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Published: June 21st 2007
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ROBOT WORLD
At one of London's many museums. The future is NOW!!! So, this morning began with a flurry at the rather ungoldy hour of about 5 am, but as I couldn't really sleep (combination of excitement and a truly shitty bed) it really didn't matter. Last night, after writing, I wandered around the dark streets of London and had my first proper pint of Guinness at a rather crappy and trendy bar next to The "Imperial" called the Night and Day Pub. Not bad, just not particularly my cup.
So, we begin and my luggage makes weight, which is apparantly of great importance. I came in at around 42 pounds with a limit of 44, so I was not required to move anything. Once weighed the excited travelers were faced with a rather unfortunate situation. The only place open to get any sort of food was a grocers almost 2 blocks away. As nobody was watching the baggage the only choice we had, if eating was to be in the cards, was to carry our bags that distance, most of us abstained.
Now we get to stand and watch as the other tours, one by one, file off on their merry way, the UK folk got to stand there
GRIFFENDOOOORRRRR!!!!!!!
The "buissness end" of one of the gryphons "guarding" London proper. and wait. Then, we got to wait some more, then a little more waiting. Turns out the tour group booked a bus they don't normally use, and the driver was not properly informed of the departure time. But, finally he showed up in the lovely rainbow warrior, and we were off. And when I say off, I mean OFF.
Apparantly, there is a difference in tour speak between "seeing" something and "visiting" something. Seeing means just that, seeing. Much like if you fly over Paris you are "seeing" the Eifel Tower, whereas "visiting" means getting out and walking around and such.
We "saw" a great deal of London. It was both fast and furious and I am glad to be returning for a more detailed stay once the tour ends, but it was a very nice quick overview. One thing I will say, Big Ben, not so big.
London was great, but we sailed through it and headed off to the lovely city of Windsor, and it's fabulous castle. Incidently, apparantly there were some form of dress up horse races going on that day, so we were surrounded by rather posh looking brits. Also, because of the
Tower
Crossing the tower bridge. races, the Queen was in residence, so that's pretty cool.
We wandered around a bit (by we I mean myself, Dave from LA, Al, John, Sarah, and Lara from Australia), good people, good times. While walking around we passed the fabulously named "Fudge Kitchen," excellent fudge, hylarious name, and made our way to the Royal Oak for a Steak and Kidney pie, outstanding, and a pint, also outstanding.
From there we cruised around the castle and had another pint at The Horse and Groom. There is something rather cool about having a drink and looking out the door of the pub and seeing a castle. Not a faxcimilie, but an actual, honest to God, castle. We took some more pictures and got back on the bus to head off to Oxford.
Now, Oxford was very interesting. To begin with, it is a beautiful town. Very picturesque. I have one question about the UK, everywhere I've gone so far has been REALLY crowded. But not just a lot of people crowded, a very frantic, high energy crowded that feels almost relentless. I don't see how anyone can realistically live in these places. There are people everywhere, all the
Benjamin
Perhaps a better name would be "Adequate Ben." time, and they all seem to be in a rush to get to the next place. Granted, there are some people who are moving at a slower pace, who sit back and take a long time at a bar or a cafe, but for the most part everyone seems to be in a very urgent rush. It's worse than UT during class changes, because at least then some people seem to be taking their time. I only mention it because it is almost palpable, this urgency.
But besides that, I really loved Oxford. Granted, my new friends and I spent a great deal of time going from one pub to the next, but we weren't getting drunk. Just a pint here and a pint there. We were able to go on a walking tour of the University, which is not only striking in its beauty, but also striking in its confusion.
I learned that Oxford is almost more of an idea than a university and that it makes very little sense when compared to a model that you are use to. But the archetecture is simply breathtaking. Our guide was a very soft spoken, demure, Norwegian lady who pronounced the word "over" as "o'er" and was constatntly showing us pictures of the scenes from Harry Potter that were shot in the buildings we were seeing. Best part, when she was trying to show us a statue in front of one of those buildings, she literally shoved three girls out of the way. It took the breath out of all of us. Quite good work on her part.
From there, we went to our hotel. This was a vast improvement over the previous accomidations. I have a sizeable room and a queen sized bed. I couldn't be happier with it.
Then we came to the issue of dinner. First provided meal, and a rather large dissapointment. To begin, our tour manager somehow managed to lose us on the way to the restauraunt. Quick tip, if you are ever being followed by a large group of people who are completely dependant on you to get to their location in a very busy and crowded city, it is a good idea to turn around and look to make sure you haven't left them behind you along the way. This especially applies if you are a short female. Our leader plowed through the people on the street and turned into the restauraunt without being seen by any of us. So, we all blow past the restauraunt without slowing down and end up a block and a half further down, standing around in a group, staring at each other, with no idea where to go.
She wises up at some point, which I think took FAR too long, and locates us. We then proceed to the restauraunt of choice "Maxwell's" which makes me very happy, at first. Then the dining experience begins and that happiness fades a bit. For starters, we had to go to the bar to order drinks, not a terribly big deal, but when you have fifty or so people, this tends to be a bit of an inconvience. Second, our orders were taken in a rather, let's call it, abrupt fashion. We were, within mintues of being seated (and by minutes I mean 2-3 minutes, MAX) asked chicken, fish, or burger. That was it. I opted to take the safe route and ended up with a rather unsatisfying, overcooked burger.
Would this were all. We then recieved our dessert of "cheesecake" I use the quotes because it was not really what I would call real cheesecake, but rather an odd expirament gone wrong where they decided to replace the sugar with chalk. I did not know it was possible for cheesecake to taste that awful, but there you are. So, good day, good hotel, awful meal. Two out of three ain't bad.
Sadly, I am kind of hitting the wall, a bit exhausted, a bit jetlagged, and given how busy this entire thing promises to be the exhaustion will not be leaving any time soon.
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Aunt Helen
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Loving your comments !!
Hi Jim: We can so relate to a lot of your comments after our Boston "tour" where the guide lost half of the group, and never DID find them. They eventually hooked up with another tour group from the same ship and the tour guide received a reprimand, I am sure ! You mention the crowds and the hectic pace of said crowds. I think you have become a true Texan !! San Francisco is the same way !! You will get used to it ! Have a great time and toss down a Guiness or two for us ! Love, Helen