West to East- East to West

Today started off much like any other, except today I was going to travel to the eastern hemisphere!
We caught our train at 9:30 and made our way to London Padington. Once there we had to catch the tube to make another connection. It was really weird being in the tube as there was absolutely no security. It was really strange; imagine being in the USA and having something like what happened in London go on. Rail stations all over would have been on lockdown for weeks! And in London it was just another day.
I was amused to hear 'Mind the Gap' repeated over and over as we got off the underground and switched to another train.
We eventually made it to Greenwich, and quickly found a place to eat that offered ' full air conditioning' being that I live in Florida, my idea of full air conditioning is like 65 degrees and frosty. Here in England apparently it is more like a muggy 80. We ate tex mex food and I found myself craving tortilla chips, which they certainly do not have here. The food was actually the best I have had while eating out- or maybe I am just missing good old All American cuisine! After waiting for like 3 hours to get out bill( ok, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration) we trudged our way up to the Royal Observatory.
We have noticed, that when there is a sight to see, it is always at the top of a hill. So we slowly trudged to the top, where we made our way to the destination. The tickets to this are free, yet you still have to obtain a ticket, at a ticket booth in order to enter. Does this make sense to anyone?!
The masses were everywhere! So many people all over the place- it was crazy! I managed to place both feet on either side of the prime meridian and can say I was in both hemispheres at once; how cool is that? I find it interesting that the satelite that sends the signal to the world clock there is from a US Naval satellite...I also learned that the bings at the beginning of the BBC news broadcasts on the hour correlate with the GMT time, which as I stated above gets time from a US Naval satellite.
We made our way into the museum and were hit upon entry with two confirmations, 1: no air conditioning and 2: Most people were not wearing deodorant! It was hot and sticky but neat to see. We made our way up to the famous octagonal room... Don't ask me why it is famous, it was really hot in there!
Why is it places here have these great comfy looking chairs and you aren't supposed to sit on them, they either have a cord on them or a nice little place card. It makes no sense- decorative chairs and couches- very bad idea!
We slowly made our way back down hot and sweaty like but we did see some tourists wearing some wacky clothes! Black socks Hawaiian print shirts, different Hawaiian print shorts and dress shoes was my particular favorite of the day.
We saw all sorts of people in the park there soaking up the sun, but the 3 of us are from Florida and want nothing but cold air- heck we can have heat any time!
We eventually made it back to the train station, and hopped aboard -apparently 'twit and dozer ' had been there before as they had scratched their names into the windows.
We once again boarded the underground and yet again there was little security, only a recording telling you to keep you possessions with you at all times.
Eventually we made our way back to the crowded streets of Oxford. Once again telling each other, 'so this is Oxford...'
People here are really hitting the point where they are ready to go back home. I really do miss being in my life, but I feel like I need to take advantage of everything here while I have the chance. I am going to try to make it to all the different museums in the next week, and poke my head around a bit more as well. I have to keep busy, or all I will do is read Harry Potter, and that should be saved for my flight home.
OOOOO I wonder what scrumptious goodness can be for dinner! Last night's desert was cheese and crackers! They called it pudding?! In other news, I can't wait to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!
TTFN