Of London, Part Deux

So last weekend, a group of 4 American exchange students decided to tackle London. Some were doing it for the second time, the others, it was only their first attempt. Little did they know, that the city was mightier than they expected and they only managed to get to 6 destinations over the course of a weekend.

On Friday the 23rd, due to a certain mess-up with the train ticket, I took a train from Coventry Station to London all by myself while the rest of my party took a separate train from Leamington Spa. Yet, it wasn't too bad because the two hour ride allowed for some quiet time and admiration of the picturesque English green countryside, the site of admiration for many an English poets. Not to mention that since the rails were electric, the train was incredibly comfortable and spacious (each seat has a table for your food!). Though sadly, no trolleys a la Harry Potter.

"a fair green country under a swift sunrise" - JRR Tolkien

With sheep!

Upon arriving in London, I then braved the London Underground all by myself. Now London differs from New York in one primary respect: while New York was built on an orderly, gridlike plan (and in that case, so are many American cities), London seems to have been arranged in a haphazard manner with a myriad of large streets which divide into subsidiary streets, similar to the threads of a spider web. Suffice to say, nothing follows a grid, not even the subway. Despite that, the London Tube is incredibly easy to use, if only for the fact that each individual train lines are divided by color and the stops are clear on the map. Not only that, but the trains differ from NY subways in how clean they are. There is no bum sitting in the corner and no musky, slightly questionable smell. Instead, everything is white, clean, and the bums (if there are any) drink out of actual bottles rather than paper bags.

The way to the underground is paved by a big red target. Very handy for the visually impaired.

That Friday, after checking in at our hostel, Journey's Smoking Barrel, we proceeded to explore the central London (where we would predominately remain for the next day and a half). This included sights that I saw the very first night I came to London only this time, it was 100 times better since I was a) not jetlagged and b) well-fed. First stop was Waterloo where the London Eye awaited me yet again. And this time, I did not forget to bring my camera. According to my guidebook, it's the Eiffel Tower of London, with the best view of the city for 15 pounds. Sadly, since the sun was quickly setting (at freakin' 4!), we decided to save a journey up the Eye for another, sunnier day.

"My grandma, what big eyes you have!"

Next was a stroll along Westminster Bridge and Westminster itself, where we passed the beautiful Big Ben at dusk. Now, the building is not actually called Big Ben, but rather, it is the name for the large bell within the clock. These days, native Brits use the name to refer to the large clock.

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament at sunset

I'm sure quite a number of people know about the delicacies of British pub culture, particularly its focus on authentic British cuisine and beer. Yet, I did not realize how prevalent pubs were in Britain until we were walking around and exploring the city and there was a pub ON EVERY BLOCK. Americans have our Starbucks on every corner, the Brits have their pubs. At one of the pubs we stopped at, they had authentic British desserts, which included spotted dick, which surprisingly, tastes pretty harmless in comparison to its name (like most British foods I think, case in point "bangers and mash" - see Britishism dictionary below).

Spotted Dick, or basically fruit cake in custard. Surprisingly tasty, if a bit bland (Brits don't eat as much sugar as Americans).

The first night in the hostel was spent with me bemused at my travel mates for not bringing their own towels. For future travelers at hostel, please be aware that hostels do not give you towels. You have to pay for them if you want to use one. So be like Douglass Adams and always bring a towel with you when you're traveling.

"A towel...is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth ....you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V...wet it for use in hand-to-hand combat, you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough." - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Word

For anyone wondering, a hostel is your college dorm experience where you slept in a bedroom with a multitude (in my case 5 other people, though certain rooms can hold up to 24 people) of folks and shared a (sometimes questionable) bathroom with the entire floor. Yet not bad for 15 pounds a night. It also comes with a common room and a kitchen on each floor, free continental breakfast, and clean (hopefully) sheets. And there is usually an age restriction of 25 years or towards students only (if you have a real job, stay at a real hotel).

Stay tuned in the next post for an extended account of our whole Saturday in London.

Random Britishisms:

• "Cheers" = another word for thank you. So when someone says cheers, they are not toasting you (and they say it A LOT)
• "Top up your phone" = add more money to your phone. This applies to people who have a pay as you go plan, especially when certain plans gives you 200 text messages when you "top off" 10 pounds on your phone. Text messaging is a very big thing here, even moreso than calling people.
• "pants" = underwear (aka: "knickers"). I found this out via a humorous exchange with my flatmates where they asked me what I was wearing for a night out and I replied, "dress pants" and they looked at me like I was a weirdo (or a harlot). Apparently, dress pants are "trousers" or "slacks."
• "pub crawl," it's a British student excursion which consists of getting on one of the lines on in the Underground and at every stop, go to the nearest pub, get a drink, then go back to the line towards the next stop. I'm guessing that towards the end of the night, the lines all start to blur together with humorous results, I'm sure.
• "bangers and mash" - sausage with mashed potatoes and gravy. Surprisingly tasty, if a bit salty. And the sausage is definately not as questionable as at home sausage.