Travel diary: London

This whole travel diary thing is taking way too long.  I will try to wrap this up before I have to start making up the details of our trip.

I had never been to London, and was not sure what to expect, though I did look forward to being in an English-speaking country!  Little did I know that British accents can be pretty difficult to understand sometimes.  I found myself at a cash register at one point being told by the clerk how much to pay for coffee and thinking, "Was that really English?"

My friend Ashley courageously moved to London in April, and we were her first visitors from the U.S.  She was nice enough to let us stay with her, which saved us several hundred dollars -- London is NOT a cheap place!  She also served as our tour guide, which was unbelievably helpful in such a large city.

I have heard a lot of people say that London is "just another big city", but Aaron and I really enjoyed it. It is extremely diverse, crowded, has a very impressive public transportation system, and has more sites to see that a person could possibly take in in one visit.  One negative:  it was cold.  After wearing shorts in Prague, I was wishing I would have brought sweaters and a wool coat to cold and windy London.



Ashley and I on the bus tour





We did a lot of walking throughout the city center the first day, then the requisite double-decker bus tour the second day, which allowed us to see the main attractions without walking 15 miles.



Look kids, Big Ben! Parliament!

 On day 3, we decided to take a break from the hustle and bustle of London, and traveled to Cambridge.  Our friends Ken and Melinda (the same Ken and Melinda that we met up with in Munich) came with us.  Up to this point, we had not even used our umbrella on our trip, but that changed in Cambridge.  It poured on us the whole day.  Despite the rain, we loved Cambridge.  It was a charming little town, with small boats "punting" on the river.


River punting


On Day 4, Ashley, Melinda, Aaron and I went to Greenwich on the outskirts of London.  We hiked up the hill to stand on the Prime Meridian, and got to witness the filming of a major motion picture: Pirates of the Caribbean 4!  We never saw any of the movie's stars like Johnny Depp, Keira Knightly, or Orlando Bloom, but we did have about 200 extras walk right past us, all in costume.  It will might give me a reason to see that movie when it comes out next year.  Not that I have seen 1-3.


Filming of Pirates of the Caribbean 4

 We headed back to the center of London and checked out Buckingham Palace, then took a ride on the London Eye when it got dark. 


Buckingham Palace...the Queen didn't invite us in.



View from the Eye



Our final night in London, we had the worst meal ever (not kidding. Worst.  EVER.), which was disappointing, because we ate lots of really good food there.  We left very early the next morning on a high speed train to Paris.

As I mentioned, I was pleasantly surprised  by how much I liked London, though I'm quite certain I wouldn't be very good at living there.  It seems to be the government's job to take care of everyone, and hearing Ashley's stories about her social work clients was affirmation that when the government provides everything, there is no incentive to provide for yourself (hence, no one in her clients' families have jobs).  Luckily, after yesterday's election results, we can all breathe a sigh of relief that the pendulum won't be swinging that far (at least not yet). 

Are you amazed that I was able to tie the election into a post about traveling to London?