Our last week of the Europe trip was in London. We arrived here by taking the Eurostar train that goes under the English channel from Paris to London, which is quite an engineering feat.
From the train we took the underground, or "tube," to the station near our hotel. Getting lost on the way to the hotel, we had our first encounter with the warm friendliness of the British. An older man saw us standing on the street corner looking at a map, and he started yelling at us from across the street: "Where are you looking for?" We shouted back, "the Pembridge Hotel," but he couldn't hear us so he hobbled over and then gave us directions. He was only the first of many helpful and friendly British in our travels in London, and this is what makes London one of my favorite cities. We were delighted with the hospitable and friendly nature of the British everywhere we went from the tube to restaurants to the streets of downtown London.
And the British have the best sense of humor! Example: In the entrance of the tube, you need to put in a ticket to get past the gate. One woman behind us, put in her ticket and went through but something happend and all sorts of alarms and flashing lights started going off at the gate. She just froze and waited for the employee walking over. He was a large man and looked very angry, and he said, "You broke the machine! Your bag hit it, and now it is broken! Why were you being so careless?" The poor women just looked at him at terror, and right before she was about to start crying, his face changed into a smile and he said, "I am just kidding, the machine is fine. You may go through."
The people also made us feel so welcome everywhere we went. On our first morning, we decided to have lunch at a local pub near the hotel, and as soon as we walked in the bartender smiled and waved, "Hey guys! Come on in!" Learning we were first time travelers to London, he invited us to try several different British beers, and he asked all about our travels thus far. After a few beers and the most amazing 'fish and chips' we felt like we were best friends with this guy. We went back several more times to eat a delicious breakfast of beans, eggs, and toast (they really like their beans and toast in London) and watch the soccer match of English vs. Algeria. During the soccer game the pub was packed with people shooting and cheering, but England did not play very well so it was a lot of angry Brits screaming lots of "bloody hell" and other funny swear words.
We of course went to several different museusm including the National Gallery and the British Museum. I loved the British Museum because it was a collection of items from each major civilization around the world so you went from Anient Greece, China, Africa, India, then Native America and it was fascinating to see what people treasured in each society and the similarities between the different religions and social structures.
We went to two different theaters in London: Love Never Dies and the Lion King. The first is a sequel to the Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Loyd Webber. The music was beautiful, but the story line was a bit strange and not as powerful as the original. Of course, it is difficult to try to follow up something as amazing as the Phantom. Some say it is the same as putting a moustache on the Mona Lisa. The Lion King was as expected, full of colorful costumes and scenery. The play was exactly the Disney movie, including all the songs and dialgoue, into theater form so it was fun to sing along! [Travel tip: buy theater tickets the day before or even the day of the performance and they can be up to half price! We got the Love Never Dies tickets 30 minutes before the show at a great price and we had perfect seats. There are several tickets booth in the theater district selling discount tickets.]
We purchased an Ostyer card for traveling which gives unlimited access to the Tube and all the buses. So you can just hop on a bus and get a tour of London (they are double decker buses too!) without having to pay extra for one of the touristy tour buses. We did lots of walking and kept running into all sorts of mounuments, museums, and churches including Westminister Abbey and Big Ben. We also stumbled upon the Sherlock Holmes Cafe and had a traditional British meal.
London is such a huge city, but because of the people, it feels like a small town. Another example of a friendly Brit: We randomly found this crepe stand near the London Eye (huge Ferris wheel in the pictures) on one of our first days in London. The owner was a Jamaican man who made the best crepes we found on our trip. He was very friendly, and he asked all about our travels. We asked him for advice on the nightlife in the area, and he was happy to point different places out. A week later, we decided to go back for a crepe on our very last night of the trip. To our astonishment, when handing over our nutella-bannana and white chocolate-strawberry crepes, he asked if we ever found some good nightlife! We asked him how he could possibly remember us, and he said that he always remembers the "good people."
On Saturday night of our trip, we bought tickets to a comedy club for the midnight showing. It was stand-up comedy for a full 2.5 hours! Most of the acts were British, which was very entertaining because they kept making fun of audience members. It was a crazy crowd including a huge bachelor party of drunk men. Some audience members also did a lot of heckling (making fun of the comedian), and the worst was when the Swedish comedian came out. It was his first ever comedy show in English, and it was horrible. The jokes were mostly about gay people which is a tricky topic as either the language or the cultural barrier was making none of it funny. One guy kept yelling rude comments like "get off the stage" or "can't you see no one is laughing?" and the poor comedian was barely able to hold his mic by the end because he was shaking so bad! Guess he will never perform in English again. Other than that, the other comedians were hilarous, and they joked about everything from marriage, religion, sex, family, and so on, but we would lose them when they went off on British politics. Great night!
One of the days we joined a guided tour to visit Oxford-Windsor Castle-Stonehedge, which is the best way to see these places because they are outside of London. The tour is a full day from 8 to 8. Check out the pictures!
Overall, London was a great time. I am happy we stayed here for a full week because we could finally settle down for a little bit and enjoy one place more fully. The best parts were getting to meet more locals and having a chance to experience London culture. It is a diverse city with a unique atmosphere, and I would love to come again! Cheerio!
