This was a fairly fun day, especially toward the end. To begin, I awoke around 11:00 and just made myself a sandwich and such. After showering and the like, I was off to Bloomsbury, for my little tour of that area. It was pretty interesting and we walked for about two hours or so, we got to see the Dickens house, as well as the Bloomsbury Groups houses (including lots of people like Virginia Woolf and such). We also got to see the site and current museum of London’s first orphanage called the Foundling, for babies found around London who were apparently abandoned. We ended just north of the British Museum and the ULU (University of London Union). Anyway, after that, I returned home, and just kind of sat around and such. Then around 18:45 I set out and walked down to Hyde Park, but I unfortunately got myself quite lost, and the reason I was trying to get to Hyde, was because I went to see the final night of the BBC Proms. I ended up walking to Knightsbridge from Ladbroke Grove, so for those of you who know London, that is quite a walk. Anyway, I finally emerged onto the southern part of Hyde Park, and heard the concert going (although I was a little more than half an hour late from the beginning). As I was walking up, I met two Irish fellows who were going to the proms as well.
I talked to them for a while, and one of the chaps actually lived and worked in Chicago for a little while, so that was pretty neat to talk to him. We finally got to the park, and went to the entrance, and it was really huge and loaded with people standing around enjoying what is probably the most famous annual concert in the world. It was actually being played in five or six venues simultaneously: Albert Hall, Hyde Park, Swansea (in Wales), Manchester, Glasgow, and Belfast. It was amazing, and the very best part was at the end by far. They played Land of Hope and Glory (Pomp and Circumstance with lyrics), the Sea Chanty... I actually did a sailor’s dance for that one along with everyone else in the crowd, Jerusalem, Rule Britannia, and of course God Save the Queen, they had Bocelli singing at ours, and some other people. At the concert I talked to several people, including an old British couple, who come here every year for this, as well as a young German medical student, and another British lady who was quite spirited by the whole thing. Anyway, at the end of the night, I ended up going to Hyde Park corner, and then transferring to the Hammersmith line at Hammersmith, after I got home, I went to sleep shortly afterward.