Murrrrrrrrrdock's the Name!

Hello! Alright so on Thursday, I did a lot of homework because there is so much reading to be done and so little time! To take a break from it all, my fellow study abroader Shelby and I decided to go to Hyde park and 'hire' (rent) a bike and take a ride around the park. After fighting with the ticket machine, we finally got our tickets (for a pound) and you type in your code on the bike lock and get your bike. Simple? I think not!! Neither of our codes were working and I finally asked a nice British couple to help me out. Naturally they got the bike out with no effort. So I figured the bike locks only respond to the British touch. Wrong! After trying over and over and having outside assistance, Shelby could never get her bike out! We found out after 10 minutes the code expires. So I slowly rode my bike and Shelby walked along with me for about 10 minutes and then I put the bike back. We figure the machine gave her a faulty code. So we had a pretty good laugh about! On Friday, we visited the Tower of London. It actually wasn't quite what I was expecting. I though it would be a lot creepier than it was. Most of the original tower isn't even there. There were certainly a lot of crows! And it was cold, windy, and rainy. I don't think I've ever been that cold in June!

Alright then we arrive at today. Today was an especially adventurous day. We started it out at Burouh market. Burouh market is a beautiful little gem nestled by the Themes. They had amazing hot chocolate, fresh fruit, cheesecakes, the best toasties (grilled cheese sandwiches) on the planet, pies, turkish delight, and the biggest pile of brownies I had ever seen! Sorry the picture turned out strange. Me and Kristina were just glowing with joy over the brownies I guess.

After the Burouh market, we explored the Tate Modern museum and we had to find a work in a specific gallery that 'speaks' to us. I chose 'The Promise" by Cecil Collins. Look it up sometime if you get a chance. I really liked the message it had. Then we walked along Millennium bridge (the one in Harry Potter 5 I believe that gets ripped up as Harry and the gang are being pursued by death eaters) and wondered to St. Paul's Cathedral. Oh and for clarification, when I say 'we' I mean Ashley, Christina, Kristina, and Valerie-all wonderful friends I have met on this trip. There are public pianos just sitting out in London for people to play, so we sat down and all took a turn playing. Well as we are sitting, out of nowhere pops up this old Irish man (see picture above). He begins just rambling and asking us where we are from. I tell him Arizona and he was off. For about ONE HOUR he talked about everything under the moon-John Wayne, his brother who served in Korea, how Obama's mother is Irish (I don't even know if that's true!), how Ashley was wearing Confederate flag colors, what women's conversations were like in the Great Depression, why the Big Apple is called the Big Apple!!! He also went through all of our family names and what famous person he knows has our last name. He told me to look up the composer "Henry Wood" and see if I was related to him. He even at one point sat down and played us "Dixie" on his harmonica. He gave us 10 pounds so we could go get us some ice cream but when he wasn't looking we put it back with his stuff because that was just too nice of him! Before we left, I got this picture with him and before it was taken, he grabbed my hand and asked if I was engaged yet. He then took a picture of us with his little disposable camera so he could 'send it to us' and he wrote down his number and gave it to me because I apparently was 'the chosen one' in this little situation. So I guess I can say I got an Irishman's number! He kept telling us how amazing we were and how British people are so reserved- that it was really nice to talk to some 'outgoing' Americans. I noticed we were getting pity looks from passerby's, but honestly this man just wanted someone to talk to. I got the impression that people around town just simply ignore him or walk away. He really was hilarious and yes, he was sober! He just had a bit more energy than most people. He said he hopes to see us again someday-specifically next week. I'm pretty sure that won't happen, but he said multiple times that we really 'made his day'. I'll never forget our friend at St. Paul's! Oh and I asked him what his name was and he said "Murrrrrrrrrrdock's the name! Murrrrrrdock!!" in his Irish accent. We also went to King's Cross and got our classic 'Platform 9 and three quarters' pic. I'll have to get all my other pics on Facebook when I have more time. For dinner today we went to Waggamama's, which is a great Japanese/oriental restaurant. Delicious!

So I go jogging regularly at 6:30 through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park for exercise. Every time I go, I take my camera with me. Why? Because the more you visit and become familiar with a place, the more you notice little things. So every time I go jogging, I see peculiar or interesting things and snap a photo. I've seen swimmers in the river, a couple dozen men having hoarse riding practice, people practicing self defense, many a squirrels,and flowers, and other cool stuff. The other day, I entered the park and this wine glass was just sitting on the ground with what looked like champagne or white wine in it (sorry, I don't really know my alcoholic beverages-actually, I'm not sorry...). It just made me wonder who left it there and why. Did they just simply forget it? Did they have a romantic evening planned and then something unexpected came up and they had to abandon their plans? I'll never know, but it's fun to wonder.

Lastly, before our friend Murrrrdock came along, there was a group of girl scouts practicing certification outside St. Paul's. I took this picture as the girls were practicing an arm bandage on their leader. I just love the expression on all their faces! They seemed to be having such a good time. I like just taking pictures of every day life here in London now and then. Call me creepy, but its real and it's not a staged photograph-the people are so wrapped up in the moment that they don't even notice if anyone around is watching. Those are the best moments- when everything around you just melts away and all that matters are the people you are sharing it with. I really have fallen in love with London and I'm enjoying every moment! Let the good times roll!