Day 2, April 26th: London By Tube
Location
London, England
Summary
Hit more London spots such as Greenwich Village, Camden Town, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, Hyde Park. Rode double-decker down Oxford St., one of London's premiere shopping areas.
Highlight
Alleys and risque t-shirts of Camden Town
Lowlight
Digital camera mishap ( see Daily Roundup for wet details )
Accommodations
Inside sleeping bag, on top of 3 sofa cushions laid out on floor
Word du jour
Rubbish bin ~ garbage can
Porter Ass**** Meter (PAM)
0
I woke up refreshed and mistakenly believed that I was over my jet lag. We started the morning in style by buying groceries at the neighborhood supermarket and eating by this fountain overlooking The Thames and the Tower Bridge. You can't get that kind of atmosphere back home.
After breakfast, we hit up more sights. In Greenwich Village, we visited The Observatory where the 0th degree is located. To get to Greenwich we crossed the Thames by bridge. To get back, we took a tunnel under the river.
We visited Camden Town next. It's this grungy, punkish neighborhood full of eccentric people and stores. It's similar to NY's East Village. We walked through the narrow alleys there and laughed at some very funny t-shirts that were on display. I can't repeat what the t-shirts said for fear of offending the children. While eating lunch there, we sat near the water next to a drunk woman who was smoking pot and drinking a bottle of wine. She constantly laughed at her own jokes and humped a pole as well.
We then saw Leicester ( pronounced Lester ) Square which houses London's biggest movie houses. I saw Piccadilly Circus which is a roundabout surrounded by giant ads and screens, a la Times Square. I then realized how both cities, NY and London, seem to follow in each other's footsteps. They've both got similar neighborhoods with identical names.
Memorable Moment #1: Hyde Park, which is equivalent to NY's Central Park, was one big memorable moment. When we arrived, we spotted lawn chairs and sat on them. After posing for a few pictures and resting our tired legs, Porter spotted this man with a big lunchbox talking to a family sitting on some lawn chairs beside us. He seemed to be collecting money. So we quickly left the area and came across a sign detailing how much it cost to sit on the chairs.
Memorable Moment #2: After that, I hit the washroom. While inside, there was an accident involving the toilet bowl, the hoodie I was wearing, and my digital camera. You see, the camera, which was safely tucked away in the pouch of my hoodie, fell into the toilet bowl. I picked it up, turned it on, dried it, but all to no avail. The camera was dead. I was pissed for a few hours, but looking back, it wasn't such a bad thing. We already had an amateur photographer in our midst so there was no need for all the duplicate shots. I didn't need to worry about snapping pictures and once again I'm grateful to Porter for his diligent and exhaustive camera work.
For dinner, we took out Ronny and his flatmate Michaela for some non-British food. As expected, the food was good. Tiredness then set in and it was time for bed.
I woke up refreshed and mistakenly believed that I was over my jet lag. We started the morning in style by buying groceries at the neighborhood supermarket and eating by this fountain overlooking The Thames and the Tower Bridge. You can't get that kind of atmosphere back home.
After breakfast, we hit up more sights. In Greenwich Village, we visited The Observatory where the 0th degree is located. To get to Greenwich we crossed the Thames by bridge. To get back, we took a tunnel under the river.
We visited Camden Town next. It's this grungy, punkish neighborhood full of eccentric people and stores. It's similar to NY's East Village. We walked through the narrow alleys there and laughed at some very funny t-shirts that were on display. I can't repeat what the t-shirts said for fear of offending the children. While eating lunch there, we sat near the water next to a drunk woman who was smoking pot and drinking a bottle of wine. She constantly laughed at her own jokes and humped a pole as well.
We then saw Leicester ( pronounced Lester ) Square which houses London's biggest movie houses. I saw Piccadilly Circus which is a roundabout surrounded by giant ads and screens, a la Times Square. I then realized how both cities, NY and London, seem to follow in each other's footsteps. They've both got similar neighborhoods with identical names.
Memorable Moment #1: Hyde Park, which is equivalent to NY's Central Park, was one big memorable moment. When we arrived, we spotted lawn chairs and sat on them. After posing for a few pictures and resting our tired legs, Porter spotted this man with a big lunchbox talking to a family sitting on some lawn chairs beside us. He seemed to be collecting money. So we quickly left the area and came across a sign detailing how much it cost to sit on the chairs.
Memorable Moment #2: After that, I hit the washroom. While inside, there was an accident involving the toilet bowl, the hoodie I was wearing, and my digital camera. You see, the camera, which was safely tucked away in the pouch of my hoodie, fell into the toilet bowl. I picked it up, turned it on, dried it, but all to no avail. The camera was dead. I was pissed for a few hours, but looking back, it wasn't such a bad thing. We already had an amateur photographer in our midst so there was no need for all the duplicate shots. I didn't need to worry about snapping pictures and once again I'm grateful to Porter for his diligent and exhaustive camera work.
For dinner, we took out Ronny and his flatmate Michaela for some non-British food. As expected, the food was good. Tiredness then set in and it was time for bed.