London was:
(a) very very rainy. I finally gave in and bought an umbrella (my raincoat fell off my chair when I was packing and hid, so it didn't end up in my backpack. good work raincoat. but it wasn't too bad. It just rained A LOT. but that's London for you.
(b) lots and lots and lots of walking. So the US dollar isn't doing so hot. Which meant 2 dollars to every pound. And the tube was pretty expensive. So we walked everywhere. Cheaper, took a little longer, but we got to see the city. It was pretty neat. Also, pedestrians and cars are crazy. I almost got hit on several occaisions.
(c) lots of free museums/famous London locations: Tate Britain, National Gallery, British Museum, Platform 9 and 3/4 (so we like Harry Potter), Hyde Park, Green Park, St. Jame's Park, Picadilly Circus, The Mall, The Science Museum (which was sooo confusing. The layout was weird), Harod's (apparently the most famous department store in London. I'd never heard of it before. It was pretty crazy though), Trafalgar Square, Soho, Walking past where lots of Broadway shows were (Hairspray, Chicago, Cabaret, Les Miserables, etc.), Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Buckingham Palace...(d) The changing of the guards, which didn't happen the first day. So we had to go back. It was a little ridiculous. Their outfits, and just the whole ceremony. It's pretty much just for tourists.
(e) Carleton Students on the London Program. So the three girls I went to London with knew a girl on the London Program, so we hung out a bit with her, which was a lot of fun. We also saw some other random Carleton students, because they're all staying in this one hostel. Even though I didn't really know any of them, it was kind of refreshing to see other Carleton students who weren't the same 22 others with me in Paris.(f) Quality time with Becky, Monica and Rachel, who I knew before going to London, but now know much better. I'm really glad I discovered they were going to London, and I didn't have to go on my vacation alone.
(g) Vantage Point. So, this is an American movie, and while we waited 20 minutes before we could check into our hostel, we saw the first 20 minutes. And then the next day, went back and finished it, because it was pretty intriguing. Except tiresome--you have to watch the same incident way too many times. But it was good.
(h) The Astor Museum Hostel. It was pretty nice. I'd never stayed in a hostel before. I was in a 10 bed room, but didn't spend any time there...most of the time I was upstairs in the 6 bed room the rest of our group stayed. Well, that is when we weren't out in the streets of London.
(i) Aussie, aka roommate number 1. So in the 6 person room, it was a lot more friendly/open to meeting people. So we talked to this Australian, though we never got his name. He'd just spent 2 months in the US-New York, and skiing. He was pretty nice, and had an accent which made him much cooler. But he just stayed for a night.
(j) Liverpool, aka David. This was the second roommate. We hung out a bit more with him--went to a pub one night. He was friendly, and there from Liverpool for some interviews. He had a portfolio for graphic design, but also worked as a chef. He was there for 2 nights, before being relocated within the hostel.
(k) Then there was Spain aka the 34 year old who was traveling after a difficult break up, apparently. She mostly kept to herself, though we may have passed her in the street once, which was strange. The last night was Russian and 8 (?) year old son. That was weird, because you were supposed to be between 18 and 35 to stay at the hostel. Oh well.
(l) Turns out it was Ben and Jerry's 30th birthday. It also turns out that there are 2 Ben and Jerry's very close to eachother near Leicester Square. You can guess what awesomeness ensued.
(m) Accents. Though there were not enough. There were tons of tourists, and not enough english people talking loud enough for me to just listen. Rubbish.
(n) English. Wow. It was both refreshing and unnerving to be where there was no language barrier. Refreshing for probably obvious reasons. Unnerving because I wasn't used to it-I would still say "pardon" instead of "sorry" when I bumped into someone. And I would still formulate questions in my head in French. Plus, every now and then British accents are hard to understand. Take the time Liverpool asked if we were here on holiday, and Monica thought he asked how old we were.
(o) Also, the first night we went to this restaurant, which turned out to be American--we all got burgers. I haven't had a burger in ages, but I was super hungry, and it tasted fantastic.
(p) We ate in a pub one night (picture above), and of course got beer. Because it seemed like something we needed to do in London.(q) the most complete breakfasts in a while. They had breakfast at the hostel, which was great. Less food we had to buy. (We mostly ate the food we bought at Monoprix before leaving paris, so we wouldn't have to buy expensive London food. Stupid dollar and it's weakness). And normally I just have toast and tea in Paris. But this was cereal and toast and coffee. It was pretty exciting.
(r) Funny signs. British English. For example, on some curbs where there were signs for no somethingorother between certain times, it would be 8am-M'night. Or exits=Ways Out. Also, curb=kerb. Who would have guessed?
(s) Being able to buy alcohol legally. Yes, it's legal in Paris, but I haven't really taking advantage of that, though I'm enjoying drinking wine with my host family at dinner. However, one night we bought dinner at a grocery store, and bought a bottle of white wine (which turned out to be the right kind of wine to drink with the pasta we had for dinner. Good for us. Because we didn't know anything about wine.) It was kind of funny that the wine came from Modesto, California. So much for cultural experiences.
(t) Museum Gift shops. are the best. Though in the Queen's Gallery (was that what it was? It was in the side of Buckinham Palace) gift shop you couldn't take pictures. Ooops. We found out after taking one.
(u) Oh, touristy places I forgot: The parliament building, Westminster Abbey (picture below), The little church right next to it (I forget what it was called, but we ate lunch outside under its shelter, and cold actually go inside without paying), Big Ben (but only from afar, like the London Eye).
(v) Did I mention it rained? All the time? I wouldn't really want to live in London. It is pretty cool, and I do love rain. But I also love sunshine.(w) Did I mention we walked a lot? A LOT. My cellphone pedometer, which could be wrong, says that on our two full days we walked 16 and 20 miles. Which I believe.
(x) An odd lack of rubbish bins/trash cans in the train station. it made no sense.
(y) A two hour train ride, a one hour difference from Paris, and the chunnel.
(z) Probably more, but good times had by all.
(at Trafalgar Square)
No comments:
Post a Comment