Greenwich, the pubs, and how to see London in 2 hours

The Tower of London: now home to the crown jewels but once home to British entertainers-- prisoners sentenced to hang from the 25-person capacity gallows.
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For all of you out there (Mom) who have been complaining about the lack of updates recently, please know that the people here at IES are keeping me VERY busy!  This is actually the first time since my last update to write another entry.  So...chillax!

Saturday afternoon was spent in Greenwich, which the Royal Navy used as headquarters (I think) for several centuries.  The whole IES gang went and we took a river cruise up the Thames to Greenwich and ooh-ed and awww-ed at the scenery along the way.  My friends and I decided that we should probably be living in one of the waterfront apartments instead of in our residence hall!  They were stunning!  Greenwich was gorgeous as well.  We saw the Cutty Sark and, for the first time, I did not have to go on it and look at everything!  There were too many other things to do and I have a pretty good idea as to what it looked like from previous experience.  We were told that the Cutty Sark was the "fastest ship of her day, she was" several times.  Everyone in Greenwich was very proud of that.  I also straddled the prime meridian, looked around the Royal Observatory, and shopped at the markets and shops in the village.  We ate lunch at a Tex-Mex restaurant (what?!) and had a hard time understanding our French waitress.  It was a very international experience.  After lunch, we looked at the dining hall and chapel the Royal Navy used.  We were told that only Rome has better art on the ceiling.  I believe it!  My friends and I just looked up in awe!

Tower Bridge, as seen from the deck of our River Thames cruise ship.
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That night, we decided it would be best to try out one of the authentic London pubs.  We chose the "Hung, Drawn, and Quartered," which was by the Tower of London and has been around for centuries to serve pints to those in the area to watch a hanging.  A little morbid, maybe, but inside it looked just as it would have in the 1800s.

Today, IES took us to the Columbia Road flower market in the west end of London.  Compared to the rest of London, the buildings in this area were mostly modern design, I noticed.  I later found out the reason for this is because most of the west end was decimated by bombs during WWII.  The flower market was fun because we got to see how the real locals live (the people who live in Chelsea aren't really representative of the majority of London because of their EXTREME wealth).  Every vendor was selling something for "just a fiver".  After the flower market, we walked though Hackney, which has been a predominantly immigrant neighborhood for centuries.  Now, one road is dominated by Pakistanis and Bangledeshis selling their food to visitors, but the rest of it has become high-income housing.  After tasting some of London's finest curry, we parused through Spittalfield's Market, which had hundreds of vendors under one roof and was absolutely crawling with people.

Downtown London, as seen from the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.
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After the market tour, IES sent us out on a scavenger hunt.  Luckily, we had put our team together two days ago and were sure we would win.  We had maps, our A-Z road guide book, and tour guides.  In two hours, we saw Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, the Tate Modern Art Museum, and St. Paul's Cathedral.  We ran down streets, ran up the tube escalators, and ran back down as soon as we had our picture.  Even with all this running, our team finished second (out of two) and we were NOT happy.  Bitter, perhaps.  The other team had a girl on it who has been living in London for a year.  Shady, for sure.  Luckily, since only 12 people showed up (as compared to the estimated 50), we also received the grand prize:  tickets for the London Eye ferris wheel!  After all of this, we were all exhausted and, initially, refused to ride the tube home since we had been on it all day; however, the other team had beaten us to the bus and we hated even more the thought of riding the bus home with them!  So... we took the tube.  Again.  The only guy on our team thought we were insane.  But to five girls, it made perfect sense.

The prime meridian! My feet are in two different hemispheres. The "coolness" of this is comparable to the "coolness" of getting a phone call from someone in a different year on New Years Eve.
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Classes are starting tomorrow and the general consensus is that we would rather not go to class and see the sights for another week.  Or maybe two.  I don't have classes tomorrow as that is my scheduled internship day.  I have two internship interviews on Tuesday (when I do have classed scheduled) and won't be going to class then either!  I'll get back to the whole "school" thing someday.  I promise.