I tell time by church bell here.

Oh friends.

It's been so long, and it's honestly kind of overwhelming to write about all that's happened.

As far as the "why" to why I haven't updated, well London has CRAZY electric plugs, and our converter didn't work for it, so our computers died and we had to go to the Internet cafe for necessities only. Necessities like finding housing! Oh how that was stressful. Then, when we got to Paris our converter blew up in the airport. Lol. Something about not converting enough electricity. Twas really funny actually. Then we tried two different converters and they didn't work for our Mac chargers. Third time is the charm and yesterday we finally got what we needed. :) And now, hello world.

Honestly, it's been kinda nice to be without electronics for the past couple of days. Refreshing really. And we really have been telling time by church bell here (we don't have watches and couldn't charge my cell phone, and people in Europe don't believe in clocks! Seriously!). There's a church down the street from our apartment. It's crazy. Crazy beautiful.

So, from the beginning now!

After our escapades the first night getting into London, paying so much for a hotel, getting a suite, etc. etc., James and I finally booked in a hostel we could afford (even though that hotel was the sweetest thing ever!) and luck has it that it was right down the street, five minute walk, from the first hotel. We threw our stuff in then went to explore the city.

I think that day might have been our favorite day in London.

We just walked all over and explored the Natural History Museum which was right across the street from the hostel and from Victoria and Albert's, then found our way to Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. We literally napped under some trees in Hyde Park (and I forgot to bring my Austen book, so sad) and then played in the park all day. We found the Princess Diana fountain, which was so beautiful, and played. The sounds of children filled the park and everyone was playing in the water; just like she would want it to be.

I exposed James to his first Magnum bar, which was a lovely experience and totally worth the tummy ache after! Then we randomly walked toward the London Eye and ended up at Buckingham Palace! It was night so you couldn't really see anything, but we did find this cute little restaurant, Genevieve's, across the street that where we split some good ole fish and chips (yum yum). The day after that I feel like we did the same thing, except we explored the Science Museum and then Hyde Park, saw Buckingham Palace in the day and then walked toward the London Eye and the river until we got to Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, etc.

That was a funny moment, because we knew what we were walking towards, but we were talking and then all of a sudden we were in front of a pillar at the Houses of Parliament. We were stunned into silence and it was one of those "mouth open, head to the sky" will never forget the awe of this sight kind of moments. Twas so beautiful.

Sweet Jesus totally took care of us because we found free housing in Bounds Green the next night, which is just outside of London, through couch surfing with our new friend and fellow CSer Nick. What an awesome experience. The next day I let James sleep in (which he does like....every day, lol, but he was a little sick) and went into London by myself, exploring the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, some old churches, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and *drumroll* Tate Modern. This day was the only rainy, cold day we had in London.

Oh gosh, I was so happy, and I need to go back to Tate Modern come November cuz I definitely DID NOT spend enough time there.

Then I met James at Westminster Abbey for the Evensong service, which we attended and then got to look around *for FREE* afterwards. It was so beautiful. Then we saw a show at Shakespeare's Globe and on the way to the Tube found this great little historic pub where we drank some great Foster's.

The next day was ....the day from Hell.

Travel Day.

Ugh, they really are the worst, but this one in particular was really bad. Ended up spending almost $80 just to get to Paris, due to London transportation (and rude, unhelpful, unkind, transportation workers) and twisting my ankle carrying my bag down the stairs to the Underground (it's better now, but a little sore sometimes) but we finally got to Luton airport and on our plane to...

PARIS!

which will be in the next post...get excited!