These past two days have consisted of looooots of walking. Yesterday we saw lots of major touristy attractions here in London. We saw Big Ben and the houses of parliament. We even went in to parliament and watched the House of Commons for a few minutes. It wasn't the most exciting debate (they were talking about some sort county boundary issue I think) and most members weren't present, but it was was kind of cool in any place.
In general, all the government buildings are very old, large, and ornate. One can definitely see the history of London in all of its buildings. Quite impressive. We also checked out the national museum and saw the Rosetta stone.
In the evening we went and saw Avenue Q! It was hilarious! It was also a really nice break from walking around. After the show, we went to a pub and had some good beer. Then it was on to a club called The Verve. It's interesting that 99% of the music was American music. We stayed there for a while and then the fun actually began.... and by fun I mean walking around for 2 hours trying to figure out how the bus system works and where the bus we needed to take actually stopped. We finally made it home around 3am.
Today was a much lighter day. We got going pretty late around 11am. I had a traditional British entree called 'Bangers and Mash' which is sausage and mashed potatoes. Though its presentation left something to be desired, it was really quite delicious. I'd definitely eat it again.
It just so happened to be Pride day in London, so after lunch we went to watch the parade and such. It was pretty cool. I think that Europeans have a special fondness for whistles. Everyone along the route had one and they were all blowing them quite fervently.
It was on and off raining pretty much all day today and currently still is. Tomorrow morning at about 8:30am we are off to Brussels with a connection to Amsterdam from there. Though 3 days was definitely not enough for a full London experience, I'm glad we're moving on. I know I can come back to London at some point for a more focused and in depth tour and this was a great overview. I'm also kind of looking forward to leaving because it's so damn expensive!
That's all for now.
Cheers!
Oh... and they delivered my bag yesterday around 11pm. It was awesome to change clothes and shave and fun things like that!
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Thursday, June 28, 2007
London Hostel and First Day
So according to the BA website, they found my bag... so this is good news. It doesn't, however, say where the bag is. There's a chance that it's still in Houston. I'll be calling them tomorrow for more info.
But anyways, the first hostel is so far fairly nice. We are up a few flights of stairs and there are these ridiculously heavy fire doors that will slam very loudly if you don't gently close them. The beds are so-so, but we're so tired right now that anything will do.
The neighborhood the hostel is in is really cool. There's a small park across the street and lots of little local shops and eateries around. We saw a few sites today, but they are all hazy in my head due to the lack of sleep. We were able to go into St. Paul's Cathedral because they were holding a service. We also got oriented to using the tube in order to get around. It's hot, noisy, and crowded... but very effective. We also got to go to this really old bar, Old Chester Cheese's which was rebuilt in 1667 or something like that. Had a pint of excellent beer!
Tomorrow is our big sightseing day. We're going to try to hit all the major attractions, most just from the outside. I really want to check out the National Museum for sure. It's going to be a fun day. We should be fairly well-rested and hopefully will be able to sleep through the night. I think that's all for now.
Cheers!
But anyways, the first hostel is so far fairly nice. We are up a few flights of stairs and there are these ridiculously heavy fire doors that will slam very loudly if you don't gently close them. The beds are so-so, but we're so tired right now that anything will do.
The neighborhood the hostel is in is really cool. There's a small park across the street and lots of little local shops and eateries around. We saw a few sites today, but they are all hazy in my head due to the lack of sleep. We were able to go into St. Paul's Cathedral because they were holding a service. We also got oriented to using the tube in order to get around. It's hot, noisy, and crowded... but very effective. We also got to go to this really old bar, Old Chester Cheese's which was rebuilt in 1667 or something like that. Had a pint of excellent beer!
Tomorrow is our big sightseing day. We're going to try to hit all the major attractions, most just from the outside. I really want to check out the National Museum for sure. It's going to be a fun day. We should be fairly well-rested and hopefully will be able to sleep through the night. I think that's all for now.
Cheers!
Lost Baggage != fun
We've arrived safely in London and are doing fairly well. I can't say the same for my bag however, which is currently unnaccounted for. We are waiting in the airport right now to see if it will come on the next flight. If it doesn't, they will have to find it and ship it to the hostel where we are staying. What a pain in the ASS!
Oh well... so that's what we're dealing with at the moment. It's just made more difficult by the fact that Jen and I are both really tired and really wanted to get started on having fun rather than sitting in airports and such. I'm just hoping that they'll find it soon and this will be the only major hitch we run into on the trip. One can only hope.
That's all for now.
Cheers!
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
First Post! To Europe sooooon!
It's 11pm Pacific Standard Time and I'll be staying up all night in order to catch my 6:00am flight to Houston to meet Jen (My cousin Joe is being nice enough to take me to Oakland Airport at 3:15am. Fun times!).
So yes, I am going to Europe with my sister. No, there will be no parallels to that oh so classic movie Eurotrip. We are, however, going to have a blast! Right now, I'm pretty much all packed and a nice mix of nervous and excited. I have a lot lot lot of airplane time ahead of me, but a whole month of Europe after.
The most important part of this trip is going to be trying to harness the nervous energy and put it to positive use. There are sooooo many unknowns, something which usually drives me crazy, but I've really just set myself on going with the flow and having a good time no matter what comes our way.
Hopefully I'll get to post to this blog whenever we find internet somewhere. Most posts will probably have to be quite terse, but I think it'll be a fun record of the journey.
Bye for now!
So yes, I am going to Europe with my sister. No, there will be no parallels to that oh so classic movie Eurotrip. We are, however, going to have a blast! Right now, I'm pretty much all packed and a nice mix of nervous and excited. I have a lot lot lot of airplane time ahead of me, but a whole month of Europe after.
The most important part of this trip is going to be trying to harness the nervous energy and put it to positive use. There are sooooo many unknowns, something which usually drives me crazy, but I've really just set myself on going with the flow and having a good time no matter what comes our way.
Hopefully I'll get to post to this blog whenever we find internet somewhere. Most posts will probably have to be quite terse, but I think it'll be a fun record of the journey.
Bye for now!
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