I hope this letter find all of you in good health and spirits!

The flight here was a good one, if a bit long. I was not able to sleep at all, so by the time I got to bed at the hostel, I was coming up on 27 hours straight with no sleep. I am staying at a hostel in London, right across from the Waterloo station, for those of you who know the city. I'm on the third floor, in what used to be a staff area, but is now used for short-term guests. I have the flat all to myself! My room accommodates two people, and there are two other rooms on the flat, plus many other rooms in the other area of the third floor. There was a bit of a problem getting access to the 'net, which is why I've had to wait until now to write. In the interim, Išve already began seeing the sights.

What sights, you ask? I spent most of the day looking around the Tower of London. I visited the White Tower, the first building to be built (c1120). It was originally used as residence for the royal family, but through the centuries was also often used as a prison. I was disappointed because they were doing work on all the armour. I only got a brief look at the armour worn by King Henry the VIII and his horse. They did have an impressive layout of weapons, most of them from the 17th century, I'd guess. After this, I viewed the Crown Jewels. It was a bit strange, because while I knew that all the stones were real, some of them looked worse than much of the costume jewellery I see all over the place. I figure that was because of the settings. After the crown jewels, I saw an exhibit of how the crown jewels were made, and the progression of crowns that have been used. The tradition is that any time an old crown is no longer sturdy, or when the royalty wants a new crown, all the jewels are removed from the old and used in the new (so long as they weren't borrowed jewels). The exhibit showed many of the old crowns, minus their jewels. Then on to an exhibit of Russian arms and armour, on loan from the Kremlin in Moscow. It's only going to be here for three months, so I guess I picked the right time to be here. After that, I decided to eat and go back to the hostel so I could change. I ended up sleeping for an hour or so...I'm still not quite adjusted to the time change.

I've just finished watching a World Cup futbol (Soccer) match between the English and the Austrians. The English lost, 2 - 1. The TV is in the lounge, so this was a good way to meet people here. So far everyone has been very nice, and quite helpful. I am enjoying myself, and have had no real problems so far.

That's it for now, folks! I'm off to bed. I can't say how much I'll be writing, or how often. While I'm staying here (until Friday), I should be able to write at least a little every day. After that, we'll see.

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