Day 2: Mr. Roger's Neighborhood

Mr. Roger's Tour

My head has been whirling all day trying to take in every ounce of London I encounter. We started off today hearing some safety tips from a Bobby, then heard from Jason Burns, one of the best theater (or should I say "theatre") directors of the English language. He has worked for years with the National Theater and will be taking us to many plays including Hamlet, Swan Lake, and Oliver. To add to his cool factor he's good friends with Sir Ian McKellan (aka Gandolph).
       In the afternoon, we had the privilege of touring our neighborhood, "The Royal Burough of Kensington and Chelsea" with our neighbor Roger. He is a seasoned professor and hilarious old chap, if I do say so myself :) It was a rare opportunity to get the inside scoop on the back roads and who lives where, from a local. He showed us the street of international embassies, Lord Leighton's lavish home, and walked us through Holland's Park. Then, on the way home we got to ride an infamous double decker red bus.
       After dinner, Dr. Sandley took a group of us on a tour of the West End. We took our first tube ride then walked through Covent Garden (aka Eliza Doolittle's market), an area with many street performers and vendors. We walked from there through Trafalgar's Square, past many theatres, pubs, and restaurants then to Leicester Square. It was so fun seeing all the red telephone booths, but sadly they are starting to paint them all black. After that, the Sandley's retired for the night and Mary Evelyn took over as our tour guide. She lead us down the tube where we walked out right at the foot of Big Ben! It was absolutely stunning all lit up at night! After walking across the river and enjoying the view, we decided to head to King's Cross station's platform 9 and 3/4 to see if we could enter Hogwart. It is September 1st after all.
        We finally returned to the Daniel House about 11, and I am exhausted! I'm off to bed because tomorrow is going to be full as well! 9:00 We're off to Buckingham Palace!