Saturday, August 2, 2008

Made it to London




The flight wasn't too aweful. I did end up eating some chicken curry, yum. It was basically impossible to get confortable enough to sleep for an extended period of time and I am paying for it today.

Today we arrived at the airport, got our bags, and took the Tube to central London (picadilly circus stop). Yes, I am over simplifying. We stood around like stupid American tourists for about 30 minutes before we could find the hostel. It took me a while to even realize where street signs were posted. The hostel...um...leaves much to be desired. We are sharing a room with 4 other people who's stuff was all over the room. It will do the job though. After we got situated, we went out to find some lunch at a pub. This was NOT an easy task.

The first place we stumbled into wasn't even an English pub, it was Dutch. wtf. We'll be in Amsterdam in a few days so we left to find something else. We couldn't. We ended up in china town and then some area that was like a million jewlery stores. We looked in the guiedbook for a pub, but the only one that sounds good required a Tube ride. We took the challenge, but yeah, couldn't find the place. We headed back toward our hostel's neighborhood and decided to get off at a random stop on the way back, Covent Garden. It was a good choice because there were pubs all over the place. We went into the White Lion, got a pint of local brew and some fish and chips. Yum.

After that we hopped on a bus tour that took us all over the place. The tickets are good for 24 hours so tomorrow we are going to stop at Westminster Abby and the Tower of London. We are doing a walking tour in the morning that includes watching the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. I'm actually really excited about it.

I'm blown away by this city. So much history and culture. One downside is that there are people EVERYWHERE. Oh, and people aren't kidding when they say London is expensive. A one day Tube pass is £7 ($14) One beer and fish and chips was about £10 ($20), and the bus tour was £22 ($44)!!! And we haven't had dinner yet. We are going to find something English for dinner. Hopefully it won't be too hard with all of the Indian and Asian restaurants around here, not kidding... We are probably heading to bed somewhat early since we're both wiped. We also have to be checked out by 10am, and the walking tour starts at 10:30. We're leaving for Amsterdam tomorrow night after another big day in London.

I'll try and post again before I head to Amsterdam, but if not I'll talk to you from The Netherlands!!!

Kevin

1 comment:

Unknown said...

All the beautiful sites in London and you post a picture with a pile of garbage...? Really?