July 9  - London

Today was our first full day in London, and it got off to an interesting start. Natalie and Ellen accidently got on the wrong subway and  the doors shut before they could get off. Luckily, we didn’t lose them for too long, since they were smart enough to get off at the next stop. When they saw us on the next train they were so happy that they started to chase the train down the platform, which was a pretty hilarious sight. Once we got on the right train, we went to Westminster Abbey. We had a very nice tour guide named Donna, who showed us the graves of famous poets, scientists, etc. and other historical things in the abbey. We also got to see the inner part of the abbey, where the Queen’s coronation and Princess Diana’s funeral took place.

From there we walked through St. James’ Park to Buckingham Palace. It was raining really hard, so we didn’t get to see the changing of the guard, but we got pictures with a guard at Prince Charles’ official residence. Plus we saw where Prince William and Prince Harry live. Our last stop on the tour was Trafalger Square. After the tour we split up to find some lunch in one of the street cafes (which have really good sandwiches by the way). Some of us also found an internet café/souvenir shop. While we are all having a ton of fun in Europe, it was nice to check our emails and facebooks and have contact with everyone in MN.

We also had our first match against England today. We beat them in 3 games (playing best of 5). We played a fourth just for fun, and they beat us in that game. We had a hard time adjusting to some of the European rules, but it was overall a lot of fun. After the match we went out to dinner at a local pub with the British girls. They were fascinated by American culture (they wanted to know if our lives were like the American movies) and our “accents.” It was cool to learn about their lives, too.

After a long walk back to the hotel, we were all pretty tired, and everyone went to sleep pretty much as soon as we got back. We still have two days in England left with more sightseeing and playing, which should be a lot of fun!! J

By Catherine Hermann

Northern Lights 17-2