I arrived at Gatwick and took the train into Victoria station, where I had to figure out how to get to my hostel in Greenwich. The tube system was completely confounding at first glance. I couldn’t even really buy a ticket without feeling like an idiot. The station was just packed with people, the lines for the automated machines were epically long… If I’d been in a slightly more foreign country, for instance if I didn’t speak the language or if I really stood out as someone who didn’t belong, it might have been overwhelming enough to give me a panic attack.
I did get my ticket, and took the tube. It turns out that’s not the fastest way to get in, but who would have known.

I left my stuff and took a walk around Greenwich. I found the Royal Naval College, where it looked like people were getting ready for a graduation ceremony.

I also headed up to the observatory, and got the requisite picture of me in both hemispheres!

The next morning I headed in to town for the “free tour.” Laura Paul had told me about these tours; she had taken the Paris one and highly recommended it. I saw the London tour advertised in the hostel. It turned out not to be the same company that runs the tours in Paris (as well as those Amit and I took in Munich and Berlin) but it was a great tour nonetheless.

The tour started out with us watching the changing of the guard at Buckingham palace:

We got some pictures with the palace guards:

For Saket:

After the tour was over, I met up with Greg and we headed back to Cambridge together. I hadn’t seen Greg since we moved out of our apartment last summer, so it was really great to catch up.