We were told we couldn't do London in a day. But when you have a current exchange rate such as ours, you can't be too choosey so Alys and I decided to live it up in London for just one day. Just one. And it wasn't nearly enough but we made do.
It began at 9 in the morning, the earliest we'd been up in quite some time, with a train ride mashed in among rugby fans headed to a big match in the city. The smell of stale beer, and people who'd partied too much the night before, stuck to us like packing peanuts in the train. We both stood the 1 hour to the heart of London, King's Cross. We had each bought a travel card which granted us unlimited rides in the tube once in London and the fare there and back. It was rather pricey (that being an understatment, but on a tangent at least the conversion is easy here- everything is just twice as much) so we wanted to ride the tube just as much as we could, to take full advantage. We changed trains and got off at Picadilly Circus then meandered down to the park and happened upon the changing of the guards. Alys was hoping that candy would be thrown. Apparently candy is the only thing that holds the intrest of Americans at a parade. Sadly, no candy but the fluffy hats made up for it, I suppose. We have become notorious at just wondering into major attractions without ever having to look at a map. It seems much easier that way to wander and hope that whatever it is you want to see or whatever it is your meant to see will indeed find you. Which it did. We saw all the major attractions without trying, (which really isn´t that hard in London considering most of them are close together) then met up with my friend Mike.
Mike and I had me through a mutual friend John about 5 years ago on a trip to Whistler and hadn´t seen one another since. Therefore it took me a mintue to recognize him standing at the Tower of London (which mind you is a big place and probably not the best location to try and meet someone). But seeing a familiar face was so welcomed and Mike proceeded to show us some pretty amazing places we hadn´t got to yet that day, including the Tate Modern Museum where we had drinks on the 7th floor that looked out over most of London. We sauntered up to the outside of the Globe Theater but to go inside you had to pay so we once again became well aquinted with the outside of a major attraction. Apparently, as Mike informed us, you can get standing seats in any show for 5 pounds which is the best deal in London. Too bad there wasn´t a show going on that night.
Popping back on the tube to visit another pub, I reveled in how much I was falling for London. There are so many neighborhoods to explore and so much music to discover. We ended up at a bar hosting a live swing band which for the day we´d had just made perfect sense. I don´t normally take to big cities but this one has me by the jugular and it isn´t about to let go. Looks like I´ll b heading back to London sooner then I can really afford.
