London at last.

We left our little island paradise of Koh Tao and took a long journey back to Bangkok where we stayed just long enough to get some dinner for a dollar before heading to the airport. 11 more hours on a plane and we finally arrived to familiar surroundings with family and friends nearby. We landed just in time to take a train to town with hordes of people bustling to work. We recieved quite a few looks lugging our bike boxes and gear through these crowds. Finally we arrived to London Bridge station where we began a long journey to my cousin's home. Normally this journey would take about three minutes, but with heavy bike boxes and tired arms we were struggling to make it within 30 (ok, maybe a little less).

We finally arrived to 147 Bermondsey where we were greeted by my cousin, Laura, and two furry cats, Rascal and Sparky! After 4 months of travelling and 4 months of missing all my family and friends, it was great to be in a home with family again. My cousin had to work for the rest of the day, but Mally and I went out and about in the city. We wandered past Westminster and Parliament, found some new running shoes for Megan (since her's were stolen in Koh Tao :o( ), and then visited a Press Photo exhibit at the Royal Festival Hall which displayed award winning photos from last years' news. While the photos were indeed spectacular, it was depressing to see so many sad eyes combined with signs violence and poverty prevalent in the photos.

Our moods quickly lifted when we walked to Trafalger Square and discovered B&J's free cone day!!!!!! London must have known that the two biggest ice cream lovers arrived in town that day. After making up for missing free cone day in the states we returned home for a relaxing evening and a home cooked meal (MMMMMmmmm!).

On day 2 in London, Mally and I met up with our great Dartmouth buddy, Cecily! It had been almost a year since we have seen each other, but it is amazing how little time can wear on the bonds of friendship. After catching up a bit, it soon seemed like no time at all had passed. We spent the afternoon wandering around Covent Garden, eating Gelato (to reminisce on our Italy trip together), and shopping at Asian markets to prepare for a test of our thai cooking skills.

That night Mally, Cecily, and I prepared green curry (which we actually didn't learn to make in class - yikes!) for my cousins, Laura and Mark. We were a bit nervous since my cousins do like green curry and hence know what it is supposed to taste like, but they guaranteed us that there was good pizza delivery nearby for backup. Luckily it turned out well... even Mark and Laura were pleased (and they can tell us the truth since they're family).

Day three in London fell on a Saturday so I finally got a chance to hang out a bit with my cousins (who actually work on weekdays... strange...). Mark took me for a run in the morning (it is nice to run with someone who knows their way around) and then took Megan and me to his music production studio to show us all his very cool toys! He played us his latest song (which we then had stuck in our heads for the rest of the day) and showed us all the ways to manipulate the assortment of sounds... a lot actually goes in to producing a song... apparently you don't just hit the record button and start singing.

After a fun morning with Mark, we all had some lunch together and then Laura took us to a nearby market full of sumptuous foods. We tested an assortment of cheeses at the cheese shop, tried out an inviting cake store, and found some fresh pasta for dinner. We then helped my cousin with a successful shopping trip for her newly remodeled apartment and landed back at home for another home cooked meal and relaxing evening.

That night we said goodbye as we prepared for our early morning departure to Switzerland, but fortunately we'll be back to explore London some more later.