I walked 6.5 miles today and it's only 3:30pm...

So last night we were all so tired that we had a very quiet, laid-back night...I was in bed relatively early and got a lot of sleep, which was nice.  Today we decided to go to Speaker's Corner, this public forum every Sunday in Hyde Park where anybody can stand on a ladder or soapbox and talk about anything he or she wants to...and more importantly (and amusingly, and at times scarily!), anybody observing can argue with, heckle or rain verbal abuse upon anybody speaking!  It sounded like it was sure to be an interesting deal, so we decided to check it out.

Charlie, Coleen, Michael and I, however, didn't really know how to get straight to Hyde Park, so we took a really circuitous route to get there!  First, we walked to Trafalgar Square (1.7 miles).  Then we crossed and headed down to Buckingham Palace, right in time to see the Changing of the Guard happen (.9 miles)...the Changing of the Guard was really cool, their band played ABBA and the Olympic theme, which was random, but it was fun.  Then we walked along the Buckingham Palace Gardens to get to Hyde Park...tons of runners, people walking dogs, and small children, very cute (1.5 miles).  We were finally there!

At first I was disappointed because I was expecting a lot more speakers and a lot more crowd interaction, but it picked up once we Americans got thrown in the mix!  Michael was out for blood and loved arguing with the speakers, especially this radical Muslim guy who hated the U.S. and blamed all earthly ills in the Middle East on the U.S. and Hitler (??) being on a quest to rob them of their oil and natural resources.  Michael got right up in his face and pissed some people off pretty badly, which was my cue to make an exit with Coleen.  We went to listen to another guy who turned out to be totally pornographic, talking about a bunch of really awkward and uncomfortable stuff...so we tried to make a quick exit from there as well.  Instead, Jamie (another ND student) and I ended up talking to this 71-year old guy about sex, love, friendship, and...the economy?...for about twenty minutes.

At this point I had had enough of Speaker's Corner and all of the insanity people were spouting off, so Coleen and I crossed the street to one of the 234872265917245572 Pret à Manger cafés in London.  Prets are like the Starbucks of the UK...all organic, fresh-made sandwiches, soups, and pastries/bakery items with fair-trade coffee drinks to go with it.  Being on the budget we're on, Coleen got a 1.30 coffee and I got a can of "organic grapeseed and elderflower sparkling beverage"
for 99pence, and we ate our own, pre-packed lunches.  Mmm!

Then Charlie came and met us, and we began the walk BACK to the flats...right through the heart of one of London's shopping districts, Oxford Street. Temptation was strong, but apart from a little window-shopping in cool British stores (and the FOUR h&m's we saw on the way!), we managed to refrain from any shopping...I think Charlie was grateful.  Before we knew it we were back on the route we usually take to school, and were soon home (2.4 miles).  Now I'm sipping tea and finishing up some reading for class (well, actually I'm not reading, I'm writing this, but I WILL be reading soon!), before hopefully cooking something yummy for dinner...who knows?  :)

Long post short: Speaker's Corner was a kind of scary radical deal that was not what I was expecting.  Pret à Manger is ubiquitous and looks delicious.  And I walked really far today.  Woo!