Reuters

If you're tired of reading about weekends, lean a little closer, because this is a quick update about a Monday. Two hours on a Monday, actually, when my International Communications class went to Reuters.

Yes, the news agency Reuters. The one that supplies half the pictures you see on every TV news and the text stories you read on Yahoo! (And only on Yahoo! since practically every other print company uses AP.) They have a building here in London, and one of their larger newsrooms is in it.

The building is at the currently chic Canary Wharf, which means there is no easy way to get there from Faraday House. I settled for taking the Central Line (Tube) to the DLR (Docklands Light Railway). It was my first time taking the DLR, which runs mostly above ground and cuts through some less-than-photogenic sections of East London before it stops at a shopping mall in Canary Wharf.

Apparently the mall is quite upscale. I didn't notice, though, because I spent too much time wondering how to get out of it. It was as if the designers didn't want you to stop shopping!

Eventually I found my way out to the large "courtyard" of the wharf, where a large slab of prettied-up concrete is surrounded by the lightly lapping waters of the Thames, several buildings, and a very new Tube stop -- which was unfortunately the Jubilee line and thus all but worthless for travel from Faraday House.

Figuring out which building is the Reuters building isn't hard. It's the one with a scrolling electronic news ticker ala New York City. Getting inside the building, though, is almost as hard as getting out of the mall where the DLR stops.

But I managed, after peering in the window of several restaurants on the basement floor before walking up concrete steps and entering the first floor. Darn those buildings built on hills! Once inside, the lobby is quite impressive. A nice large screen flashes news and is augmented by all sorts of wood paneling and chrome. Each member of our class got some fancy plastic credit-card style name tags which looked like they would be nice souvenirs. Sadly, we didn't end up getting to keep them.

The tour of the newsroom was pretty standard. I won't bore you with the details. They aren't nearly as interesting as the details of getting to Canary Wharf or actually getting in to the building.