outside. Then we got into another taxi boat to Greenwich. While we were there we ate lunch and went to an observatory. Again, there was a long wait to go inside the main part, so we just stayed outside. I stood on both sides of the prime meridian at the same time! Then we took a taxi boat to a stop close to Buckingham Palace. On the way I saw Cleopatra's Needle and the new London Bridge. When the boat arrived to our stop, we walked to Buckingham palace. We stood outside the gates and watched the unbelievingly still guards. They only moved when they occasionally marched back and forth for exercise. Then we ate and went back to the hotel.
In our last few hours in London the next day, we just went to the airport, checked in, and flew to Iceland.
