Wimbledon!!!

Most epic failure ever=oversleeping for Wimbledon

Yes, I overslept this morning. How could I possibly oversleep on the day I was planning on going to Wimbledon? Apparently I was more tired than I thought because I slept through several alarms that I had set on my phone and an alarm clock. So instead of going to Wimbledon in the morning, I decided to do a little sightseeing around our hotel. I took a walk through Kensington Gardens and saw Kensington Palace, the former residence of Princess Diana. I guided an Italian family to the Science Museum even though I had never been there. I then walked to Harrods and took a few pictures of it only because it is referenced in Evita. I continued my stroll and came upon the Victoria & Albert Museum (Sarah, you will be shocked to hear that there is a Grace Kelly exhibit there right now) and then walked over to the Science Museum. Of course I couldn’t pass up the Science Museum so I went inside and saw Foucault’s Pendulum and some other nice stuff. They had rather large models of many very famous ships, but for some unfathomable reason the Titanic was missing. I headed back to the hotel after that and met up with Jason and went to Wimbledon for the afternoon. The queuing experience was okay. I can’t say it was fun because we did have to stand in line for almost three hours, but I found out that they have something called a bacon roll here. It’s not as exciting as it sounds because it’s not real bacon, but rather it is Canadian bacon. Very disappointing. After queuing for three hours we finally got onto the grounds of the All England Lawn Tennis Club! Once we were in there I could not stop smiling. It was absolutely amazing, but very different from what I expected based on what I have seen on TV. We poked around courts 5-19 for awhile and then headed up to Henman Hill to watch Rafa on the big screen. I was rather annoyed by the three people I saw sleeping on the grass. Who sleeps at Wimbledon??? More importantly, who sleeps at Wimbledon when Rafa is playing??? Why would you buy a grounds pass for somewhere between £14-£20 and then sleep when there are literally thousands of people waiting in the queue to get inside and actually watch tennis? They were also taking up precious space and I really disliked them. On a more positive note, I was also within ten feet of Flavia Pennetta, Bob Bryan, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lindsay Davenport at various times throughout the afternoon. It was an amazing experience (but would have been much better if you were there, Nick! I’m thinking it might be a good graduation present for us next year). I concluded my Wimbledon experience (hopefully the first of many) by spending far too much money in the Wimbledon Shop (yes that means presents for some of you).

I have found that it is very easy to navigate my way around London (I’m sure Nick and Sarah would have a hard time though). I can’t say that I love the Tube, but it is far better than any subway system I have been on at home. It also seems like it is much more logically structured (and it is most definitely cleaner), but I might just feel that way because I am pretty sure that I have already spent more time on the Tube then on every other subway I have ever taken in the US combined. Tomorrow morning we head to Cambridge. I cannot wait to see where I will be living…I’m really hoping for a room with a view of the river. I also can’t wait to take a picture at Platform 9 ¾ :-)

Cheers!
Nicole