I never knew the British could be so funktacular.

Wynnie and I had our official "dorky tourist day" yesterday; we started out with the changing of the guard. That was all well and good - we got spots up close to the fence, we could see everything, la di dah. We were waiting for the actual changing to occur when the new guard's band set up and proceeded to start playing songs. A LOT of songs. One of those songs was, I shit you not, a medley of Tina Turner's best. The thought process went kind of along these lines:

"Is that ... 'What's Love Got to Do With It'?! What the hell? Is she HERE? Is one of her relatives here?? Maybe Ike is here and they're doing it to spite him! Maybe the British have a deep and lasting love for 'Proud Mary,' I don't know. This is weird. It's hot out. Why are they playing these songs when it's hot and I'm getting burned and uugghhh. Tina Turner. Welcome to the British Empire."

So that was a fantastical beginning to the day. We then made our way over to the Tower of London to dork it up some more, where we had a really entertaining tour guide and a more or less excellent time. This tour, I have to say, beat the one of October 1997 when I was kind of maybe paying more attention to the whereabouts of a boy in our orchestra than the actual historical information they were spewing. Whatever. It was a lovely day (and it seems like the last sunny day here for a while, so it was good timing on our part!), and we ended it by pretty much ransacking the Twinings tea store. Gooooood times.

After that I got my hair cut (it's real short. Probably as short as it was when I went to Germany in 2003, maybe a little more) and then met Liz and Wynnie for one last round of Spanish food and drinks. It was bittersweet, because we're all heading off to different areas starting later tonight (Liz is flying to Scotland, lucky), but I'm glad I got to hang out with two of my favorites from the program one last time.

Now, of course, I'm totally procrastinating with all the packing I have to do. Packing is teh suck. However, the next time I post something I'll be on the other side of the Atlantic, at home. That's both weird and exciting - it'll be so good to see everyone, but I do love it here. Had I more money and people I actually know over here, I'd probably stay. Then again, I have yet to experience any real dramatic weather over here, so I think it's just as good that I'm heading home for thunderstorm season. :)