I'm grateful. Grateful for a number of things so far in this journey--grateful for a relatively un-turbulent flight, grateful for the fact that the plane landed safely, grateful for the understanding of the TSA officer who found my forgotten necklace, the kindness of random strangers who helped me stow my luggage in the overhead bins (a task for a short person like myself), the patience of multiple British people who gave three American students directions, and just the niceness almost everyone in general has showed us so far. And I'm grateful for being given the opportunity to have such adventures, what's going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
And adventures we have had! I feel like the entire journey so far has been one whirlwind of an advenure. Starting from before I even got on the plane with a lovely backpack search and lost jewelry episode, haha. And then getting off the plane and jumping straight into the day. It was an intense (but fun) journey as we (novices, for the most part, at navigating large-scale public transportation) somehow made it from the airport to the hostel in Greenwich by train, and went pretty much all over the city. Or the southern part of it, at least. I feel like we have become nearly masters of the London Underground by now, with all the train hopping we've done. I think I've gone on more trains in the space of two days than I have in my entire life, haha. And now I know that I can get from St. Paul's to Greenwich all by myself, after a brief mishap in which our little group of three got separated. I think we all grew a little bit that day, haha.
Yesterday was super-busy but fantastic--after dropping our luggage off, we wandered around Greenwich for lunch (getting distracted multiple times by bookstores and churches), and then headed towards the city, where we did a lot of the stereotypical tourist things: we went on the London Eye (which was fun and not scary at all, and we got to see a delightful little 4D film too, which all the small children enjoyed immensely, judging from their reactions), and tried to get into the Parliament buildings (which were closed) and Westminster Abbey (which is apparently closed on Tuesdays...go figure). We walked around that entire area of London, and went to choral evensong at St. Paul's cathedral, which was amazing--I don't think I've ever heard a building reverberate or echo more than that in my entire life. It was very peaceful too, which was not exactly a very good thing for three travel-weary Americans who've been up for more than thirty hours, haha. It was leaving St. Paul's that we had our metro mishap--the station was so busy that poor Chance couldn't get on the train, and when I went back to make sure he wasn't still there waiting for us to come back, all the trains from St. Paul's got delayed, and when I finally got to our connecting stop, I found (after a very thorough search) that my companions were nowhere to be found, and decided that they must have gone to Greenwich ahead. Yay for thinking logically, for we all made it back safe and sound, pretty much by ourselves. But I don't think we'll be doing that again, haha.
Today has been equally eventful and adventurous--we woke up fairly early (me too, despite accidentally setting my alarm clock for PM instead of AM--I guess it was because I went to bed at 11:45ish, I was so tired) and went to the British Museum, which was AWESOME. You could probably easily spend a week there and not see everything; we only got through Egypt, Japan, Korea, the Rosetta Stone and assorted huge statues, the Enlightenment Library, and a special exhibit on costumes from Oman and the Balkans. It was great. We wandered around that side of London for a long time, again getting distracted by several bookstores, and somehow made our way to the Tower of London, where we saw a large amount of armour and the fabulous crown jewels--I don't think I've ever seen so many sparkling things in my entire life. A crown with 8,000+ diamonds? Really? We walked around London some more (crossing the Thames multiple times, by multiple bridges--the Tower Bridge is by far more exciting than the London Bridge), had dinner at a legitimate pub, went to a British grocery store, and went to St. Alfege's church in Greenwich to hear to change ringers practice. It was phenomenal! They even taught us how to ring tower bells, and encouraged us to look for American guild ringers in our area. So awesome!
We've made a lot of the typical tourist errors, probably--having no idea what to do with our tickets the first time we got onto the Tube, confusing all the locals by referring to the Tube/London Underground as the Metro, accidentally trying to pay with euros instead of pounds (in my case), getting lost, asking for directions, getting lost some more, using the wrong vernacular, not knowing the way people typically ordered food in restaurants, what one did with the dishes, etc. But I think it's in wandering aimlessly (or not so much aimlessly, but without a particular mission) that we've discovered some of the most interesting things so far.
First Impression of London #1: The people here are very fashionable. I now know why the word "posh" seems so British. I've seen very fashionable-looking people at very not-fashionable-looking train stops and have been very confused.
First Impression of London #2: The business people are almost always in a hurry. Never before have I ever seen more people try to run to catch a train. And never before I have seen so-dangerous subway doors--they don't really stop for bodies, which is a little alarming. And never before have I almost been pushed down an escalator by a businessman in a hurry.
First Impression of London #3: The people here are super super nice, not like what you would expect tourist-hardened people to be like at all. Everyone has been extremely nice and friendly, whether in responses to asking for directions or half a gazillion other questions we've had. Random people on the streets, on the Tube, the police officers, the Tube workers, cashiers at shops, the bellringers who invited us to the belfry even though the church was technically closed, absolutely everyone has been very nice. Except the businessman who nearly pushed me down the escalator.
First Impression of London #4: I think I've seen more non-British people than British people here...almost.
First Impression of London #5: People here like making fun of me just as much as they do in the US--it seems that at every attraction I've been to the people searching my purse joke that I'm going to bring whiskey in. Without fail.
First Impression of London #6: London has very amusing signs, nearly everywhere. "Mind the Gap" is so far my favorite probably...though my traveling companions Mark and Chance would probably thing that there needs to be a few "Mind the step" or "Mind the doorframe", seeing as I've had problems with both, haha.
First Impression of London #7: It is amazing!!!!! :)
I've been trying to rapidly absorb all that is England in the space of two days, so I've practically gorged myself on as much British food as I'm hungry for--tea, scones, traditional fish and chips, chicken/ham/leek pie, etc. But we've probably walked several miles today so hopefully that balanced it out...
The only thing I like about plane rides...it looks heavenly. So pretty!
First picture in London! At the airport train station!
Me and Chance.
First meal in Great Britian--super delicious Chinese food. Not exactly the most British of choices, but it was delicious. Greenwich=Amazing.
The lovely church of St. Alfege's.
Lovely Greenwich!
Until this fall I hadn't been on any Ferris Wheel. And yesterday I probably just went on the biggest Ferris wheel of my life.
Us, on top of the Eye!
Big Ben! Yet another large building we weren't allowed to get into.
Scone, with inordinate amounts of jam and Devonshire clotted cream. With tea, of course (not pictured).
Authentic fish and chips! Take-away style.
Stereotypical tourist picture of a Guard at the Tower of London.
I apologize for the very, very lengthy entry...but London has so far been so much the adventure. We've seen an incredible amount of stuff. Wow. It's hard to fathom.
And tomorrow we go to Paris! Yay!
Je serai reconaissante pour mes aventures en l'avenir. :)
Bisous! <3
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