Eye on the Prize

And thus the great catch-up begins.  I have been in Europe with my boyfriend, Josh, for just over a week now and have yet to blog.  Therefore, bear with me as I recall funny moments and memories, as well as compile a future To Do list for myself for each city.

This catch-up will begin, as our travels did, in London.  With overcast skies and a chill in the air (but a forecast of beautiful weather all week), we descended from the skies into London.  From a bit of reading about the city, I learne that the name London is from the older name Lundinium, although the origins of that name remain hypothetical.  We passed brick rooftops and sooty facades, but also bundled-up locals and tourists alike enjoying the beautiful, historic city.

Josh and I were staying with James, James Bond, a friend that I had met in central Vietnam who kindly offered his couch (and got his flatmates to agree to it) to Josh and me for our first few nights in the city.  Beside the company, the best part of the deal was the convenient location with regard to the (very best) metro line.

From the first few hours, we determined to make the most of our time in London.  We went for a walk around some of the major monument, stopping at Big Ben (actually the bell inside the tower, Elizabeth Tower), the Houses of Parliament, and other attractions in time to the Rick Steves free audio guide tour of the city.

Fun facts:

Big Ben is either named after a heavyweight boxing champion around the time that it was cast or after the commissioner of works, a large man named Sir Benjamin Hall.

The bell cracked, was recast, and then cracked again.  This time, they simply turned it to present an untracked portion to the hammer, and the bell continued to toll.

The walk around the city was just what we needed.  We saw the London Eye, walked over and around the Thames, 

the Boadicea Statue (which I would have been clueless about otherwise - look her up!), Parliament Square, Whitehall, the Cenotaph (currently being renovated), 10 Downing Street (the PM's house - the bricks were originally yellow but were soothed black, and now are painted black), the Banqueting House (huge party space - Victoria was such a party animal), the horse guards (try keeping a horse calm when thousands of people touch and poke it each day), and Trafalgar Square. 

 Call me maybe?

 It was sufficient to give us a sense of the downtown layout and feel like we'd had a taste of history.  It also piqued our curiosity: we had stops near the National Gallery, St Martin's in the Field, and various other buildings that seemed interesting.  It also brought us past unexpectedly poignant landmarks, like the Nelson Mandela statue strewn with flowers and lit by a small army of tea lights.  Handwritten letters blanketed his feet like palms thrown down to soften his path.  It was an intimate moment during a walk of awe and stiff grandeur.

We ended the night with dinner at a pub (Fish and chips! Big Ben burger! Swapping mushy peas for something that sounds more appetizing!) 

and then discovered the most recent Crown Jewel of Britain: Sainsbury supermarkets.  This supermarket chain became a lifeline for us in London, feeding us well with its array of fruit, its 3 pound lunch special (giant sandwich + cut fruit + drink - try beating that!), and one pound rolls of McVitties Digestives with chocolate.

And then to our air mattresses, for sweet dreams and a duel with jet lag.

Spotted: driving - and walking, and everything - on the wrong side of the road.  Even the escalators are on opposite sides!  Luckily, the British realize how silly and unique they are and have written "Look left" or "Look right" in white paint at intersections so confused pedestrians can cope.