London, England - Part 1 — Gerald J Fisher

Hey cool people,

So I have been in London the past couple of days and here is how it is going:

Day 3 Thursday, May 21st - Lydia and I flew into London, arriving at London Gatwick Airport around 7:30 p.m.After we landed, we had to go through passport control at the airport before we could grab our bags and make our way to our hostel. To make a long story short, Lydia and I were intensively questioned. We were asked to show our flights out of the UK and Europe, asked how much money we had, why were travelling so long. The agent questioning me even said, "You are American! American's don't take holidays." Well, they eventually let us into the country, so we grabbed our bags from baggage claim and made our way to our hostel.

From the airport we took a 45 minute train to Central London's Victoria Station. I had some sort of idea as to where we had to go to get to our hostel, but it was dark, starting to get late and I just wanted to get to my hostel, so Lydia and I hired one of London's classic, black taxi cabs to our hostel. Our cab driver was the nicest, giving us tips on London and pointing out major attractions on the drive over. He even gave us a little advice on how to tip in London, considering we over-tipped him when he dropped us off at our hostel.

When we arrived at the hostel, we were a little overwhelmed. The hostel lobby was very crowded and buzzin' when we arrived. Lydia and I were surprised at the number of, what appeared to be, teenagers running around. After a little mix up with our reservation, we eventually got check-in and got to our room. The room seemed pretty overcrowded with 16 beds all crammed together in such a small place. When even had to walk through the "bathroom" area to get to our room, and it wasn't the cleanest by appearances. Despite being in a great location, less than a block away from Kensington Gardens, where the home of Prince William and Kate, Kensington Palace is located, this was not the greatest first impression of the place we would be staying in for the next 8 nights. I just had to tell myself, "we are going to be exploring most of the day; it is just a bed to sleep in."

Well, Lydia and I were pretty hungry after the long day of travel, so after we picked our beds and dropped off our stuff, we decided to go grab a bite to eat. A block or two away was a street with a bunch of shops and restaurants. Lydia and I walked up and down it a couple times before settling on Pizza Hut. We had lost track of time, it was about 11:00 p.m. and Pizza Hut was about the last place still serving food at this time. Pizza Hut is a little different here, by the way; it is a sit down restaurant. It was also different watching most people eat their pizza with a knife and fork; us Americans' seemed like messes eating pizza slices with our hands.

Lydia and I finished our pizza and headed back to the hostel to go to bed. Being in a room with so many people it was hard to fall asleep at first, despite how exhausted I felt. I was able to find comfort in putting in my headphones and listening to music. For me, it seemed to block everything else out and all me to drift into something that felt comfortable.

Day 4 Friday, May 22nd - It was mine and Lydia's first full day in London. We take a walk through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park since they were so close to the hostel. The park was absolutely beautiful. It was refreshing to see so many people, running, biking, and just hanging out in the park. In Milwaukee, we don't really see that; people might run along the lakefront, but there is no real Park where everyone goes to just relax and hang out.

Our walk around the park brought us to a few cool sights: the Prince Albert Monument, the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, the Peter Pan Statue and a few others. We eventually made our way across to the other end of Hyde Park where the Marble Arch is located. We stopped to take a few pictures, then found a spot in the Park to lie down and relax for a little bit. We eventually made it the the Roosevelt Memorial, 9/11 Memorial and a few other monuments right in front of the US Embassy.

In the early afternoon, Lydia and I stopped at a pub near our hostel for some Fish and Chips because "When in London," right? They were delicious. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful; we grabbed some snacks from the supermarket, and loosely planned what we all wanted to see while in London.

Day 5 Saturday, May 23rd - Today we decided to be very touristy. We started the day taking a bus tour around London and then a boat tour down the river. When we started the bus tour in the morning, the weather was pretty nice, a bit chilly, but still nice, but about halfway through the tour, the clouds quickly came in and it started to rain. Lydia and I were on the upper level of the bus and were thinking we could brave the elements, but we quickly changed our minds when a light drizzle turned into a full on rain shower.

We decided to hop of the bus for a little bit and grab some lunch before heading to the National Gallery that afternoon. The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in Central London with about 2,300 paintings. The artwork was very impressive, but, not being a huge paintings fan, we were only there about an hour. Luckily, when we left the National Gallery, the rain had past, so we made our way over to the river for our river boat tour.