Day 1 - Flight..and Fight to Stay Awake

 Hello friends!! Here we are before our flight - sic' em bears! We boarded the plane at 9am and got comfortable. Look at me in my "first-class" coach seats. A whole row to myself! I didn't even have to use my sleeping pills - I was out before we even took off, and I woke up 30 minutes before we landed. I was knocked out THE WHOLE TIME. Thankfully, the flight attendant was very attending and offered me breakfast, even though I had slept through breakfast. After a very restful 9 hours of sleep, we arrived in London at 7am, ready to start the day. 
No jet lag for me!

 This is our travel buddy, Mr. Duffy. Isn't that such a proper British name? It's especially impressive in a British accent! He is a wonderful man and very helpful. You will see him in my other pictures. He's responsible for our school placements.

This is our home for the next month - the QUAINT Warwick Lodge. Becca and I have an EXTREMELY QUAINT room (she is the girl on the right). But, it is in a great place in town and Daniel, the hotel manager, is so friendly. I like it a lot and apparently there is a great breakfast. I will blog throughly on it tomorrow!

This is Ewell Road coming into Broadway Road. We are spending the afternoon walking around the city, getting oriented. 

Oh look, my travel pass for the next month...

Our first ride on a double-decker bus....              

Lauren and Mr. Duffy are enjoying the front seats on the top. You can see everything up there!                                

 We stopped for some lunch at The Coronation Hall pub. It felt so great to have burgers and hot tea (well, a veggie burger for me, please!). It was also pretty cold outside. Doesn't that hot chocolate look delicious?? It kept Lauren awake for a few more hours, but by the end of lunch, everyone was pretty much sedated and falling asleep.

Market St.

Walked to All Saint's Church and up to the river...

...to see our first sights on the Thames River...

 

 The Clattern Bridge, which crosses the Hogsmill River, is one of the oldest bridges in Surrey and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Its medieval name was "Clateryngbrugge," thought to have been descriptive of the sound of horses crossing the bridge. The stone arches on the downstream side are the oldest parts of the bridge (in the mid-19th Century, it was only 8 feet wide).

 This is the the Coronation Stone, an ancient stone block, next to the Guildhall in Kingston upon Thames, England. Early sources claim at least seven of the old Saxon kings of England were crowned at Kingston as they stood or sat on the stone.

Guess who we saw at the Coronation Stone? 

The mayor of Kingston! Look at that necklace :)

After we walked around the city, we walked to our schools to see where we were. I'm not going to show you yet! But I WILL tell you the kids were adorable. More to come on that later in the week...

We came back to our hotel, unpacked, went to M+S (which I love! It's the best marketplace for food. I will try to sneak my camera in to show you) and bought some dinner. Came back to Warwick Lodge, where Becca and I ate in a more spacious room ie. The Warwick Suite. Now I am off to have a glorious shower and SLEEP. Love London and miss everyone back home! Tomorrow is going to be a very eventful day. Can't wait to see y'all tomorrow. G'night!