Yet another European travelog

London

We went by taxi to the airport, by airplane to the subway, by subway to the train, by train to the bus (does this sound like a TMBG song?). Victoria station was an impressive hub of transportation, and was decently laid out. Our difficulties were entirely our fault, trying to maneuver a huge amount of gear through rush hour commute traffic while being accosted by roving musicians on the Underground. Our friend Charlene, who we were planning on staying with, apparently had moved. Her old old roommates conveniently enough had her cel-phone number, which we promptly lost. This left us with no lodging plan.

Luckily, our new friend Anne and her roommates offered to put us up for a few days; another example of overseas hospitality. Very cool of them, and they were rewarded with some mostly unimposing houseguests and quite a few beers.

That night we hung out with them and watched Ally McBeal (an apparently internationally popular pastime). If Ally hadn't been on, Friends would have been the show of choice. It saddens me to think that while the UK exported Monty Python to us, we give them back "Friends." (Which in all fairness has had some moments of comedic greatness, but compared to the Python...) Pretty obvious we're coming out ahead in that exchange. On the other hand, they also gave us "Absolutely Fabulous".

The next day found us waking up late, still recovering from our sickness. We hit the wonderful National Gallery (open late AND free - how cool is that?) and hung out in Trafalgar square. The gallery is pretty amazing, covering native and stolen art of many generations

The light finally starting getting pretty good, so I lingered in Trafalgar square, fighting through pigeons and tourists. Playing photographer was fun at the time, but most of the pictures ended up sucking. Sometimes to you have to be able to distance yourself from what you're shooting. Just because it's decent light in a exotic (to you) place, doesn't mean it automatically makes a good picture.

I met Erik and Anne in "Bad Bob's" - a club/restaurant that had an early bird special of 2 beers and a pizza for £3 (about $4.50 US)! Given London's mostly incredibly expensive pricing, this was a welcome relief. As with all the bars we ran into in London and Dublin, tipping was not the rule. Which certainly saves some when you don't have to tip on every drink. Everything is poured though, from pre-measured machines that give you exactly a shot (actually I believe it's a little bit less then what we consider a full drink here). This effectively eliminated the usual strategy of tipping yourself into stiffer drinks, although it did add an air of predictability to how much you were drinking. Where's the fun in that?

Erik and I packed it up after that evening and located the hotel that the tour was to leave from. There was an orientation meeting for the tour, where all of the necessary forms and waivers were filled out. Everyone met and hung out a bit. We ended up helping two Australians on the tour with their bags, since they were switching rooms in the hotel. A few people from our tour ended up at the bar, and then walking the streets of London, getting a head start on getting to know everyone. Back at the hotel, I crashed while curiously watching a German TV station feed, whose casual display of nudity completely removed any sort of erotic effect it might have had. It was just naked chicks on boats, fishing or something.

All pictures from London

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