I arrived in London and immediately felt lonely. I think its because I had such a good time in Dublin and was with a friend and I won't see someone else I know for a week. My friend Jessica thinks because I felt so comfortable being in Dublin and with Kevin that I felt like I was home. In her words "Good people make you feel like you're home" and I think that's what it was. Kiah thinks its because it feels like home since its harder to think that I'm abroad being in London or Dublin. Whatever the reason is...I'm homesick and feel a little lonely.
But anyway, my flight into London was far from the center of the city. So I took an hour or so bus into the city center. And driving through I was surprised. It's more brown than I imagined. Way more brown actually.
Also, London is huge. It reminded me of New York which was a little boring. With the crowded public transportation, people on the streets walking rapidly, jay-walking, the skyscrapers and all sorts of diversity walking around. And other parts reminded me of LA, at least the part I passed through on the bus totally reminded me of the downtown LA area that were all like filled with buildings and restaurants of immigrants that settled in the outskirts of the area. I arrived in London in the early afternoon at about 5:00 after passing through the outskirts and after settling into my hostel went across the street to get Indian. I had been craving Indian food since Dublin since walking around we saw so many in such a small area but I am glad I waited. I forgot that India was a colony of England and therefore there are tons of Indians walking around. Based on that history, I can only assume that the Indian food in London would be better than in Dublin. But of course, this is only speculation.
My first day in London was just me kind of walking around and going to bed relatively early because I felt like I had been traveling all day. My second day, I planned to go to Buckingham Palace to watch the Changing of the Guard and then grab lunch and eat it in Hyde Park because they are airing the Olympics on big screens there. So I got up, got some breakfast and proceeded to walk from my hostel to Buckingham Palace. I thought it would be nice to walk around and maybe find some things I wouldn't normally see if I hadn't walked. BIG MISTAKE. London is HUGE. I had gotten so used to these small European cities where you can walk from one end to the other in 20-30 minutes. London is not like that at all! I bought and Oyster card which is used for the "Underground" (not just for underground systems but for the buses too) and have been using it since! But anyway, I walked by Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. As I arrived at Buckingham Palace and asked the officer where I should stand to watch the Changing of the Guard, he proceeded to tell me that it would not be happening today. Instead the men's cycling part of the triathlon would be passing through instead. Uh....free Olympic event? Yes please! So I waited for it to start and pass through the Buckingham Palace area. It was pretty fun! And people from all over and each lap of the cycling was different than the rest. Then I tried my hardest, my absolute hardest to make it to Hyde Park to watch the end and see who won but unfortunately I did not and saw the announcement of who won. (More specifics on the Olympics in another blog post soon to come!)
After I left Hyde Park, I walked down Oxford Street. Even though my friend Hayley told me to avoid it, I just ended up walking on it because they rerouted me to that street since other parts were closed due to Olympic traffic. Hayley told me to avoid it because it would be busy and crowded. WOW, she could not have been more right. It was horrifically busy as people were walking around lost or looking for the next Underground stop. As I got on the Underground, I headed to the next stop that sounded the most interesting to me: Baker Street. For those of you that don't recognize the importance of Baker Street, it is significant to Sherlock Holmes. And walking out of the stop, the walls are tiled with little Sherlock Holmes hats. (Don't worry, I have pictures). Anyway, he lived at 221b Baker Street. I went to the "museum" if you can even call it that. Not worth the money if you have a good imagination and have already imagined what his little flat looked like. I would just go into the gift shop instead because that was adorable. So adorable I considered getting a Sherlock Holmes teddy bear. But I don't need it so I didn't get it, but I'm here for another few days.
The day ended with me going back to the hostel and booking my flight home!!! I think the homesickness was my final push to finally book it! See you soon my fellow Americans!
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