I had one day in London in transit on my way to New York. At least that's what I thought. So - I tried to pack in as many things into a day as I could.
First I decided to be a super tourist, something I haven't really done so far on my travels. I got the double decker bus that does a hop on - hop off service throughout London, either with a tour guide or an audio tour. Really it's quite cool. Not as cheap as getting a rail pass for the whole day, but well worth it because you get to see all the main things in the city. I'm usually rather bored by monuments and buildings and such, but I didn't mind it so much in London. All I kept thinking was, 'this place is huge, and really really old'. On one of my bus trips an Irishman sat next to me and we got to chatting. We got told off by a sour faced woman who said she wanted to hear the tour guide. I quite nearly told her to get a hearing aid but thought better of it. So, with a new companion for the day, I saw it all. Big Ben (which is actually not called Big Ben, that's the name for the bell inside that only chimes on the hour) River Thames, on which we took a free cruise and were thoroughly entertained by one of the boat operators who wasn't really a tour guide, but did a better job than most I had for that day. He made several jokes about the English keeper who dropped the ball in the US vs ENGLAND game last week - not bad at all. Buckingham Palace I have to say - was a bloody disappointment. Nothing really to see... a big building that was nothing special, and I missed the changing of the guard which was probably the best thing going for it.
There's a really great vibe about London. There's so much going on and so many people everywhere with different faces, skin colours, accents, attitudes, clothing, and personalities. There's something I find really endearing about London and I'd definitely love to come back and really get to know it properly. Seems like my kind of place.
In other news - I must have left my brains at home because since I left i've been doing all sorts of stupid things. I booked a return ticket to Heathrow Airport only to realise later that I'm not flying out of there, hence I didn't need to get a return. *waste of money #1
I also went to the Airport this morning - all excited and ready to go to New York, and when I went to check my booking, I noticed the date said the 17/6 and obviously today is the 16/6 - so I had a lovely morning trip with all my baggage for nothing, not to mention the train ticket I bought. *waste of money #2
and lets not forget that I booked accommodation in New York for the 16th - *waste of money #3
I think that's a job well done, don't you?
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