Foggy London Town

So when I left last time we were all going to London. Cole and the Klein bunch. We all rode a taxi to Paris's Gard de Nord train station and boarded the Euro-star train to England. It was really cool. The trains are comfortable and it's a cool way to see the countryside. These aren't like regular trains though. This one in particular has reached over 300 km per hour in a speed test. I'm sure they only run it around 250 kmph but that's still over 100 mph. The turns are banked so that the train can run through turns at high speed. Anyways the French countryside looks a lot like the country would look like in the Great Plains except way more green. The towns are really old looking too. As we got closer to the English Channel I was hoping I would get to see it before we dipped down into the Chunnel (tunnel under the English Channel) but that didn't happen. The tunnel starts before you can see the water. The cool thing is you are only in a tunnel for 20 minutes before you pop out high and dry in England!!

Interesting side note: I'm still unsure of the distinction between the countries that make up the United Kingdom or Great Britain. These are the countries of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. I think they are countries in a federation or something. The Union Jack flies over the Parliament which is a symbol of the UK but the English soccer team flies a white flag with a red crusader cross. hmmm I'm not sure.
London is an amazing city. Just from the train station to our hotel there was so much to see! There were parks, famous buildings, palaces, statues, they had it all. Speaking of the ride to the hotel this was my first experience of riding on the left side of the road and it was quite unnerving. Especially on little streets that are smaller than a U.S. one way street but apparently big enough for two in Europe. Our hotel was in a very good spot. It was within walking distance of a lot of things: Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus (time square of London), and tons of parks and statues. I'll break down each place complete with pictures in my next installment.


London was a fun place though. When we got there our first meal was at an English Pub. The food was good the beer was good. English food isn't a lot different than U.S. food. I think people are definitely in better health in Europe though. Not a lot of fatties. Throughout the week we tried all kinds of food. We had Indian food (supposedly the best Indian food in the world is in London), Lebanese food, and I even had a little bone marrow one night. It was actually really good. They have a lot of take out places too that have healthy food. You actually have to pay extra for food if you want to sit in a restaurant or take out place. There is a special tax for it. So even if the food is just kind of a grab and go they ask you if you are eating in or taking out and charge you accordingly.

The week went by really fast. We walked around all day touristing around and taking lots of pictures. The legs were sore by the end of it all. We even had time for Jenny to go shopping at Harrods (a famous London department store). After Harrods we found a little pub in the same area and watched the England vs. Slovenia soccer (football) game. It was a purdy high class neighborhood so it didn't get too rowdy except for a scottish man who had come in off the street and announced that England would win the World Cup and he just put 2000 pounds on it (pounds are about 1.25 dollars). After the game everyone was happy because they won and the Scottish man bought me a drink and after the drink asked me for 40 pounds so he could get back home. Seriously I was like no bro sorry. I wasn't that drunk.
That night we went to Piccadilly Circus for dinner and found a nice little place to eat. Before that we saw a nice little shop called Trashy Lingerie and thought it would be cool to take a picture. The picture didn't really turn out because my camera is crappy but long story short there was a nice little man who said he would take the picture with everyone in it and he did and then he kissed me on the cheek because he was a gay man and thought that I was good looking. This was a very awkward moment for me because my first instinct was to punch him in the face but that wouldn't have looked good. Needless to say he kind of left in a hurry and everyone laughed at me and told me it was ok. I however have been scarred for life.

Incidentally I was kissed on the same cheek by a crazy woman on the bridge next to Parliament the very next day. She was a panhandler and kinda came up on me and grabbed me. That was awkward too.

The last night we were there we watched a play called Avenue Q. It was really funny. It was kinda like the muppet show but inappropriate muppets. That was the 2nd play I've ever been to. Before the play we were in a hurry and had to eat fast and so we swung into the Pizza Hut haha. It was like Pizza Hut in the U.S. but seemed way better. I enjoyed it haha.

Well I loved London and had a great time the next time I will just write about the different sites in England that we visited.

Tootles.

p.s. A traditional English Breakfast includes: eggs, bacon, sausage, and baked beans. hmmm the baked beans were a surprise.