Europe First Day
June 25 2009, 11:44 AM
Dang, I'm pretty tired! Today I spent 15 hours in transit, and now around 12 hours in london.Transit
was fine: there were clear skies everywhere Seattle to Atlanta, and I
was overcome by the splendor of the Rocky Mountains. I wish I could
post pictures. On the flight from ATL to London I talked to my
neighbor, a black woman in her 30s from England who teaches at a
private school in Atlanta. She was a good conversationalist. I also
watched two movies: Gran Torino and Uninvited. Unfortunately, I didn't
get to finish Uninvited, because we landed. Also unfortunately, I did
get to finish Gran Torino, and so I saw Clint Eastwood lie in a
Christ-like pose after rasping his way through the movie he also
directed and produced.
Most of the London time was spent walking. Initial observations:
drivers are crazy and routinely drive on the left side of the road, it
is illegal not to jaywalk, every girl has skinny jeans, and the Tube
(subway) has got to be ventilated somewhere in hell. Anyway, I must
have walked about 20 miles, and for about 10 miles I was looking for a
place to eat fabled curry, supposedly the new British national dish. I swear, there was one street with open Indian places. The one I went to wasn't any good. I no longer want to try this curry. Tomorrow I'll try to eat fish and chips, but today I just wasn't hungry enough.
Also, a pigeon flew by close enough to hit my face with its wings. I also didn't figure out that they walk on
the left side, too, so I kept bumping into people for most of the day.
I don't have a watch and keep thinking that it's later than what it
actually is. It's 7:30pm here, but I'm too tired not to go to sleep--I
fell asleep on the tube and in a park already.#
Overall, today London seemed far more commercial than historic. It
was like a giant beautiful shopping mall, with a place for the Queen to
live. Tomorrow I'll try to focus more on the historic landmarks, and
also go to British Museum, because I want to see mummies. Karl's coming
tomorrow.
I probably won't post every day, but maybe every few days.