Fin de unos dias en Londres

So...I know you've all been waiting for this saga. After having gone to a money exchange in London, and told that for $200 dollars in traveler's cheques I would receive 58 pounds, I was really at a loss. Either no one takes traveler's cheques, or the computers are broken, or it's too close to siesta, or they give me the shittiest exchange rate they can get away with. But finally, I found a money exchange that wasn't cheating me. And I exchanged everything.

I FINALLY made it to the portrait gallery. I really wanted to go see the gay icons exhibit...and then I realized you had to pay to enter. And I realized I wasn't overly familiar with these gay icons anyway, so I went all the way upstairs to the Tudors portraits. And it was pretty amazing. I saw a portrait of Anne Boleyn I've always seen in books...and a portrait of Katherine Parr and Catherine of Aragon. They had portraits of Elizabeth I at her coronation, and some other famous portraits of her.

So you know the lions in Trafalgar Square (just google a picture). People always have pictures on top of them, and I really wanted to get one too. This is quite an ordeal though. First, you have to climb up on a side of the monument, which is about 6 feet high, with a very small lip around it to hoist yourself up onto it. Then you go over to the lion and realize it's much bigger than you expected. So then, you have to step on it's tail and you try to hoist yourself, only to slide off. So then you try hopping up, still slide off....so then you try taking your shoes off so you can monkey climb and are still foiled...so then you take time to contemplate, watch a number of other people climb them, and finally take a running leap and have someone push your legs and SUCCESS. It was a glorious moment. So I sat atop this lion, terrified of falling off (to certain death...or at least a certain broken bone). And enjoyed the gloriousness. It was a moment of pure triumph.

After that though, we went to dinner at a pub, to say goodbye to England. It was very sad, I could've stayed 6 months and found something to make me happy everyday. But alas, back to the tropics we had to go. So we packed (I was scared, I didn't realize how much I bought until it almost didn't fit), and then some people took naps...I went on the internet for the first time in four days, and couldn't seem to get off. But then we checked out at 3 AM, waited in the FREEZING cold for some buses, and made our way back to Gatwick. Our flight boarded at 6-something in the morning, and we arrived in Malaga around 11...and then went all the way back to El Palo (so between the walking, the waiting, the bus changes, I didn't get home till 1-something). And then classes that afternoon. UGHHHH. Still so exhausted, but we have another trip this weekend...to Sevilla! I know absolutely nothing about Sevilla, but I'm excited to find out.