I made it safe and sound to London. Stacey and I were dropped off by Michelle on Wednesday afternoon after one last stop at In-N-Out and were surprised at how empty the airport was. Going through security was a piece of cake compared to going through immigration in London, but I'll get to that soon enough.
Stacey and I lucked out with seating. We got a two seater row to ourselves, one aisle and one window seat. Our flight was surprisingly empty, lucky for the flight attendants or they might have actually had to work! The flight itself was ok, a little more bumpy than I remember flying east, but I did manage to get a few hours of sleep.
We touched down at London Heathrow 30 minutes before our scheduled arrival and lost our gained time while being harassed by an immigration officer who apparently woke up on the wrong side of bed that morning. He didn't seem too keen on letting us into the UK and bombarded us with questions ranging from what level and major of study I have to where we plan to travel while in Europe. He finally stamped our passports making us well aware that if we didn't leave the UK within 6 months, we'd probably have a warrant out for our arrest! I guess I now know when I'll be going home!
After that romp, Stace and I hopped on the tube to meet Ken at the hostel. Sounds so easy, doesn't it? Except for the fact that the tube station we were meant to get off at was 'closed for refurbishing.' Little did we know this would be the norm for the rest of our time in London. As we passed the station, the platform was completely devoid of construction or construction workers. It seems tube construction is about as efficient as Cal-Trans! Amazingly, we found our hostel with no problem and that would be the last time we navigated London streets without getting lost.
'The Producers' was actually pretty funny, even though I had a hard time keeping my eyes open through the first half. I blame it on the jet lag, although I did fall asleep at 'Phantom' last time I was in London. Our seats in the theater was a whole other story. Our front row balcony seats, which we paid extra for, turned out to be not so great. We spent most of the show on our knees because we couldn't see over the balcony wall and down to the stage when we sat back in our seats. Yeah, a bunch of American suckers. We paid £25 for £10 tickets to kneel for a night! Oh well, it's definitely something to laugh about.
The last two days have mostly consisted of walking around the city sight seeing. A lot of the tube stations are closed for refurbishing which have contributed to a lot of miles walked and a lot of hours wasted getting lost. We seem to enjoy taking the most undirect routes possible and my right knee is suffering greatly! At least London is worth getting lost in. The days have been beautiful and I love the atmosphere and views. While walking through the cobblestone streets of Covent Gardens, I felt like I had been taken back to a previous time period. It was all very dream-like. We've done really well at seeing the major sights; Covent Garden markets, St. Paul's Cathedral, Shakespere's Globe Theater, Tower Bridge, Hyde Park/speaker's corner, Buckingham Palace/changing of the guard, Harrod's and Kensington Palace.
Tomorrow, we're off to the British and Natural History museums. We've rented a car for 7 days and plan to leave London on Tuesday headed west to Windsor Castle, Amesbury, Stonehenge, and Bath, then north to Scotland where we'll hopefully be getting out into the countryside and less in the cities. We've booked flights from Glasgow, Scotland to France on January 31st. I'm not sure what availability to the internet will be like outside of the metropolitan areas, so you may not hear from me until then. (That was mostly meant for Mom and Dad. ie don't worry!)
Stacey and I lucked out with seating. We got a two seater row to ourselves, one aisle and one window seat. Our flight was surprisingly empty, lucky for the flight attendants or they might have actually had to work! The flight itself was ok, a little more bumpy than I remember flying east, but I did manage to get a few hours of sleep.
We touched down at London Heathrow 30 minutes before our scheduled arrival and lost our gained time while being harassed by an immigration officer who apparently woke up on the wrong side of bed that morning. He didn't seem too keen on letting us into the UK and bombarded us with questions ranging from what level and major of study I have to where we plan to travel while in Europe. He finally stamped our passports making us well aware that if we didn't leave the UK within 6 months, we'd probably have a warrant out for our arrest! I guess I now know when I'll be going home!
After that romp, Stace and I hopped on the tube to meet Ken at the hostel. Sounds so easy, doesn't it? Except for the fact that the tube station we were meant to get off at was 'closed for refurbishing.' Little did we know this would be the norm for the rest of our time in London. As we passed the station, the platform was completely devoid of construction or construction workers. It seems tube construction is about as efficient as Cal-Trans! Amazingly, we found our hostel with no problem and that would be the last time we navigated London streets without getting lost.
We checked into our room, reunited with Ken, and headed out at dusk to catch some sights. We decided to take a shortcut through a park near our hostel and found the gate at the other end to be locked. After circling the park, we realized we had been locked in with the only way out being up and over a fence. (Remember that line from 'Notting Hill,' "Whoopsie Daisies?" That was Ken straddling the top of the fence.)
That night, we saw Big Ben/Parliament, Eye of London, Westminster, and Picadilly Circus. We headed out early Friday morning to Leister Square for show tickets and got scammed purchasing tickets to see 'The Producers.' We spent the rest of the day wandering the city and getting lost and made it back to Hammersmith (where our hostel is) in time to get groceries and bolt out to see the show.
'The Producers' was actually pretty funny, even though I had a hard time keeping my eyes open through the first half. I blame it on the jet lag, although I did fall asleep at 'Phantom' last time I was in London. Our seats in the theater was a whole other story. Our front row balcony seats, which we paid extra for, turned out to be not so great. We spent most of the show on our knees because we couldn't see over the balcony wall and down to the stage when we sat back in our seats. Yeah, a bunch of American suckers. We paid £25 for £10 tickets to kneel for a night! Oh well, it's definitely something to laugh about.
The last two days have mostly consisted of walking around the city sight seeing. A lot of the tube stations are closed for refurbishing which have contributed to a lot of miles walked and a lot of hours wasted getting lost. We seem to enjoy taking the most undirect routes possible and my right knee is suffering greatly! At least London is worth getting lost in. The days have been beautiful and I love the atmosphere and views. While walking through the cobblestone streets of Covent Gardens, I felt like I had been taken back to a previous time period. It was all very dream-like. We've done really well at seeing the major sights; Covent Garden markets, St. Paul's Cathedral, Shakespere's Globe Theater, Tower Bridge, Hyde Park/speaker's corner, Buckingham Palace/changing of the guard, Harrod's and Kensington Palace.
Tomorrow, we're off to the British and Natural History museums. We've rented a car for 7 days and plan to leave London on Tuesday headed west to Windsor Castle, Amesbury, Stonehenge, and Bath, then north to Scotland where we'll hopefully be getting out into the countryside and less in the cities. We've booked flights from Glasgow, Scotland to France on January 31st. I'm not sure what availability to the internet will be like outside of the metropolitan areas, so you may not hear from me until then. (That was mostly meant for Mom and Dad. ie don't worry!)
