6 Days to go!

Wow, time flies! It seems like just last week I was beginning my countdown from 105 days, and now I'm leaving in less than a week.

It's going to be a busy week for me between now and when my flight leaves at 7ish on Friday - besides packing, I have to a bunch of shopping for necessities to get me through my trip (I've heard from friends that the European peanut butter technology is sadly lacking, so I'll be bringing a jar with me!), I'll be working during all my free time to earn enough money to pay rent in May AND have some fun in London (and by fun, I mean museums), I have to tentatively figure out what I want to do when I'm in London, and I have to get my final reaseach plans together before leaving so that I can jump right into things.

As it stands, I know I want to see the Tower of London as soon as possible when I get there - it's the only thing I remember from the trip I took to England when I was 6 and since I'm a huge Tudor-history buff, I'm dying to take the dying tour (ie. this person was imprisoned here for years, or this is where this broad lost her head) and to see the crown jewles. Other places I'm going to make every effort to see is the musuem on Wellington's London home about his life, the museum of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and an exhibit on Henry VIII by Peter Stratchy at the British Library (but I'll do that during a lunch hour some day during the week). I can only hope that I luck out weather wise while I'm there and the rain holds off so I can see a lot without getting wet daily.

Research wise, I'm starting at the National Archives to see the d'Este family papers, but will probably spend the majority of my time at the British Library which houses the India Office Collection. I have 10 archive days (maybe a few more if I need to sacrifice tourist days) to collect impressions of the Empire - it's not like I have 100 years and thousands of people to consider. Oh, wait...... Don't worry, I'll be fine. (I hope.)

The plans keep forming in my mind, but I'm going to have to stop getting so excited - it's decidedly cutting into my sleep patterns!