First day as Europeans

Alright everybody!!!! We are currently writing from an internet cafe in Leicester Square right in the heart of Central London. It is 8:20 at night here (3:20) in the afternoon your time and we are exhausted. We slept three hours or so on the plane over and have been going ever since. We hit the ground running meeting people everywhere we turned. First on the plane we met a guy a couple seats down named Andres Perez. He is probably one of the coolest humans in the world considering he is 31, speaks 4 languages, has lived in Venezuela, Virginia, Tanzania, Colorado, and he travels around the world all over working for the UN. I know- it's sick. Anyway- he gave us some great advice and showed us really cool pictures of his travels.

Next we landed in London and realized we really didn't know what to do next. Do we call home? Where do we get the money to do that? How do we make a phone call?! All of these unknowns were cleared up with a few questions. Besides that the trip has been smooth sailing! We are staying with a guy named Matthew Purves while we're here and he has been AMAZING helping us get settled and figuring our way around this city. He is truly a lifesaver. After all of these obstacles we were off sight-seeing in the city by noon. Here's a list of great things we experienced...

* Piccadily Square fountain (our first fountain hop overseas)
* Trafalgar Square fountain and climbing on statues
* National Gallery
* National Portrait Gallery
* St. Martin in the Fields Church free lunch concert (Baroque concertos)
* Walking tour from Trafalgar Square to Westminster Abbey
* Evensong choral service at Westminster Abbey (a boy's choir sang and filled the hall with sounds neither of us had ever experienced. Seriously- an unforgettable hour)
* Changing of the horse guards
* Big Ben and House of Parliament
* Watched House of Commons debate (no one was doing this and we realized we could go into Parliament and actually watch the sessions going on. It was totally cool!)

Experiences we weren't expecting...

* Traffic on opposite side of road (it really does throw you off!)
* Eating a pancake out of a cup
* Hiking around the city to find a free bathroom
* Hearing British dialects constantly (you wouldn't think so, but this is wild!)
* Walking by the Prime Minister of England's house without even knowing it

Things we have learned...

* We can get by with peanuts and raisins and half an hour of sleep and still keep sight-seeing!
* Look left when crossing the street!
* Navigating the tube (subway)
* People love to help... most of the time. (Then you show how stupid Americans are and they hate you. Ha ha!)
* When boarding and exiting the tube... "Mind the gap!"
* We can still look hot after being in the same outfit for 36 hours.

Well- that's most of the news we have now. We are going to be exploring more tomorrow and will be getting a few pictures up as soon as we can. Jumping into this movie set/textbook/dream world is incredible. I am learning how expansive this world is, and yet how tiny it is at the same time. People are the same everywhere... Thank you for all the prayers. We are safe and sound and having a ball. Miss you guys and can't wait to share more stories!

Love ya! Miss ya! Oh! And the queen says hi!

Tripp and Laura