Wow! What a crazy few days I have had. I can't believe I only left home 5 days ago. It feels like forever. I am really missing you all, but now that I have net access I feel a little better.
So here's a rundown on my first few days:
Japan was an eye-opener and my sixteen hour stopover was an adventure in itself. I had a major crisis 6 hours into the flight when I realised that I didn't know any of the details of my hotel for the stopover. I had no idea where I was supposed to go and no idea of even the name of the hotel I was supposed to be staying in. Thankfully, when I mentioned this to the lovely Japanese man at customs, he told me the name of the hotel and when I turned up there, they even had a record of my booking. I had dinner by myself in a little sushi restaurant and then bought some sake from a vending machine (it tastes like bum, by the way!). Oh, and did I mention that as we were flying into the airport I thought "gee, it's foggy today". The next morning I discovered that it was actually smog, which prevented you from seeing more than 500 metres in any direction. Yuck!
The next flight, which was twelve hours long, was amazing. We flew over the former U.S.S.R, slightly south of Siberia, and the scenery was just breathtaking. Glaciers and snow just everywhere, as far as you could see. Words really can't describe just how beautiful it was.
The plane chased the sun all the way to London so even though we arrived at 1am Brisbane time (and midnight Tokyo time), we'd had a bright, sunny flight the whole way so sleeping was quite tricky. Surprisingly, my body clock coped pretty well and, even though it took over an hour to get through passport control (including a pop quiz from the guy about the exact conditions of my visa), I was still slightly cheerful when I reached the YHA. I did get drenched on the way from the tube, though. Bloody London weather! :-p
My first day in London was huge (as has been each day since). I started off early, with a recommendation from the lady at the YHA reception desk to catch a bus to Victoria station and walk around from there past Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. When I got off the bus, though, I saw that Buckingham Palace was just down the road. I went to check it out and discovered that it was the first Changing of the Guard of the season. 5000 people later and I was stuck there. Then it started raining! Thankfully a very nice French man let me stand under his umbrella. The Changing of the Guard was pretty cool, though. Those guys really know how to put on a show.
I headed off in the direction of Westmister Abbey and Big Ben (and took shelter from more rain in the Westminster Abbey gift shop, where everything was either really tacky or really expensive). The church is beautiful and imposing. And it's right in the middle of the shopping district. That's something that's really amazed me about London - all of these historic monuments are right in the middle of "normal" London. It's quite bizarre.
Big Ben is beautiful and even more impressive than any photo can do justice. There's not much to say, but I could have stood and looked at him for hours.
From there I walked around past the Houses of Parliament, stopping on the opposite side of the road to laugh at all the people crowded around the gates to Downing St. During the day I had very quickly learnt that there are no English people in London - only tourists. I may look like a tourist, but hopefully I don't behave the way some others do. Oh, and I bought an umbrella, which has paid for itself already!
My walking then took me over a bridge (no idea which one!) to Southbank. I wandered up the Thames, past the Aquarium and the Tate Modern to Shakespeare's Globe. The tours weren't running so I headed back to the YHA.
And that's where I met Marisa and Sonya, two lovely Canucks. We went to the pub and had a "traditional" English dinner (and some Guiness Red - yum!). That night I was so exhausted I fell asleep in my clothes!
The next day (Friday), I had to change hostels because the YHA was all booked for the long weekend. I had planned to go to the Victoria and Albert Museum, but Marisa invited me to meet her and Sonya at St Paul's instead. So after dumping my stuff at my new hostel (which is where I am now - it may be a little dingy but it has free internet!) I jumped on the tube and met the girls. We three had a fabulous day exploring St Paul's, and then the British Museum (I saw the Rosetta Stone and a bunch of awesome Egyptian and Assyrian stuff, too, but missed the mummies). We had dinner at an Indian tapas place in Soho (very trendy) and then went our seperate ways. Marisa's gone to Bath and Stonehenge (lucky bugger) and has promised to let me know whether where she stays is good.
Today has been enormous, too. I slept in because I was knackered, then headed off to the Globe. I swear to you all, that tour was the closest thing to a religious experience I have ever had in my life. I would go back and do it again and again. It was just wonderful and the tour guide we had (her name was Kitty, if anyone's planning to go) was lovely and knowledgable and very entertaining.
Realising I had to get a coat, as I have been freezing for the last few days, I headed to the Portabello Road market in Notting Hill. Didn't buy anything, though, cos the damn cash machine wouldn't let me have any money. Exhausted by now I headed to Primeark, where every single female in London was shopping, as they had a sale. Finally found a coat in H&M (thanks Ez) and headed back. Bought heaps of food from Sainsbury's in the Kilburn high street for less than one meal costs at home and now here I am.
I must confess that travelling alone is pretty hard sometimes. You don't always have someone to talk to and when you're tired it's even worse. All day today I've been wondering whether I should just give up and come home. But now that I'm writing this and I realise I'm still connected to you all I feel a lot better, refreshed and ready for the next challenge.
Tomorrow I'm going to check out Bloomsbury and Baker St and be a big fat literary nerd. Hooray! I'll probably go to the Tower on Tuesday, as Monday is a public holiday and I'm sure it will be even more packed than usual. I'll keep you all updated though.
Hope you're all well.
Much love to you all ...
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