London, Baby!

That’s right, while my friend quotes Robert Frost, all I can seem to emulate is Joey Tribiani. Sad really, and even sadder when you realize I can quote all six of them… But its true, I spent the last few days in jolly ole’ Britian – London specifically. The trip got off to a bit of a chaotic start before it even started when BI rescheduled my Corporate Responsibility final, forcing me to reschedule my Ryan Air flight. I went to change my pre-existing ticket, just from the morning flight to the evening one, and while an entirely new ticket would run me 340 NOK or 55 USD, to rebook the one I had would have cost me an additional 500 NOK or 82 USD (for a flight I originally paid 130 NOK or 21 USD- in case I haven’t said it enough- Thanks BI). So instead of getting to London at 14:00, I got there at 23:30 – just in time to find a hotel near the airport and go to sleep. But Thursday morning- very bright and very early, I got up and after finding the Stansted Express, I was on my way to town! The train had some delays (which Sally would tell me later is VERY common), so I got to town around 10 am. Following Sally’s detailed and precise directions, I found my way to the Underground (the “Tube”) and on the Circle Line, to the Tower Hill stop.

Ask anyone who has been to London, calling the city’s subway (pardon my “Yankee” phrasing) system complicated is an understatement. There are 12 (TWELVE) subway lines in London- as opposed (“a posed”) to the 5.5/6 in Oslo). First off, the stations have horrible to no ventilation- so each step you went down, it was like 1 degree warmer- so it would be freezing on the street, but by the time you got to the station’s platform (well below ground), it was really warm and sometimes you’d be forced to take off your coat! Other stops only had “lift” access – meaning no escalators, you had to wait for the elevators to go down to/and up from the tracks – I did NOT enjoy these stations! PLUS, part of London’s underground is 100 years old! Amazing to think that something built 100 years ago is still in use today! Of course, that’s the oldest of the lines (Bakerloo – connecting Baker Street and Waterloo), which is one I used quite often as Picadilly Circus and Oxford Circus stops (where all the shops are!) are both on that line.

To describe my trip to London in one word, it would have to be: educational. I know so many (useless?) trivial facts about London (I know why its called "Green Park” and that Hyde Park Corner is the busiest traffic circle in the whole world- just ask Guinness), had many pre-conceived notions corrected (Tower of London is NOT a tower, and Fergie, it should be “everytime you come around my TOWER Bridge", not “my London Bridge” as shown in your video, oh and not only do the British use pounds, but miles too!), and even picked up a few Latin words (Regina and Circus). And even though I know the importance of 10 Downing Street, it took me two days to figure out who that guy with the cell phone in the picture is! (See- so don’t deserve a good grade in GP!)!! But if I use a second world, it would have to be “ace”!

Thursday I just spent on the bus riding around the city listening to the tour guides point out everything. Then, in the evening, I went down to Oxford Street to do some shopping. Unfortunately, for me (and 300 million other Americans) the dollar is economically “un-strong”, nicely put, the Pound has never been worth as much as it is right now ($1=£2) ☹ Which is too easy of a conversion- everything is just double the price. So unfortunately, I know exactly how much I’m spending. And while Oslo IS the world’s most expensive city, London is either 2nd or 3rd. (At least by the time I visit Sean in D.C., I’ll think it’s cheap!) My shopping didn’t last long; I was exhausted. It was only 20:00 (but 21:00 in Oslo-time), but by the time I walked to the hotel, checked in, and realized I was too tired for “British-humor” television, it was 21:00 and I went straight to sleep!

Fortunately, this got me up and out of the hotel around 8:45, making me like the third person at the Tower of London on Friday. I spent 2.5 hours there, with very few other people, ONE benefit of off-season and rainy weather. I went through every building, saw the Crown Jewels to my heart’s content (did a few “moving sidewalk” laps), ducked some low-flying Ravens, and watched all the films on Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot (how did I NOT hear about him before this year? Thanks Natalie Portman.)

After which I found the sight-seeing bus again (another benefit of off-season- 2 days for the price of 1), and went to Buckingham Palace (not much to see there), then to Westminster Abbey (only tombs there), and then to St Paul’s (to see where Lady Diana got married), and Trafagar Square (which I probably saw at least a dozen times- ask me anything about Nelson- I know it!) Oh and 2 James Bonds (Connery and Dalton) live on Eaton Street (even though I think that’s wrong considering there’s an actual Bond Street.)

After another pass down Oxford Street, I jumped back on the tube and headed for Euston to meet Sally’s train from Manchester. Met up with Sally with no problems and headed back to Trafagar Square for some Pizza Express. After some catching up, it was time for sleep!

Saturday morning we got up and walked down the Thames to see the non-original (and mistakenly placed) Globe Theatre (the most famous of Shakespeare’s four theatres). On our way to the Globe, we passed the coolest farmer’s market, and even though I’m from the Seattle area, I have to say this market put Pike Place to shame! So many booths selling all sorts of goodies, Sally and I got fresh squeezed OJ for breakfast and sampled enough baked products to fill our breakfast void, and even picked up some delicious brownies for dessert. We continued on our riverside walk and came to the quickly-growing queue for the London Eye. Sally whipped out her mobile and called to “pre-order” tickets, which we just walked in, picked up and went on the Eye. The whole experience was “brilliant”! Plus, the morning clouds had burned off and it was a clear day- perfect for a ride on the world’s largest “Ferris wheel”. After that, we went to Mongolian BarbeQue for lunch, which is a stir-fry restaurant – very good and fun, an excellent choice indeed! After lunch, it was starting to get dark, so we headed towards Hyde Park to see the Princess Diana Memorial.

Our journey to the Diana Memorial was a long, tiring, and frustrating walk to say the least. We walked across Hyde Park (as I learned from my bus tour- it is the largest of the Royal Parks), trying to follow the sporadic signs. When we got to what we thought was the end of the park (Nope! Just a road cutting across the park!), we gave up and put my American Accent to use- couldn’t very well have Sally (with her knowing British accent!) ask! So I played it up- even tried to work in an “y’all”, and got directions- we were almost there- but since it was getting darker by the minute (swear it was daylight when we started out!), we decided to check another sign. Again, NOT on the map! But we found it, and it was closed or turned off, but I took pictures regardless- we’d walked almost 3 tube stops, our feet were killing us, I was going to take a picture! After the memorial, we FINALLY found maps displaying the park’s location (Another example of the British-humor I’m too tired for?)

After this, we decided to head back towards Oxford and Picadilly Circus to do some shopping. I had a “London Shopping List” – something like this- I REALLY wanted a pair of those adorable ballerina flats, a cute hat, a British-band CD, and an English-language book to read on my Budapest trip (English books in Norway, like everything else in Norway, are expensive!). Somehow we managed to kill a few hours, even went into Europe’s Largest Toy store, and I decided I should go to the First Hard Rock Café, since I’ve been going to all the other HRC’s. After which we walked back to the tube and back “home” to arrange some packing- sent some stuff home (I mean Florida-home, not home-home) with Sally since she was going on Tuesday. Yeah, I know I’ll be in Edinburgh on Tuesday, but I’m still so jealous Sally gets to go play with Keri, Ben, Nikki, Keith, Jason, Nicole… EVERYONE! this week in Florida ☹.

Sunday morning we woke up and headed to Liverpool Street station so I could catch the Stansted Express back to the airport for my flight to Glasgow. The only glitch there was that the train wasn’t running. Instead, they were running coach buses, but I only had an hour to get to the station (despite London traffic!) Made it there just in time- had to run from the bus to the desk, checked in at 11:13, and the ticket counter supposedly closed at 11:15, but I think it stayed open longer due to that whole Stansted Express train situation.

So, now I’m on my way to Glasgow…largest city in Scotland, the country’s industrial heart. I’ll be staying there for one night, and sometime Monday I’ll be making the 40-minute train journey to Edinburgh – Scotland’s capital. Just hoping I can understand the accents!