Family!

Hello, everyone! I'm typing this on my father's iPad, as my computer stubbornly refuses to use WiFi here in England. I hail from our awesome flat across from the Tower of London- you can see it from our window! I would post a picture, but I can only transfer them over the Internet :p

Anyway, my family's here! They arrived at 8 pm on Tuesday night. We had some transportation problems from the start. My dad had taken the advice of the flat owner and booked a cab to the flat. He booked it for eight forty and at ten pm, we were still waiting. In those hours, many a phone call was made to the company and we still have no idea what went wrong.
Unfortunately, getting to the flat at around eleven pm meant that for my family, whose bodies thought it was dinner time, there was no possibility of food, as London shuts down at eleven and the kitchens close even earlier. Eventually, we found a twenty four hour pizza place and had that.

The next day, we had a bit of a lie-in, as they would say here. Then my parents told me that the audition I turned down (which was happening that day) could be attended and of course I went into crazy mode, taking my dad's iPad to the restaurant next to our building (which has free WiFi) and desperately trying to get online. It didn't work, however, and I was rather upset. This only escalated when I went back to the building and couldn't get back in, as my phone was too low on money to make a call. I stood outside and testers and rang our flat bell for half an hour or more until the flat manager happened to come out and I snuck in.
I was finally able to email the casting people, but I'm sure my opportunity has passed- contacting them on the day of the audition is not the way to go, even if it was my only option. It breaks my heart that. I didn't even get to try out for it; the script gave me chills and anything that does that is worth auditioning for.

We went out for a really late breakfast/lunch after all that and then disagreed for awhile about what to do next. Eventually, after food shopping, we went to see the Roman wall and ended up at the Museum of London. I wish we could have seen everything there, but we got there late and they closed at six. After dinner (which we made in the flat- one of the biggest reasons for renting a flat rather than staying in a hotel) we walked to Tower Bridge, across that, and then back to the other bridge, checking out things as we went. A lovely way to spend the evening, especially since we're all of a sudden experiencing the British version of a heat wave (meaning that it's around seventy in the daytime.)

Today we rose earlier, planning to go to Windsor Castle and Eton College. We were at Paddington Station by nine forty five, but after over an hour of waiting, the only two trains we could have taken both were cancelled. While we could have taken a local train if we really wanted to, it would have been more time and it was only the first of two trains we would have to take. In the end, it wasn't worth it, so we instead went to Kensington, including Kensington Gardens and Kensington Palace. I was a bit disappointed in the palace. I expected it to be more like, well, a palace on the inside, but while the structure is the same, they're hosting this "seven princesses scavenger hunt" thing inside it. The rooms themselves are actually quite beautifully outfitted, but the exhibition is a bit juvenile. It's something I would have loved when I was little, but as a twenty one year old... Not so much. Thankfully, with the pass deal we have, we got in for free , do no money was wasted (it's rather pricey.)
From there, off we went to the museum-y area of Kensington. We chose to go go the Science Museum, and while there were some interesting exhibits, it was packed, so we didn't stay there for longer than an hour or so. Lunch was sought, then it was Harrod's time! If you don't know, Harrod's is like a mall after an extreme makeover and on steroids. It's gigantic, the stores all flow into one another so that it's very hard to find your way if you're looking for something specific. We weren't, so my family got to see the many ridiculous splendors of the company.
We headed to Westminster so they could see Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and all that good stuff. At this point, it was too late to go into any of these things, but I believe we're going back before we leave for good. On the way to see Cleopatra's Needle, I happened to find the same artist that did paintings I like and got one as a present for someone at home. I was so happy to find him (he sells his paintings in the tube) because his paintings are what I really wanted to get for this person.

Our adventures are over for this evening, I believe, though we may be picking some of my things up at Queen Mary.

For those people waiting for the next advice installment, it's written, but it's stuck on my Internet-less computer right now. It will go up eventually!