The Long and Winding Road Home - Part III - London
Spider Web Window at Waterloo Station in London
After a dreamy few days in Paris, our arrival in London landed like a dull, gray thud. The famously dreary London weather, coupled with the correspondingly foul disposition of the residents had us a bit taken aback. The fond illusions of dreamy, effortless conversations in our native tongue turned to nightmares of confusion and disillusionment as one person after another was dismissive, unfriendly or downright rude. Fortunately, that evening we had scheduled to meet with one of my good friends from San Francisco, Victoria.
Victoria and Daughter Zoe (Guest Appearance by Hello Kitty)
Victoria has lived in London for a couple of years now, and seems to have been experiencing the British version of Transglobal Permutation. Victoria and I howled with laughter and grimaced in pain as we recounted our experiences abroad to one another. It was so nice to know that I was not the only one who had undergone extreme culture shock on my foray into a foreign culture. But it seems like after a rocky start, Victoria is easing into the British way of life now, as I finally did in Spain. She was also kind enough to introduce us to the King William IV pub in Hampstead, a nice laid-back alternative to the more frenetic SoHo bars we would see later in the trip.
The next day - New Year's Eve - we set out on a hike of the most popular sites in London. Our first stop - The London Eye - was unfortunately sold out. Built in 1999, it is currently the largest Ferris wheel in the world. So large, in fact, that they call it an "observation wheel." Each car is actually a mini observation deck that holds up to 25 people. They call them "capsules," which is just weird, but then I guess they kinda look like a Valium or something... or you might need one once they hoist your ass up into the danged thing. The wheel is nearly 443 feet (135 meters) high at its highest point, so must take a bit of nerve, but then, we wouldn't know, because we didn't get to go on it... waaaahhhh!
The London Eye
Then we made our way toward the bridge to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. I caught a nice shot of the old chap in the distance.
Big Ben
We continued over the bridge towards Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. (This is not the London Bridge of children's song fame, but some other ordinary and less important bridge named Westminster Bridge. BTW, the true London Bridge isn't even in London anymore, according to some guy I overheard on the London tube one day. He said that it was bought by some rich guy in the U.S., and is now in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. So, see what being a famous bridge gets you?! A spot in Arizona, great! Geez, sorry about that, guess I had some pent up feelings about the London Bridge deception conspiracy. But I digress...
So, we walked and walked, past Westminster Abbey - interesting - but I was already experiencing Amazing Historical Monument Fatigue, so really nothing impressed me anymore. But then, we walked through a park that was so sparse and gray amidst the already gray backdrop that I thought that I might just die of depression. But, no, I lived, only to see the famed Buckingham Palace, where her majesty The Queen lives. You know what? That was the most boring, uninspired lump of stone I've seen in a long time. The perfect way to top it off. NOT that we can really complain about uninspired lumps of stone here in the U.S., we have plenty of them, but I guess I just expected a little something more. At least the guards were mildly entertaining.
Buckingham What?
The Famously Stoic Guard
As night fell, we pressed on to Piccadilly Circus and then Oxford Street for a little low budget shopping before heading back to the hotel to freshen up for The Big Night, New Year’s Eve.
After a little disco nap at the hostel, we hopped the underground back to SoHo to go out for the evening’s festivities. The streets were hopping, and it definitely felt like something was HAPPENING in downtown London that night. We settled on a laid back gentlemen’s pub to relax for a while before the turn of the New Year. After an hour or so hanging out, socializing, taking in the crowd, we decided to go out into the street for the midnight celebration. We skipped the big fireworks by Big Ben, but I caught this mini fireworks display when we wandered towards the masses at Piccadilly Circus.
Piccadilly Circus - Freaks and Fireworks
It was chaos, as is often the case on big holidays like that. Fun chaos for me, but Paul was not so entertained. We then went to a disco called Bar Code, which had great music, a cool crowd and generally good vibe, but after about an hour of bopping to the beat and watching the crowd's antics, we made a move toward home. After Paul burst out in a 20-minute tirade about how much he hates big holidays and the crowds and the stupidity, we actually encountered one of the exemplary reasons that it may often be better to just stay home: there were so many people trying to leave at the same time that they were closing all of the tube stations. We ended up walking and walking in circles until we FINALLY found one that was letting people descend to catch the trains, and we got home soon thereafter.
On New Year's Day, we took it easy and the only highlight was probably spending $50 for hamburgers, fries and shakes after visiting the Hampstead Heath. OK, the food was good, but it was way too pricey for what we got. Just par for the course in London, which is expensive by anyone’s standards, but outrageously so for Americans, as the British Pound is the 800-pound gorilla of currencies and completely overpowers the meek little dollar.
The next day we parted ways. Paul returned to San Francisco and I was off to Minnesota to see my sister and her family. On my train to the airport, I saw the ubiquitous Mind the Gap slogan on one of the platforms, and I finally understood all those t-shirts, hats and other paraphernalia I'd seen over the years. Oh, THE GAP, hehe.
Safety on the Subway Platform
After a dreamy few days in Paris, our arrival in London landed like a dull, gray thud. The famously dreary London weather, coupled with the correspondingly foul disposition of the residents had us a bit taken aback. The fond illusions of dreamy, effortless conversations in our native tongue turned to nightmares of confusion and disillusionment as one person after another was dismissive, unfriendly or downright rude. Fortunately, that evening we had scheduled to meet with one of my good friends from San Francisco, Victoria.
Victoria has lived in London for a couple of years now, and seems to have been experiencing the British version of Transglobal Permutation. Victoria and I howled with laughter and grimaced in pain as we recounted our experiences abroad to one another. It was so nice to know that I was not the only one who had undergone extreme culture shock on my foray into a foreign culture. But it seems like after a rocky start, Victoria is easing into the British way of life now, as I finally did in Spain. She was also kind enough to introduce us to the King William IV pub in Hampstead, a nice laid-back alternative to the more frenetic SoHo bars we would see later in the trip.
The next day - New Year's Eve - we set out on a hike of the most popular sites in London. Our first stop - The London Eye - was unfortunately sold out. Built in 1999, it is currently the largest Ferris wheel in the world. So large, in fact, that they call it an "observation wheel." Each car is actually a mini observation deck that holds up to 25 people. They call them "capsules," which is just weird, but then I guess they kinda look like a Valium or something... or you might need one once they hoist your ass up into the danged thing. The wheel is nearly 443 feet (135 meters) high at its highest point, so must take a bit of nerve, but then, we wouldn't know, because we didn't get to go on it... waaaahhhh!
Then we made our way toward the bridge to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. I caught a nice shot of the old chap in the distance.
We continued over the bridge towards Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. (This is not the London Bridge of children's song fame, but some other ordinary and less important bridge named Westminster Bridge. BTW, the true London Bridge isn't even in London anymore, according to some guy I overheard on the London tube one day. He said that it was bought by some rich guy in the U.S., and is now in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. So, see what being a famous bridge gets you?! A spot in Arizona, great! Geez, sorry about that, guess I had some pent up feelings about the London Bridge deception conspiracy. But I digress...
So, we walked and walked, past Westminster Abbey - interesting - but I was already experiencing Amazing Historical Monument Fatigue, so really nothing impressed me anymore. But then, we walked through a park that was so sparse and gray amidst the already gray backdrop that I thought that I might just die of depression. But, no, I lived, only to see the famed Buckingham Palace, where her majesty The Queen lives. You know what? That was the most boring, uninspired lump of stone I've seen in a long time. The perfect way to top it off. NOT that we can really complain about uninspired lumps of stone here in the U.S., we have plenty of them, but I guess I just expected a little something more. At least the guards were mildly entertaining.
As night fell, we pressed on to Piccadilly Circus and then Oxford Street for a little low budget shopping before heading back to the hotel to freshen up for The Big Night, New Year’s Eve.
After a little disco nap at the hostel, we hopped the underground back to SoHo to go out for the evening’s festivities. The streets were hopping, and it definitely felt like something was HAPPENING in downtown London that night. We settled on a laid back gentlemen’s pub to relax for a while before the turn of the New Year. After an hour or so hanging out, socializing, taking in the crowd, we decided to go out into the street for the midnight celebration. We skipped the big fireworks by Big Ben, but I caught this mini fireworks display when we wandered towards the masses at Piccadilly Circus.
It was chaos, as is often the case on big holidays like that. Fun chaos for me, but Paul was not so entertained. We then went to a disco called Bar Code, which had great music, a cool crowd and generally good vibe, but after about an hour of bopping to the beat and watching the crowd's antics, we made a move toward home. After Paul burst out in a 20-minute tirade about how much he hates big holidays and the crowds and the stupidity, we actually encountered one of the exemplary reasons that it may often be better to just stay home: there were so many people trying to leave at the same time that they were closing all of the tube stations. We ended up walking and walking in circles until we FINALLY found one that was letting people descend to catch the trains, and we got home soon thereafter.
On New Year's Day, we took it easy and the only highlight was probably spending $50 for hamburgers, fries and shakes after visiting the Hampstead Heath. OK, the food was good, but it was way too pricey for what we got. Just par for the course in London, which is expensive by anyone’s standards, but outrageously so for Americans, as the British Pound is the 800-pound gorilla of currencies and completely overpowers the meek little dollar.
The next day we parted ways. Paul returned to San Francisco and I was off to Minnesota to see my sister and her family. On my train to the airport, I saw the ubiquitous Mind the Gap slogan on one of the platforms, and I finally understood all those t-shirts, hats and other paraphernalia I'd seen over the years. Oh, THE GAP, hehe.
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