Day 5

Me on the tube. Do I look tired? I am! I'm sleeping in a room with 8 or 10 girls and a snorer or two.
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FREE BREAKFAST! How sweet is that? Because of this, I got up and went down to what they call the cantina (which is like a bar in America but here it's just the dining room - made it a little confusing when I was trying to get into the bar for breakfast). I had two bowls of museli - an amazing cold cereal oatmeal thing with dried fruit and nuts (Michelle, you would love it). Anyway, when I got back up to my room, I was still so tired. Felt like that kind of tiredness when someone drugs you and is going to kidnap you, ya know? Jo & Jess were going down to Hammersmith to do some cheap shopping, so I tagged along. We took the Tube and I was really glad I was with them. Apparently, on the weekends they do a lot of work on the Tube (the British government, not Jo and Jess) and they shut a lot of stations down. We had to take a change a buncha times to get to Hammersmith but in doing so, I figured the Tube out and now feel quite comfortable on it (mostly). So, we got down there and I realized that they meant REALLY CHEAP shopping - which would have been great but I didn't want to pay for anything and I really didn't want to carry any more stuff, so after a shop or two, I bid them farewell and went back to the hostel.

Big ben!
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Jo was telling me that I really should book the ferry ride to Belgium now, and figure all that out, so that's all I could think about while we were shopping. The people at the hostel were nice enough to look up everything for me. We couldn't find a ferry to Belgium (that's the trouble I'd been having). I've talked to people that have taken it and so had the clerk at the hostel, but we didn't know where they went or anything else. The hostel clerks (two of them) looked up every which way for me and we ended up deciding that the Eurostar (the chunnel) would be the cheapest and fastest way. I could take a ferry but I'd have to take the tube to Victoria, catch a bus to Dover, take the ferry to Calais, France and take the Eurail to Belgium. Or I could take the Eurostar. Hmmmmm... I booked my ticket, but the cheapest they had was $111.00 US and it's at 5:53 am. Luckily that's not till Tuesday.

made it a little confusing when I was trying to get into the bar for breakfast

Westminster Abbey. It costs 10 euros to enter and you can't take pictures. Hmmm... maybe next time.
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Jo came back and let me use her computer to upload some photos. She said the reason my 4gb card didnt work was because I didn't format it first (I don't' know what that is but she said I could do it with my camera).

We walked about a bit. Jo was having a toothache, so we got her some clove oil (aren't you proud, mom?!). We bid farewell (she has a free place to stay with her friend) and exchanged numbers, in case we can get together again before I leave London. I went on the the market and got some ready-to-microwave food and fruit. It was good but I realized that it would have been cheaper to eat at the hostel. Grocery stores are expensive but if I had gotten to the open air market that was earlier, I could have eaten more cheaply. There's also, lots of cheap options in town, like pasty's for £2 and such. The chicken tiki masala I had, however was delicious and it was really nice to get fresh fruit.

Well, I'm going to plan my day tomorrow, so that I can make the most of everything. I promise, that tomorrow will be a lot more exciting, with a possibility for hootenannies.