from london to paree

Thank goodness for elementary school fire drills… they prepared us well.
We had a nice little wake up call yesterday morning, with the 1820’s fire alarm right outside our door. We all shot up, fully aware that we should evacuate… but took a few moments to grab our valuables. Since we packed so light, we didn’t know whether to grab it all, or just a few things. That would have been a horrible next few weeks without the little amount that we actually brought over. Rest assured, the alarm went off just as we finally got our stuff together, so we never evacuated (even though that’s what they teach you). Our neighbor informed us that it was just a toast fire… and if you think like us, you’ll also realize that they do serve breakfast here- I guess we just weren’t lucky enough to be informed.

We had a great day yesterday touring London... and by touring, I mean 9 hours of walking and seeing EVERYTHING. We spent the 4th with Anne and Hannah, our loyal American friends who are studying abroad over here. It was wonderful!

This morning we attempted to attend mass this morning at St.Paul's cathedral. Note to self: it takes a little longer than 20 minutes to get through 9 million people in London. So... we took pictures outside.
To sum up our time in London, we got to know that tube system pretty well, but had a few near misses. More than once we found ourselves running across the platform with the doors sliding shut seconds behind us.

Not only did Kathleen get called a "dumb blonde" from a mere observer on the street, but later we felt it was warranted by this comment: "I wanted to see where the Boston Tea Party..." Needless to say, Katheen was quite disappointed to find out it was actually in our own country.
***i would like to add that im not that dumb, i KNOW it was in new york!***

Reflecting on our time in London, we just want to note that our biggest disappointment was Buckingham Palace (as we experienced it huddled under an umbrella in the pouring rain). However, the best part were the crazy pigeons flocked on us outside the National Gallery.

We made it to Paris tonight and we LOVE it. We'll write more soon about our adventures here...
au revoir