My Dear and Unfortunate Successor: "It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of London."*

Today has been a very rad day.

Took the 11 train into Waterloo, walked around (like I do), passed the Benjamin Franklin house, ended up in a pub in Covent Garden.
The Lamb and Flag, which boasts having been there since the days of Charles II and being a favorite watering hole of various poets. Tried a new cider--Addlestone's--which wasn't as good as my usuals.
Had a good view of a slice of Garrick Street and people coming and going through a little alleyway right next to the pub (I was dying to find out what was through there, so I followed it after lunch) and some flats. Good place for people watching.
Followed the little alleyway to Long Acre, the Covent Garden main shopping street; not the plaza, but a shopping street with fairly trendy shops (H&M, for example). Followed it until it turned into Great Queen St., just after Drury Lane.
Followed Gt. Queen St all the way to Kingsway, which connects to places I've been before, and then I was back on the Strand, making a giant circle.
From there, down to Trafalgar Square for a little while, where I went into Waterstone's (the bookstore) intending to buy a new Moleskine because I'm almost done with my current one...and walked out with a book called London Belongs to Me by Norman Collins. I've only read the preface (about London) and the first chapter and I already adore it.
Finally made it to the Wetherspoons on Whitehall that my parents were talking about. I had time to kill before I had to meet my Understanding Britain professor/class for a Very Special Thing, so I took time to have a little Thatcher's Gold and write my journal and pour over my London A-Z.
I tried to figure out how much of London I haven't seen and it's about as much as I have! Also, Kingston and Surbiton and Berrylands are all in my London A-Z, which I didn't know.
Walked down Whitehall to Parliament Square and headed across the road to Parliament itself because....
My UB professor had gotten us a guided tour through the Houses of Parliament!
So that was completely awesome. We couldn't see as much as we normally would have, since the session just opened a couple days ago and so some places were out of bounds. But still, I walked through one of the most iconic places, if not the most iconic and important place in London and England and Britain and the former British Empire. Amazing.
The sun was still shining when we finished our tour around dinnertime. I walked back across Westminster Bridge and was deciding whether to dawdle and catch the next train or hurryscurry and try to make the 6.30. Ended up saying I'd wait till 7 and chilled on the South Bank for a little while before I realized I was hungry.
Got a hot dog and a Magners for dinner from the cart and sat on the railing.
Ended up missing the 7, which was fine with me, because it was still sunshiney and gorgeous and so I wandered down the South Bank and ended up seeing some fun people doing fun things. Got some more nice shots of the late sun over the Thames.