Out of Range: London

It'll probably be Christmas by the time I finish with this, at the rate I've been going. I've been busy though, so the slow rate is only half-because of my laziness. For instance: Juliette Low left me without a moment to spare for a week, and then Laura was here getting ready to fly off the next. Now I'm afraid the volume of snow we have here will keep me fairly busy with my skis and ski-bock (more on that later)

For now, London.

Dear Brits,

I am sooooo sorry that I judged your whole country on my experience in London. Actually I didn't, you just get defensive--probably because lots of people think London = England. Sort of like lots of people may think that New York = USA, or something equally preposterous. In fact, I will actually with-hold my judgement of England As A Whole until I see where Adrian Mole lives and where the ponies are kept. Also, clotted cream fudge is a serious contender for Best Candy Ever.

So please as you read on: I am actually describing London, not England (though London is in England...).

Love,
KAT

The first mistake I made with London (much like the mistake I made in Paris) was booking cut-rate lodgings. London was worse. In fact, the name should have tipped me off first "The Dover Castle Hostel and Bar" which really means "Hey, we own this bar, and we're doing decent business, but you know what would rock? If we threw some bunk beds in the shit-house upstairs and let the drunkies sleep it off HERE for ten pounds". It was awful, there were rats and then there were our roommates.

When you're sharing a room in a hostel, common decency dictates that you try to be quiet after say 10:30 or 11 pm, because people might be sleeping. Even if people aren't sleeping, you should still be quiet because people might come in and Want to sleep. We were worried that because we were getting in so late, at 11:30, that we'd be those annoying horrible roommates that wake everyone up with the Suitcase Shuffle. I even had my flashlight handy when we walked in....to find....two people talking and watching a movie on a laptop with all the room lights burning.

We went downstairs to enjoy our complimentary drink at the Dover Bar. The bar was about the size of a living room, but with music loud enough to make an entire square block go deaf. We stayed about 20 minutes and decided to go back to our room.

We got all ready for bed, got all snuggly in our chain-link-fence for springs bunk bed with mattress made out of what must have been a few layers of newspaper. I guess drunkies can sleep on the ground, so by their standards these mattresses must have been heavenly.

By 12:15 I finally asked the people to Please turn off that movie and the lights, we want to sleep. They seemed surprised. Oh? Oh? well, we just want to finish it! It's nearly done. I bit my tongue, though I had lots of things already prepared to say to them. None are appropriate for this audience though, I'm afraid.

They got up and left the room with their beers. I knew they'd be back later, and drunk. I wasn't wrong. About 4am they came in and were speaking french quite loudly. Because I had been woken up for 3 and a half hours of sleep I didn't hold back with my language this time. They stopped talking then. Unfortunately, one of them decided to stay up watching another movie on her laptop 'till 6 am.

In the morning, when we discovered the shower didn't work At All, and the nest of bread crumbs made by the rat I marched down the stairs and told the desk guy that we would Not be staying another night. He apologized for the rats, but didn't seem to be awfully worried about it. In fact "Deal with irate guests who have seen the rats" must be one of the daily tasks for the morning person. He gave me some free Internet time to find a new hostel. And we did, and it was much better. You should stay there, it's called London's Journey Eye or something like that. It was nice.

We had our breakfast in the bar and learned of Obama's victory. That made us feel better.

Later that morning, we met up with Ruth, Rachel, Katie and Catherine. We attempted to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham palace. Not much to see honestly. Bunch of guys in fancy dress walking around like robots. There were ponies though, that was nice. The palace itself wasn't much to look at either. Kinda grey, kinda ugly. But, a must see I suppose.

After that, we headed off to the Tower of London. It's more than just a tower. Its a whole castle compound full of people in period dress. Really really awesome. Really Really expensive. Adult admission is 16.50, which if you speak American dollars is around $35. Luckily we had 2 for 1 tickets. We saw instruments of torture, crown jewels, large ravens, and 13th century royal apartments. Very cool.

From there we went and had some fish and chips at the English Applebee's. The beer was nothing to write home about, but it was cheap.

After that we saw Piccadilly Circus, which is Not a circus, unless you are driving through it. Actually, it's a traffic circle. We got back on the underground and rode to ... somewhere...hoping to see the fireworks--because it was fireworks night. But, we could only hear them. We gave up and stood by the river underneath the EYE and looked at Westminster Abby and the houses of Parliament. I learned that Big Ben is not the clock tower, it's just a bell inside the clock. I didn't see Big Ben, but I heard it.

We all said goodnight and Laura and I went back to our new hostel. I must say, all the traveling we did that day was on the underground. I think we must have spent at least 2 hours navigating through the tubes. It is a nice transport system--if a bit expensive (but what isn't in London?)--at 6 pounds for a day pass ($12).

The next day, Laura and I explored around the Parliament, since we couldn't figure out how to get inside and didn't want to play the "Can I get in here for free?" game and risk getting arrested. It took us ten minutes to cross the street. London is a busy and crowded town.

We saw the Westminster Abby. We saw the British National Museum--saw mummies, the Rosetta stone and some other large stone things.

We got on a plane and went to Prague.