WPSD London/Oak Lodge Experience: London, UK

On Friday, June 6 we all left the WPSD campus at 2:30 pm and headed to the Pittsburgh International Airport for our departure for London, United Kingdom via Detroit, Michigan. We departed Pittsburgh with out a hitch and waited for our connecting flight to London. The students explored the new terminal of Detroit's airport since they had two hours to wait until boarding the flight for London. Once on the plane to London, everyone tried to sleep. After 7 hours of flying, the plane touched down at London's Heathrow Airport at 11:40 am local time (6:40 am Eastern time).

Juniors before departing for London

After getting through passport control an picking up our bags, we were greeted by Ms. Diana Upcraft-Goldbourne, the assistant headmaster of Oak Lodge School for Deaf Children. We quickly boarded the OLSD supplied van and headed to our hotel. After fighting traffic for about an hour we arrived at our hotel, checked in, freshened up and hopped on a train to the Waterloo Station in central London.

Looking at the Eye...

Almost on!

Friends at the Piccadilly Circus

After getting off the train downtown, we headed to the London Eye! The line was long but the students quickly boarded the Eye and took in the sights of London through the air. Once the ride was completed, we walked along the south bank of the River Thames and watched some of the street performers. We then went across the 'Wobbling' bridge to the north bank of the River Thames to area near Charing Cross Station and went to eat at a stone-fired pizza restaurant. We enjoyed our first 'real' meal since lunch at WPSD.

Once we finished eating, we walked through the streets of London and visited the Covent Garden Shopping area, Piccadilly Circus, China Town and Trafalgar Square (Nelson's Column). Everyone agreed that it was time to get back to the hotel when we realized that it was 10 pm! Sunday, we will be going to Brighton on the English Channel.