London - Days 2-5

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We arrived in London to awesome weather that continued the entire time I was there. The temp was in the 70's and sunny most of the time -- perfect. The first thing that greeted me upon my arrival to Heathrow was a security camera pointing directly at the passengers coming out of the jetway. The UK seems totally obsessed with security cameras, which they refer to as CCTV. They're everywhere including a lot of public places where you wouldn't normally expect to see them in the US. For some reason, though, they didn't bother me that much. I'd be a lot more concerned if I saw that many in the US. Maybe I just trust the British government more?

After clearing customs (welcome to your first line in the UK) I went to get my bag. I got to the proper carousel, but my bag was nowhere to be found. I went over to the lost luggage desk and after asking me flight number and origin, the guy said "You're bag's over there" while gesturing towards a large pile of luggage. Sure enough, my bag was in the pile and must have come in on an earlier flight. Surprisingly, I wasn't very worried at all about the fact that my bag appeared to be lost. I think I was completely shell shocked from the flight and total lack of sleep, so I didn't really care.

With my luggage sorted out, I was quickly on the tube heading to my hostel near Victoria train station. I stayed for three days at a place called the Astor Victoria, which turned out to be a really nice hostel. Something I noticed in London, and then again in Edinburgh is that just about everyone I'm meeting is from the US, Canada, or Australia. I didn't come all the way over here to hang out with Americans, so we'll see if this changes as I get away from the bigger tourist centers.

London is an extraordinary city. It has an amazing vibe to it. It's busy, yet still approachable. I really enjoyed just walking around the city and marvelling at the sights and wonderful weather. The character of the city really makes it seem a lot smaller than it really is. Part of this is due to the tube, which has to be the best subway I've ever used. It's also the cleanest by far, which is a trend that seems to apply to London in general, at least compared to large cities in the US.

London had so many amazing museums that 4 days was hardly enough time to see just the free ones. You could spend weeks exploring the museums in this city. I didn't really have any one favorite; each had it's own charm. The National Gallery had enough art to keep an art fanatic busy for days, but was good for a couple hours for me. I'm not normally into modern art since I don't really get it -- not that I get art in general, either. However, the Tate Modern was a very approachable museum with some fantastic work, including stuff by Salvador Dali which I loved. I also appreciated the photography sections, which were really cool and a lot more approachable than some of the more abstract art.

My last day was spent running around to museums and generally just walking around enjoying the sunshine. I ended up sitting for an hour under the shade of a tree in Hyde Park just watching the world go by. This was definitely a highlight of London. Later that envening I took the tube over near Westminster and discovered how beautiful London is at night. I stood on the Jubilee Bridge and soaked up the skyline along the Thames. I also managed to hear Big Ben chime 8 o'clock and then saw them light up the clock afterwards. It was almost surreal standing there.

One last thing that I've noticed is the accents. It's fun just to listen to people talk. The english and australian accents in particular are awesome, especially when it's a cute girl talking!

I'll have the Edinburgh entry up soon as well as pictures when I find a better computer.

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Photos

Millenium Bridge
Me on the Millenium Bridge with St. Paul's in the background.

The underground
London underground

Natural History Museum
Inside the natural history museum (I only went to the free museums!)

Big Ben
Some famous clock...

Comments

[Jack]

CCTV was the response to a 20+ year IRA terror bombing campaign in London.