London, Day 1
Friday was a day of transition. Our original plan was to take a ferry from Belfast to Scotland, then zip down on a train to London in time for lunch. When we presented this plan to the clerk at our hostel, however, we were met with a less than serious reaction.
Time to re-plan. As much as I wanted to see miles and miles of Scottish train tracks, I didn't want to make an entire day of it. When we learned that it's never too late to buy an expensive airline ticket (FlyBE charges you an extra fee for a seat!), we decided to fly.
So, Friday morning, we took a cab to Belfast City Airport. Stan lost his body wash at thr security gate because, well, he's brown. I passed right through. And we took off on a one-hour jump to London Gatwick Airport.
I don't know where London Gatwick is, but it's not in London. I'm thinking Iceland. We took an hour and a half busride that wove through every suburb in the city. The suburbs were peaceful: all with little shops, big apartment buildings crammed together, cozy-looking row houses, and enough trees to make the whole area look like a park.
Finally, we made it to London. I'll start by saying that central London is insane. I thought New York was insane, but it's a cozy suburb compared to central London.
Additionally. the tube station is a zoo. Actually, that's not fair. Zoos are relaxed places where animals sleep and lick themselves. In tube stations, if you paused to lick yourself, you would be knocked over within half a second, and six people would politely yell at you for holding things up. There is no stopping in London, no thinking, only moving.
We had some Subway sandwiches in a grimy shopping mall, then navigated our way to our hostel in Shephard's Bush. Shepherd's Bush is outside the city center, almost a suburb, teeming with young people. It's open and relaxed, circling a park, with dozens of unpretentious shops and restaurants lining the streets. There's a little more room to breathe out here, although the crowds can still get you.
After resting for a bit, we took the subway to Picadilly Circus, which is slightly crazier than the name would suggest. It's basically London's Times Square, filled with theatres, expensive theme restaurants, thousands of people, and no room to walk. It's still a lot of fun and filled with energy - it's a rush to zoom around and avoid getting flattened.
By then, we were hungry, and we set off in search of that mythical London creature, cheap food. We started off speed-walking in a random direction, looking for entrees that weren't 18 dollars each. It was a long walk.
We walked through some fascinating areas, sparse and wealthy, ornate and gaudy in the Victorian style. There was almost nobody out and very few restaurants. We got strange looks because we wore tee-shirts and hadn't inherited millions of dollars from our parents. No matter. We searched for an hour and a half, rushing through London streets in the cool weather after a rain.
Stan would disagree, but I'm glad we couldn't find food for a while. Getting lost in London on a guerilla walking tour was a rush, the kind of adventure I wanted after the day's incremental travels. It was getting dark, but I didn't mind; if anyone in the area was a mugger, the locals probably assumed it was us.
Once in a while, we asked for directions; some Londoners brushed us off, but others gave us helpful suggestions. We found Soho, where cheap food was rumored to exist. We waded through crowds of kids who were out for the night. Finally, we found Diner, serving (relatively) inexpensive American food. We ate and rested, and it was good, but I had more fun just getting there. As they say, life's a journey, not a basket of cheese fries.
We reached the hostel around 11:30 pm and went down to the common room. A kid from Hong Kong asked if we wanted to play ping-pong, so we did....and then two brothers from Switzerland joined and kicked our butts....and then someone from Canada joined up....and then we all just sat around and talked. It was fascinating being around so many perpetual travelers, whose ranks we've joined for a scant ten days. I stayed up talking until 3 am, Stan until 5 am, and then we crashed.
I'm still formulating my opinion of London. That it's amazing is not in doubt; but it's so many things in so many directions that I can't get an overall sense of it yet. I'll keep trying, though. Thanks for reading.
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