Day 1 - London


Advertisement
Europe
September 9th 2006
Published: September 9th 2006
Edit Blog Post

N.B. I should excuse myself for the poor composition henceforth - it's been a long time since I've written anything remotely creative.

It's roughly 7 PM GMT and I'm not tired despite getting only about 2 hours of sleep on the plane. I have never been able to sleep on planes and I was afraid prior to my departure that this flight would be no exception. I'm composing this blog in a somewhat of a shady internet cafe by Leicester Square which is on the Piccadilly and Central lines (for those who know the Underground). But, I can't go wrong here as it's only £1 per hour.

Getting out of Heathrow was fairly quick, despite the long queue at passport inspection. I walked the "subway" in Heathrow Airport to the Underground where I quicked picked up an Oyster card. About a half-hour later, I was checking into my hostel (The Ace Hotel) nearby the Baron's Court station. After freshening up and walking to the local corner store for some bottled water and bananas, I decided to head to central London for a walk.

I don't know if Central London is busy everyday, but it was quite a challenge to walk through the crowds going towards Oxford Circus. Of course, I decided to walk into a few of the major stores, like the Virgin Megastore (which we no longer have), Topshop (a chain not in North America), and H&M. I didn't buy anything, but I'll probably head back a couple days from now and take a more intense browse.

In terms of costs, things are actually quite comparable to Vancouver once you factor in the exchange rate. For example, a pair of Chucks costs around £50, which is just a little more than a new pair costs in Vancouver. However, a Starbucks latte is £1.89, which is about 4 bucks. Btw, there are quite a few Starbucks here.

Anyway, I will be doing more than just walking around Central London for the next few days. I plan to check out the Marble Arch tomorrow to hear the public sermons and I will take in a few museums and galleries such as the Tate Modern and the Churchill War Rooms. I hope to have another entry soon.

Advertisement



10th September 2006

Get some sleep! You're gonna need it.
11th September 2006

HOw exciting
I will be living vicariously through you!

Tot: 0.199s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 5; qc: 43; dbt: 0.0357s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb