The American is Coming! The American is Coming!

Walters has landed. I repeat Walters has landed.

I have made it to London and am starting to settle into this month long adventure of mine. Part of me just can't believe that I am here and this is happening and I get to live and breath London for the next four weeks.

(Cue God Save the Queen instrumental music into background)

I got into town late Saturday night and made my way to my new home. It is so incredibly easy to travel around London with the Tube and the maps everywhere. I have to admit, it is a bit refreshing to be working in a country this summer that speaks English. Don't get me wrong, I love heading into a land where I don't always understand what is going on around me (it's a great challenge), but for the past four years, I've been navigating other languages. One of the reasons I wanted to come to London was so that I would be immersed in my native tongue for once.

I'm living in the Kensington/Chelsea Borough and it is absolutely gorgeous. It contains many of the most expensive zip codes in Europe and you can easily tell by the housing, the cars and the well dressed men and women walking the streets.

I have a small, studio apartment that was fully furnished, minus having a stock of toilet paper (thank goodness for my jungle survival skills), but its in a great part of town, with a garden across the street and a tube station less than 10 minutes away.

My first few days in town were filled with jetlag and so I took all the hours I could to explore. I ended up walking all the way to Buckingham Palace in time to see the famous Changing of the Guard. It started at about 11am and ended around noon. So a long time----there's so much hoopla and tradition. I remember watching the guards one of the other times I was in London, but I don't remember it taking so long and I definitely don't remember there being so many people. The Crown really brings the crowds. I was however, able to weasel my way to the front of the gate (sometimes being short has its advantages) and got a great view of the Guards and the band exiting.

I can already tell that this is going to be a fantastic summer. Lucky me!