Monday 23 January -- On the edge of sunset

After something of a mad dash to the tube that included running down to Twinings, being late for my taxi, and struggling through King's Cross with four items of luggage, one of which doesn't like to balance nicely, I finally ended up lounging on an impressively long train ride to zone six. Fortunately, the fact that I'd bought a zone 1-2 daypass to get to Twinings didn't end up costing me more money; an airport employee saw my luggage and used his card to help me through the barrier. I found the trolleys (carts in american), which were free (shocking), and took a circuitous route to bypass the elevators. Once I reached icelandair's checkin, my bags turned out to be underweight enough for me to actually unload some stuff from my carryons into them, which was a pleasant surprise.
As always, my liquid baggie got tested during my journey through security, but that was it. I had to wait about half an hour for my flight to start boarding, so I felt that I had timed things rather well.

Mine!

The weather was about the same when I left as when I got to England.

Flying!

I was hoping to enjoy iceland, or at least the keflavik airport, a little more than last time, but my flight was actually on last call by the time I got there.
Eight hours is a long time to be in the air.
It was dark when we set out from iceland, but once we got above the cloudcover, we flew in the dark for about an hour before we hit sunset.
 

If you embiggen the picture (and the next one), you may be able to see that I was trying to take a picture of the icelandic coast.

Atlantic ocean and also Iceland.

It was really weird, and I couldn't sleep (although I blame the fact that WE'RE FLYING! more than the light, because I could have shut the window if I hadn't been so darn excited. I was feeling especially poetical as I watched us flying backwards through the day, from night to sunset to daylight before circling above seattle through sunset until it was night again, and dubbed it "flying on the edge of sunset".
It was also pretty, but not like sunsets are on the ground. I think because we were so high, the sunset just kind of lurked around the horizon instead of dominating the sky, but I could see all the colours concentrated in a deep pink band that sometimes fuzzed into a really pretty purple.
Customs and baggage claim was really smooth, rather smoother than getting into England (probably because I wasn't wearing fancy, foreign-looking clothes, my suitcases are as cheap as I could manage, and I'm returning to my own country instead of being a slightly disreputable-looking person trying to get into another country that has some impressive immigration issues of its own). Even though I started off on a bad foot with the passport inspector by texting in line (in my defense, I didn't see the sign and it's never been a concern before), she warmed up to me by the time I was done being inspected. All my luggage came through, and I kept all my forms in reasonably decent order, at least for my first time solo through american customs and with four bags.
It was incredibly good to actually see my family in person. I kind of did the whole England thing on my own, and it was good to be allowed to let someone else support me (emotionally, that is).

Sunday 22 January -- Mostly a pictures post

For a pretty good description of what I did Sunday, see this post that I actually wrote that night. This post that you're reading is mostly pictures.
These pictures are actually from when I got back from Bath, but that post already had like 50 pictures, so...

I think this is the Charing Cross thing, but I'm really not sure.

I certainly don't see the however many crosses there were supposed to be or whatever.

Ah! Twinings! I found it!

Ye Olde Cock Tavern. Established in 15 forty-something.

St Pauls!

Either clever or just wrong.

 Okay, now it's Sunday pictures. I saw this while making my way to St Paul's half an hour late for the service, box of Kleenex under my arm, chips on the mind.

The sunrise... It was pretty, but I still hate sunrises.

I thought this was a real bird and that it was just really windy six stories up, but no. It's kind of windy up there, but that's not a real bird.

Statues outside St Pauls.

Another shot of St Pauls. It's really pretty.

Dome.

Also, random spiky thing.

I think this is a routemaster bus.

They're the super old double decker buses that are immortalised as coin banks and pencil sharpeners around the world.

 This next section is from the Harry Potter tour that I went on with Megan and Gina after mass at Westminster.

Joke from the Arts in Christianity study tour (Megan and Gina's group): It's cigar shaped!
Because their tour guide book always said that everything was cigar shaped when telling them where to look.

This is a cool place in its own right, but it also featured in the first Harry Potter movie.

This was also in Harry Potter movies, but I really like it that the curved side has the door.

Ah! The great fire of 1666 monument! Allegedly the tallest freestanding column in at least europe at 222 feet. 

Tower Bridge from the London Bridge.

Shakespeare's brother is buried somewhere in here. It's been a site of worship since pretty much forever, but it would get burned down or rebuilt and all the graves got kind of shuffled around and the markers were lost. 

Bangers are sausages. But this is still hilarious because I am five.

The big London Dragon! I tried to take a picture of it on New Year's Eve, but the bus was moving.

I appreciate the tube escalators when I look at this picture. Otherwise, I'd have been walking all those stairs and probably falling.

This is the second attempt to get into Twinings. The light was better, so I took more pictures.

It's older than America! And I drink that tea...

And they have a crest.

That is the royal courts of justice. As it says in the picture below. But this is a magnificent building.

There we go.

After this round of pictures, we went to Moot, then to Blackfriars Tavern.

This picture, I actually took Monday morning. I was so ticked by the fact that I couldn't get to Twinings and I'd been in the same city for a week that I decided to try to get there about the same time that it opened (8:30) and back before my taxi was scheduled (9:00). Getting there was no problem, but the tube runs differently back, and I ended up waiting fifteen minutes before my line came and got out at King's Cross (and into cell reception so that I could call the taxi service, apologise, and ask for a reschedule) at 9:15. They were not amused, but the driver didn't overcharge. Which was good, since I only had one £10 note anyway.

I hadn't noticed this mosaic in the entry before.

I would do more narration, but I feel that being removed from the situation by over two weeks, my commentary is less valid. The commentary from the post I linked at the beginning is pretty good, and I stand by it. I'll do some reflecting in the post for the trip back. Which should go up soon. If not tonight, then it'll be up this weekend (homework is going to be intense in the next three days; I don't have my books yet, so I'm a bit limited in how much I can be responsible right now. It's really annoying, since I'm totally in the mood for spec and inorganic homework, and I am literally unable to do it.