Yessirreebob, Brittany is finally back in action! It took two days for most of my nasty cold to dry up, and though I can still feel it pushing at the back of my sinuses, I actually had the energy to go out on the town! I would have been really mad if I hadn’t, because today was very nice.

To begin with, I woke up in the later morning feeling just a bit sick still. I took some cold medicine, and headed out to London with one of my friends, where we spent a good three hours perusing bookshops near Charing Cross. It was absolutely wonderful! My favorite bookstore in New York City is the Strand, particularly because of the Rare Books Room on the third floor. Well, basically every single store we went into was covered in turn of the century books, ranging from philosophy to art to poetry to fiction and everything in between. I walked away from those bookstores with about seven more books than I’d started with in the morning, which I’ll now have to deal with in my suitcase… Still, I think a 3 pound, late 1800’s/early 1900’s edition of Christopher Marlowe’s seminal works is more than worth a little back and arm ache. The smell alone is worth the price, and they look so pretty sitting on my nightstand! We were unfortunately called away when two more of my friends asked if we wanted to go to Abbey Road. Obviously, we did, so we left the beautiful, amazing bookstores, hopped on the transit system, and made it over to the very touristy and surprisingly congested crosswalk. We did not have the foresight to bring a fifth person to actually take the picture, so a couple of French tourists were nice enough to catch us walking across the crosswalk. After that, we signed the wall outside the studio and headed to the Sherlock Holmes Museum! My London Lit class is going there pretty soon, but that didn’t stop us from going into the gift shop and buying some fun souvenirs. I almost got a letter opener with the great detective as the handle, but decided against in when I realized I’d have to get a relatively knife-like object through US and British Customs. After that, we split into to pairs, my bookstore friend and I heading to a partially closed off St. James Park. (Thank you, Olympics!) We still got to go to the waterside and read some poetry in the late afternoon light, despite the barriers blocking off about half of the park, but it would’ve been nice to see the full extent of “London’s Central Park.” Finally, we headed to Leceister Square for some food and headed back to Surbiton just as it got dark.

Now, it’s late, and I need to get some sleep, even though tomorrow won’t be a particularly strenuous day. I’m very excited about my recent book acquisitions, and I plan on starting “Irish Fairy Tales” when I head to Ireland! For now, it’s bedtime for Brittany in Britain, so good all you lovely people across the Pond!