London at a glance, Day I

(Pictures to come later..)

The roommate and I landed at about 7:30am on Thanksgiving Day at Heathrow airport. Not an enthusiastic flyer, I didn’t nod off until 20 minutes before touchdown. Needless to say, this was going to be a long day.

We waited in line for almost an hour to get through customs at which point I was chastised for having lost my printed trip itinerary. Apparently I looked like just the sort of person who would sneak into the UK and take up illegal residency. Finally, they passed me through after a good talking to and I entered the country.

Sooz and I grabbed our bags and headed for the train. It took awhile to figure out we were looking for the “underground” during which time Sooz took many pictures of the bathroom (please, don’t ask) and I grabbed some funny money from the ATM.

We really wandered around for 30 to 40 minutes looking for the entrance to the “underground.” A few hesitant moments on buying tickets and checking to see we were on the right train, and we were off! The ride itself took about an hour – an hour of squinting at the sun and checking out the locals on their commute into the city. Of note, the ladies in New York have better shoes, but as Sooz pointed out, the shoes were more practical in London.

We hit our hotel to drop off our bags and wandered up the street in search of an English breakfast. I ordered eggs on toast with bacon, forgetting the bacon is different, and Sooz ordered something that came with brown sauce. We were both intrigued by the eating experience, particularly because people could smoke in the little cafe, which added an entirely different element to half cooked pork and brown sauce.

Slightly energized with multiple cups of coffee, we ventured out into the sun and found our way to the British Museum. What can I say here? We saw half the world. The Rosetta stone was a lot smaller than I thought it would be, but still fascinating. We stumbled through display upon display and found ourselves in the Parthenon. Amazing sculptures, some half disintegrated others almost whole, peered at us from the walls gesturing wildly with broken limbs. Throughout the museum little Harry Potter-like kids ran around in cute little uniforms attracting almost as much attention as the artifacts. We knew it was time to leave when things began to fuzz together as happens after around 36 hours without sleep.

Walking back I swear the pavement slipped back and forth trying to trick my feet. Add to that the cars and busses whooshing by in the wrong direction, and it’s really a miracle we survived the walk back to the hotel. We checked in, and struggled to our little, very ghetto room and passed out for a couple of hours.

Insistent that we hit the town for the only night we’d both be in London, I encouraged us to get out of bed and we wandered out around 7pm after an interesting experience with the lukewarm showers. We found an internet cafe and got in touch with family and found our friends in the UK. A nice little pub in Coventry Gardens entertained us until closing time. Sooz then headed to bed, and I checked out the hotel bar, again, and interesting experience of chatting with cute little British boys. Around 1am, I called it a night. Next chapter? Liverpool.....