Landed in London

Hello everybody! Wish I had a cooler greeting, but here everybody says hello....So, hello.
Things are good....Landed at Gatwick Airport at about 6:54ish this dark and cold morning. When we got off the plane it was dark, when we left the airport it was light, cloudy, and chilly. I can't explain the feeling of arriving in a new place, its like being born on another planet, like giving birth to something strange yet beautiful, like.....okay I'll stop.
We also met our new friend, Steve, as we were waiting for our first train from the airport to downtown London- the Victoria station. The airport we landed at is about 1/2 hour south of London, so we had to take the train. As we got we started talking, he's pretty cool, traveling by himself/his first to Europe/and he's 21. So when we got to London we all grabbed some coffee, used wifi and decided to stay at the same hostel he was staying at which turned out to be awesome- closer and cheaper than the one we were going to stay at. It's all of ours first hostel experience, so we'll see how it turns out, but I expect it to be a good one, everything is clean and people are friendly.
So, after dropping off all our stuff at the hostel at about 10 am, we took off to explore London! Walked what seemed like a lot (maybe because we have been sitting for like 12 hours straight), but saw some amazing things- like the Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guards, double decker buses, 5 Starbucks (none of which we walked into), the Ritz hotel, Green Park (so cute), St. James Church (awesome local church), The Cambridge Pub (AMAZING fish-n-chips and fried Brie), the British Museum (a FREE museum with Europe's art and history including two pieces by Michealangelo and Pablo Picasso) .....it may not seem like alot but the streets are sooo packed with places, people, cars driving on the opposite side the road that drive a little more dangerously than mellow Northwesters.
So far the coffee has been great, had a couple coffees today and can't complain. Oh and there are sooo many pubs, oriental medicine, and ethnic food places almost everywhere. So yep.
I'm still wide awake right now which comes to me as a shock. It's about 5:38pm here and hopefully going to bed by 7 tonight...tomorrow is another big day and it might be our last day in London, so we're going to live it up!
Love and miss everybody home....and thank you for the challenges, we are actively pursuing them and hope to get them all done.
PICTURE OF THE DAY:

Me, Steve, and Casey in front of Buckingham Palace