London

---

FYI I tried uploading some photos from London onto this, but the internet connection I'm working on is pretty slow and it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Apologies

London

To play it safe with my connecting flight to Johannesburg, I played it rather conservatively on getting back to Heathrow in time, so now I’m stuck in the position where I have four hours until my flight, and not a whole lot to do. That being said, this entry is going to be written in the Heathrow international terminal, although it won’t be posted until I’m probably in Lilongwe.

To be honest, this terminal is beautiful. There are more cultures here than something out of a bad high school movie, and to be blunt, it’s almost hard to find someone to speak English in England at times.
So, to the whole point of this post - my travels so far. On the way out of O’Hare, I flew on a 777, which still isn’t big enough to adequately fit someone my size, so I didn’t get too much sleep last night. I did watch a couple episodes of 30 Rock and Grand Torino though, and for anyone who hasn’t seen GT, I’d suggest it as long as you can get over Eastwood’s overdone growls. After the movie, and a handful of minutes sleep, we arrived at Heathrow.

London was very different than I imagined it to be, and often it reminded me of a cross between Washington DC, New York, and Boston. There is just a total lack of skyscrapers here, which, since I’m a tall building guy, is a perpetual disappointment, but instead there is just this constant five story mason style of building which seemed to look the same no matter where I went.

I started my day off by taking up Scott’s advice and taking the express train from Heathrow to Paddington station, but from there I decided to risk walking around the complicated streets without a map. Turned out to be a pretty good idea (though I did steal a map after a bit from a local hotel).

On total accident, I found myself at the entrance to Hyde Park, which I walked awkwardly through, not really sure which direction I was going or what I was trying to do, but it ended up completely fine, because as I generally made my way over to Westminster and Parliament, I once again accidently ran into Buckingham Palace, where I was able to see the famous ‘changing of the guard’ - quite overrated, but still impressive.

As I kept walking around, I kept finding myself in new places that suddenly sounded very familiar, and would catch a couple odd things as I walked past. Two photos I’ve included are from around this time - a sign that said ‘50 yds’ (why not meters?) and a house alarm that read ‘Chubby Alarm’ which I just found rude.

Anyways, as I approached parliament, I really began to feel like I was back in DC, in the area right around Capital Hill, particularly in the area around the Senate Office buildings for anyone’s point of reference. Once arriving at Big Ben and Parliament, I was very impressed. The detail that goes into each of these buildings is slightly staggering, even more so that they’ve been around for very long periods of time. I’ve always enjoyed that color of mason work, and to be honest, I think I prefer Westminster and the Houses of Parliament to the US Capital Building.

From there, I walked across the Thames and then ‘strolled’ down the river bank past some crazy shit - there were people dressed as Iguanas riding bikes and hissing, and some cocked out old lady asking everyone if they wanted a free hug - I said no. I decided against riding the London Eye because the line was REALLY long and it might be good to leave something in the city to be desired for the next time I come back. As I went down the river walk, I stopped for a plate of fish and chips (had to) and a beer, since today marks the first day I can drink legally for the rest of my life.

(On a total tangent, two BEAUTIFUL French girls just sat down across from me, along with the four Swedish blondes to my right. Any guy who enjoys brunettes with an accent would love this city).

One thing I would like to mention is how much I enjoyed the Millennium Bridge in London. It’s nothing more than a fancy walking bridge over the Thames, but for some reason I found myself in awe of it. It’s modern, yet functional, and seems to blend in well with the mix of classical architecture and modernism that permeates London.

After my trip across the Millennium Bridge, I wandered around some more. Once again, I accidently ran into St. Paul’s Cathedral - which is beautiful - but quickly took the Underground back to Heathrow, where I’m now just waiting for my connection.

Sorry for the long blog, I just have some time to kill so I figured I’d go through my entire day in London. This city is way too big to see in a few hours, so if anyone wants to send me some money to go back, I’d appreciate it 😊.

Jon

---

Comments

[Christy Lindner]

hahaha I think the groans in Gran Torino was the best/funniest part of the movie! I'm a bit behind in reading your blogs cause I just got back from Italy last night, but I'm glad its going well thus far!! Miss you Jon!