A great girls weekend out...

After our class with Mark and Carol on Thursday, we (the girls) threw our last minute belongings into our huge hiking backpacks and headed out the door. Before we could leave, Mark, Carol and all of the boys stopped us and gave each and everyone of us a hug. It was really cute. We made our way to the train station picked up our tickets, and about forty frenzied minutes later, we were on A train to London. Note that I said a train, not our train. The train ride was nice enough, we enjoyed our packed dinner and chatted and figured out our route through the tube. With our tired backs we made our way to our hostel. The Palmer's Lodge was set in a nice neighborhood just off the tube stop. It is in an old victorian building and appeared to very nice. After Emily, Mary and I checked in, we went back out with Anna to go to her hostel and meet Kate. At best, it was an exciting? no, perhaps heroing... experience. We were glad to see Kate and got Anna all settled in. After listening to a bit of loudly played jazz-like improv, Mar, Em and myself quickly made our way back to the tube stop and relaxed as we entered the more friendly part of London.
Our hostel turned out to be great. Although we stayed in an eight person room, it was comfortable, secure, clean and cozy. We thoroughly enjoyed the free internet and delicious continental breakfasts during our stay. The next morning was quite leisurely. We slept in a bit, got ready and headed out to meet Anna and Kate near Trafalgar square. The weather was cool and crisp, but it was sunny the whole day. Layering proved to be a valuable plan. We enjoyed the National Portrait Gallery (we had seen a special exhibit of some of the works when we were in York). It was fascinating to see how the works have changed over the years, from paintings that flatter the subject to realistic paintings and sculptures and today's artistic photographs and works in other mediums. Needless to say, it was fun... and thanks to the British Government, free. Excellent, it fit perfectly into my budget. We went outside to enjoy the weather and Trafalgar Square and found a bite to eat at a neat little sandwich place Emily had found during her JTerm trip last year. Afterwards, we made our way back through Trafalgar, avoiding the trash (OK, not trash, London was actually pretty clean... or atleast it seemed to be until you blew your nose. Last time I checked tissues shouldn't be black. But, trash, right... Em has a dislike for winged things that frequent big public places in big cities. Birds.) so we avoided the trash and made our way to the National Gallery. My favorite section was the display 'Manet to Picasso' so I spent a considerable amount of time there. Unfortunately, well maybe fortunately, it was understandably crowded so I soon made my way to some parts of the museum I might not have been to otherwise. The collection there, to say the least, is phenomenal. Seurat, Rysselberghe, Signac, Degas, van Gogh, Renoir, Manet, Monet, Picasso, Pissaro, Rembrandt and da Vinci, just to name a few. Once again, all of that was free to the public. Thank you England.

OK, once again, I lost track of time, I'm off to a psych lecture...
I'll write more.
Cheers :)