Start of the Trip

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Im here in England at my buddies house in the Isle of Sheppey. Its on the south eastern side of England about 1 hour from Heathrow by car. My friend Danny, who is allowing me to stay at his place and has been incredibley kind about how long i can stay and has shown me pretty much everything there is to see in Kent.
The first day we got here, i of course walked to what i know as the passenger side of the car not thinking about how everything had been switched, man that and driving on the other side of the road was a trip. After entering Kent, we had some Cod and chips(fries) which is the most well known english food i believe. We then went to a few of the local pubs which seem to be a mix of the 2AM Club/Silver Peso and the dinning area of The Pelican Inn. We've played a lot of pool over the past 5 or so days, mainly at his usual pub called The Nore. The game of pool here is a lot different. I had heard from Danny that it wouldnt be the same but i was still surprised to see how different it really was. The balls, table and tips of pool ques were a lot smaller. There is only 2 colors of balls, solid red and solid yellow, and the pockets have rounded corners which can make it a lot easier and harder at times to get the ball in. Danny is very good at pool so pretty much every game i lost, and most of the time i had 4 or so more balls on the table. The only 2 times i did win, i think he let me win, so thanks Danny.
The Isle of Sheppy was well known in the past for its sheep. People used to use the land for hearding sheep and getting cotton from them. Now there arent so man, even though it was still the most i had ever seen in one place in my life. It is the same Isle that the Wright Brothers used as there landing pad for flying over the first channel some odd years ago. We actually drove the spot that they landed which was pretty an interesting little fact. Now there are 3 prisons on the land, 2 are used for people of england and 1 are used for imigrants of europe. Because Europe doesnt stop people from working in England, a lot of Polish people, among others have made there way over for better wages. England doesnt mind because they can pay these people less and get the same work done.(a lot like whats going on with the Mexican border i would say.) On a different note about England, something that has happend very recently and is really cool, is that they passed a law making it illegal to smoke in public areas; busses, trains, bus/train stations, bars, restraunts, something they deffintely need to do in the US and the rest of the world.
So yesterday i decided to head to London for the day. I really had no idea what i was in for or what i would do. I had met this girl on the 2nd plane who was from American but worked in both the states and in London. She ended up giving me her number, email address and this little book that had all the toob routes and bus routs and major things to see in London. So with that little book i had marked off two things i really wanted to see, the London Eye or better searched as, The British Airways London Eye, and the British Museum. I knew i wanted to see a museum and this one seemed perfect with pieces dating back before the BCE times from Egypt, Mesopotamia(dont think thats spelt right), Greece, Rome, Africa, All of which to my surpise could be photographed. So with these two places in mind i decided to head off. To get from Kent to London you can take a train to Sittingbourne and another from there to the London Victoria train station. Ill tell you know from here on out everything turned to be straight luck. I was told by Danny and his girlfriend that right out of London Victoria would be the Buckingham Palace, but thats all i was told. Granted it was about a 5 min. walk and all i had on my mind was taking a piss in a "public restroom" that didnt cost 20 pense(40 cents) to use, sorry but when did public mean you had to spend mondey to use it...bullshit i say! So after spending the next 20 minutes trying to find a public restroom, i finally found my way to The Buckingham Palace. Because the bathroom excurtion took so long, my luck helped me again to get to the palace right as the "changing of the guards" happend. At first all i saw were a whole lot of people, all looking like tourist and speaking different languages, standing on this big circular structure in front of the gates with different sculptures on it which were presents from New Zealand at one point(well two were, i checked the others and they didnt say so) and water coming out of some other sculptures. So i made my way there, stood around some more until i finally asked a police officer what was going on and he kindly told me, passing of the guards mate. so after about 15 minutes of standing and waiting finally i saw some black poofy things bobbing up and down and loud drums being played. Shortly after, more black poofy things came in bobbing, this time i could see their great red coats because they were sitting on top of horses this time. Then another group came walking, this time instead of instruments, they had some cool looking semi-automatics with giant Dick Tracy like clips and right after them came these incredible looking people on top of horses with shiny silver and gold armor and silver helmets with these blonde like horse tails coming out of the top. After seeing this much and waiting around a lot, i thought well im kinda over this and would like to see other stuff in the city. Right across the street from the Palace was a small park where i layed down and had my bi-daily dose of bread and salami(thank you andy for that inspiration, saving me money thats for sure) and read in my lonley planets book on other things to see along with a map so i could circle it off. I had only circled the london eye and the museum only because i really didnt know how much time i would have and seeing how i didnt want to take the trains, but rather walk, i had no clue how long it would take me. So from this park that i ate at i could see the top of the London Eye so i looked at where it was on the map and found my route and started to head there. As i was walking i came across the top of this giant cathedral that i could only see over these building. So as luck had it again i walked over and there was Westminister Abbey and right side of it was the House of Parliments with Big Ben. I thought, HOLLY SHIT!, am i lucky or what. of course i took my pictures and decided to keep on moving on. I could have gone inside Westminster Abbey but for a cost of £9.5 which is close to $20 and really seeing the outside was good for me at that time. So i went on my main destination, which i knew would cost money but didnt know how much and when i go there i was right next to the Aquarium, the Saatchi Gallery and a Star Wars Convention...and guess which one i chose to see out of the 4...thats right the Star Wars convention. haha, YEAH RIGHT! saw that and deffinitely kept on walking. But still cool to see they were that into it i guess. But when i saw the line for the London Eye i kinda just stood there, motionless. I thought this better be free or these people must be crazy. Well, niether really, but at £14.5($30) and a line like that, just seeing the structure was good for me.
Continueing on i went over Jubilee Bridge which was pretty awsome to see. It was made with long wires reaching up holding it in place, almost looked like a sway bridge. As i kept on walking to my next destination of the British Museum, i came across another huge treat, the National Gallery. This place had pieces from Leonardo De Vincci, Michelangelo, Van Gogh, Renoir and so many others. Unfortuantely i didnt get to see any De Vinci pieces but seeing the rest was still breath taking. See how was on the move though and really dont spend too much time looking at paintings and studing them anyways, i was off after about 20 minutes. Just down the street i found something i needed, Borders book store. After asking too many questions at the information desk an annoying them like no other i headed on to the Britich Museum. Upon arival and entrance i could see that it was one of the many pictuers i saw in my book the lady on the plane( she has a name, its sarah, sorry) gave me which was the cealing of the building. To be honest, from the outside it looked like every other building;brick and old. But the inside was something else, made with marble, a glass cealing and an awsome stair well. I walked and walked and walked, truthfully i got lost. I couldnt find my way out but it ended up being perfect because every room i went into was that much more spectacular than the next. I dont even know if i saw everything, matter of fact i highly doubt i did, but seeing everything i did was so f'ing amazing. Structures and statues and mummies and antient artifact is something i can look at for a long time which i deffinely allowed myself to do. After finally finding my way out, and yeah i didnt ask anyone, i decided i had done enough in one day and was ready to walk back to London Victoria. It was about 10:30 when i got into London and it was now 5 when i headed out. My day was done and i was very happy...now after 11 hours of sleep im regenerized and ready to head to Portsmouth this afternoon when Danny gets off of work.

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Photos

Kent and London
Local Pub, "The Nore"

Comments

[Jaz]

How exciting !
I am so excited for you. I have always wanted to go see the sights there. Thanks for filling us in, its almost like we get to go too.