Day 1 - London

And what a day it has been! My flight started off in San Francisco where I flew to Cincinnati. In Cinci I met up with Kimberlee and Eric where we boarded the flight into London Gatwick Airport. There is not much to say for the flight because, honestly, I took Tylenol PM after a half an hour into it and I don’t remember much after that. It was fabulous. I woke up over Glasgow and eagerly awaited my London experience. Those of you who know mw know that I have always wanted to come here. It could not have been better. Our flight arrived early and customs was a breeze. (Anecdote: I get off the plane impressing my fellow travelers with my knowledge of all the slang and shops and such. Needless, to say I am feeling pretty cool… until the customs agent smiled when I said the name of my hostel, The Chiswick Hotel. Apparently the w is silent.) Anyways, we get done with customs but we still have to wait for our fourth member of our group, Andrew, who was supposed to get in ten minutes after us. Three and half hours later we met up with him. It was horrible! My first hours in London, let alone England, and I have to sit in an airport. Although, it was fun to listen to all fun accents. We took the Gatwick Express to London Victoria and it was insane. It was so busy and then none of our cards were working in the ticket teller machines. We finally got on the tube and headed for our hostel. By the way did I mention that I am doing all of this waiting and walking and maneuvering through the Underground with a very heavy backpack (or as they say here, “rucksack”) on my front and another very heavy and large backpack on my back? I am carrying at least 80 pounds. We get off at the Turnham Green station and have a bit of a walk to the hostel, so that by the time we finally get there, I am about to keel over. By the time we checked in it was six hours after we landed and then we went to our rooms. Funniest thing I have ever seen. I could have gotten just a queen for Kimberlee and I because that is how close our two twins have to be in our tiny room. I have some pics here. We got ourselves settled and then set out again. Andrew and his friend we met up with wanted to go to the Imperial War Museum, but Eric, Kimberlee and I wanted to go to the British Library. After a somewhat stressful day, this was perfect. I saw the Magna Carta, the Guttenberg Bible, Davinci’s notebook, Handel’s original composition of The Messiah and then, my Mecca. I feel like this is the crowning moment of my trip so far because it is like I have made a pilgrimage. They had Jane Austen’s letters and short stories all written by hand on top of her writing desk. THE desk upon which she most likely wrote my favorite books. It was awe-inspiring. After I had reached my Zen we went and met the others at the Imperial War Museum and then headed for Piccadilly Circus. I love this place it is like Times Square with all of the lights and shops and restaurants but set into these old buildings. It is somewhat surreal. We decided to buy discount tickets to see Spamalot and then we went in search of food. None of us had eaten anything since the mediocre bagel on the plane so this was a welcome quest. We wanted a pub for fish and chips but apparently everyone else in London did too so we went to this Italian Café instead. It was good and I probably would have enjoyed it even more if I weren’t scarfing down my food because a) we had to make it to the show and b) I was starving. Spamalot was really funny, but I probably would have enjoyed it more if I weren’t so exhausted. So after a well-deserved shower I lay in my dodgy bed, listening to football highlights on BBC 1. I am in bliss.