eight o'clock. we leave our flats and catch the first train from oxford to london. unfortunately, it was not the simple, straight-shot journey i was expecting. we had to get off our train at didcot parkway and board a coach bus to the reading station. the bus ride was about an hour long, which would be the around the same time frame a single train to london would have taken. from reading, we got to paddington station in london. thankfully, it was our last train trip, well for long distances at least. we then caught taxis to our hotel, the park plaza riverbank, a luxurious four-star hotel designed with modern inspiration. our rooms semi-overlook the thames river, and the rates run about £350 a night. our rooms weren't ready when we first got here, so we went as a group to get breakfast at a local brazilian restaurant down the road. i had already eaten so i just sat there, but i did have a piece of toast just to try the soft bread. after breakfast we came back to the hotel to get our rooms. unfortunately, not all of them were ready. barry, josh, carly, and i got the two rooms that were ready, luckily they're side by side. we relaxed until we were supposed to meet as a group at two o'clock downstairs, but when we got down to the meeting place, dr. collins informed us that we wouldn't have enough time at the tate modern museum and that we would go tomorrow. this meant we had a free afternoon. so what did i do? work out. there is an amazing gym on the floor below us, so i was able to run, bike, and weight train all of the incredible food i have eaten during this trip. it was nice running on a treadmill at a steady pace, but i do miss the outside paths with flowers, cows, and streams.
then the highlight of my day. a bath. a relaxing dead sea salt bath. it was much needed. the bathrooms here are amazing. there is a full shower and a separate bath, and the bath has an adjustable shower head, allowing me to properly shampoo my hair while relaxing. after my thirty minutes of bliss, i decided it was time to be productive and eat dinner.
barry, josh, carly, zach, duckie, cleo, steven, and i all went to dinner at casa madeira, the sister store of where we ate breakfast. our intention of going out was to watch the world cup final, but the television was across the courtyard and there were hundreds of people blocking most of our view. we then decided that after we ate, we would go back to barry and josh's room to watch the rest of the match. i had meat lasagna for dinner, and you were able to tell it was brazilian lasagna, not italian. there was virtually no sauce and no ricotta cheese. it was a huge portion so i saved half of it for dinner tomorrow night, but i definitely miss the luxury of cooking my own food. i also tried gelato for the first time tonight! it was called "blue sky caramel" and visually resembled the blue of superman ice cream. it tasted fantastic and came with a pirouline serving as both a garnish and something to eat the gelato with. after paying and leaving, we went back to the hotel, went to the boys' room, and watched spain score their winning goal in between listening to music and watching youtube videos.
that's our first real day in london, and tomorrow will encompass all of the adventure today lacked. but here are images of london from our part of town.
the hotel itself. it's very tall, surrounded by glass, and very modern in design.
the view of parliament from our hotel.
the huge maple leaves outside of the restaurant. they were ten times bigger than the leaves in granby, thus proving their enormous size.
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