We departed from our city on what had to the be the hottest day of spring. As the plane went up in the air, I felt myself slowly disconnect from my town and started to mentally prepare for 8 days of adventure and beauty. After a connecting flight in Minneapolis, our 9 hour aerial journey began to the United Kingdom. I took a window seat and stared in amazement at the glorious world beneath. The clouds went from thin to thick the higher the plane rose. The sky changed from daylight to dusk. A picturesque view slowly transitioned in my window to a stormy patch of gray and black. As the lightning struck several times in the dark skies, seemingly a Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur shaped cloud appeared to stalk our flight. As I worked to try to take photos of this wonder, I was side tracked by the developments of the storm. Turbulence did not bother me as I was so focused on capturing this storm. When I realized it was far too much to capture on my point and shoot, I put my camera away and just engraved the storm in my mind's memory.
The plane flew over the Labrador Sea and emerged over some islands. The first thing I noticed as we entered European airspace was all of the green land. In America, I hardly see any green land. Well, at least not in my city. The rolling green lands were perfectly aligned in a grid along channels of water. It was beautiful and I knew I would be in for a treat once we were on land.
Upon exiting our plane we were immediately greeted kindly by the British Border Patrol. They kindly asked our reason for travel to the UK and stamped our passport book. Once inside the terminals, people were very helpful to us and not mean as most Americans are. I felt immediately welcomed as folks greeted us with "Hello!" and departed our conversations with "Cheers" or "Cheerio".
When we arrived to our hostel and showered, I couldn't help but notice how HOT the water was. It was scalding hot with warning labels everywhere. The downside to the faucets were that they were those tap faucets. So there was no in between single faucet with both temperatures. It was dual faucets with 2 different temperatures and I'm sorry but cold water doesn't always get soap off. I also noticed a prevalent moldy and mildew smell in most bathrooms. There were no central AC systems in our hostel so our bedroom window constantly stayed open to keep air circulating. In London, UK, it was also an urgency for going green. Everything was virtually touch-less so there were no paper towels hardly anywhere. You had to use an air dryer or shake your hands dry. Also, men can pee outside in these public but open stalls. There were also spots where women and men could pee for 50 pence. Ha!
As we had our first meal in Gloucester Arms, I had my first share in the UK dining experience. Most restaurants were pubs that you had to go to the bar and order your meals and essentially serve yourself so therefore tipping was not customary. We met a gentleman from Scotland who told us to never shake hands with a Brit and recommended a lot of different dishes to us. He was a bit weird but intriguing. The food was brought out by the FIFO method and not everything in and everything out like in America. I could go on and on about how many things were different such as the thimble sized cups of ketchup to the heavy specification of tap water versus mineral water. A prevalent common factor I saw amongst meals were that the veggies were almost always charbroiled. I love charbroiled meat and veggies so my taste buds were delighted except when I saw the charbroiled sun ripened tomatoes that looked like little turds on my bun for my veggie burger.
Children were very well mannered in London. I hardly saw any as well. I don't know if it was just the part of town we stayed in or if they were in hiding but the ones I saw were not running all over cursing their parents and wreaking havoc in public. The tube had very well mannered signage. The signage in London keeps a lot of organization in a busy public transportation world. Folks immediately get on the escalator and stand to the right so that people can pass them that's in a rush on the left. "Mind The Gap" will always be stuck in my head as I heard it every single time I boarded the tube. The conductors were very courteous in letting passengers know that the train was having service issues or failure instead of leaving folks hanging and wondering. I felt so comfortable with the transport system that when my ankle was giving out and I had to return to the hostel early, I easily found my way back. And for folks who know me, that is major. I get lost in my own city and here I am in a foreign city navigating like a pro. I did so well, I even helped a Brazilian young lady get to the Royal Albert Hall for a promo event she was doing. I could so easily see myself ditching my car and living in London. I would say that during heavy rush hour periods at the train station, it's hard to navigate through crowds if you are not alone. That was madness!
We saw a lot of places while in London. Here are some of the places:
London Eye
Tate Modern Art Museum
Tower Of London
Ice Bar
Houses Of Parliament
Big Ben
London Aquarium
Camden
Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Memorial
Buckingham Palace
To Be Continued...
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