quick post from Joel

I have 14 minutes left at the internet cafe after planning one of the more confusing portions of our trip. Getting to Dover, then taking the Ferry, and then reserving Eurail trains is an intricate and frustratingly convoluted process that is almost complete.

London has been very fun, albeit a little crazy at times. The hostel we are staying in is quite putrid, and the triple stack bunkbeds make for a hot and smelly sleeping experience. So the nights are troublesome, but the days are lovely. The weather is suprisingly non-Londonesque, with little fog and a lot of sunshine. Tom and I spent a couple hours this afternoon in Hyde Park eating lunch and enjoying the gorgeous scenery. We saw St. Pauls Cathedral, The Old Bailey, the Tower Bridge and Tower of London, and Westminster Abbey today.

I think Tom wrote about some other elements of our visit, so I'll focus on Westminster for five minutes. We attended a Sunday service there on accident almost, because we were unable to take the scheduled tours (which we are attending tomorrow). The service was religious and somewhat secular at the same time. The various rites of a standard Anglican service were practiced, but the sermon from the Canon of Westminster was particularly useful for a wider audience. His assertion that recognizing our enemies as fellow objects of God's love was his way of suggesting tolerance on a much larger scale. An athiest, agnostic, hindu, muslim, or perhaps scientologist could have related to the Canon's message.

Well, much more later, I have to go. 1 minute left on the internet!

-Joel