Part Two
Life goes on as usual at home. I hope the Christmas Shin Dig goes well in my absence. How did everyone go with the uni results? My GPA went down - but I’m not all that disappointed - 5,6,6,6.
This is just to give you some idea of what Tokyo is like:
This goes on as far as the eye can see in every direction.
And this is on EVERY street corner.
Here is part two of the adventure for anyone who didn’t get it in the email. You will note the PUNCTUATION in Laura’s writing this time.
G’day all! Thanks to all for sending us some replies to remind us of what’s happening at home. They fail to compare, but it’s nice that you try. We hope all your pre-Christmas fun and preparations are well under-way and that the weather is treating you warmly. Yay to Jiselle and Geoff who finish school this week and Lona who completes her internship.
This previous week had Simon and me staying at a cute Youth Hostel in the centre of London near the gorgeous St Paul’s Cathedral. Armed with a backpack and our increasingly well-worn camera, we pounded the pavements every day. Remnants of jetlag or something-or-other would start to set in early each evening, but we still managed to fit in about eight hours of sightseeing per day.
Simon’s aim for London is to capture on camera every one of the Monopoly addresses. Originally – and probably during – a source of boredom for me, they are obviously part of the board game for very good reason and take you all over the city to some beautiful streets and gorgeous buildings. He only has a few to go and is approaching the exercise with much dedication.
In addition to the board game thing, we’ve done the gallery thing, the Buckingham thing, the Kensington thing, parks, gardens, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, the Tower of London, Warwick Castle, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and most certainly the shopping thing. Shopping here is awesome, although when people tell you London is expensive, they are not lying. So we went to Hamleys, a toy store with seven floors, and played with everything for free. It was an amazing place, especially at this time of year. Tony, you would just die.
Everything is just stunning and old and lit-up for Christmas. I have also just seen three Royal Shakespeare Company plays in thirty-six hours (Simon piked and only saw two.) We watched an understudy performance of Hamlet in London on Friday, hightailed it out to Stratford-Upon-Avon with the Elverys to see The Two Gentlemen of Verona on Friday night, and then stood to watch Julius Caesar on Saturday night (for mine, Hamlet with its understudies was just the best.) We saw all the Shakespeare houses on Saturday (there are a total of five connected with him, albeit in a kind of sister’s-uncle’s-real estate agent’s-godson sort of way.)
Thanks again for keeping in touch. We are having the time of our lives and can’t wait to see everyone and tell you all about it (and parade all of our photos – I am putting the final estimate at two thousand.) We are off to Scotland and Wales for a week on Tuesday, so I am guessing that there may be a few picturesque sights along the way.
Lots of love, Laura and Simon.