Day 1 (Continued)

So Bri and I set off on a little jet-lagged adventure. Just walking down an everyday street is wonderful. The double decker busses are everywhere as well as the black taxis.

TIDBIT: Taxi drivers in licensed taxis must study for (I think) four years learning every street, landmark and everything else about London before they can drive people around. They say it’s harder than getting a degree. Once they pass the test they are said to have “the knowledge.”

The architecture is a brilliant mix of modern, old, and really old (as it should be). I also love walking down the street and hearing snippets of conversations. I am fascinated by accents and the slang. I’ve picked the brain of every Brit I get into conversation with about pronunciation and word use.

TIDBIT: In England they say everything with more words than they need. They qualify everything with “quite” really” and “very.”
Give Way=Yield
Way Out=Exit
Even the cautions signs say things like this, “Fire Action: If you discover a fire…” It’s like, “Eureka! I’ve discovered a fire!” They even told us that if we need help we won’t get a good response if we ask directly. Instead we need to say something like, “Pardon me, sir, I happen to be drowning. Do you have a moment to toss me that life preserver?” That might be a bit extreme, but seriously.

OK. So. Back to my afternoon yesterday. Bri and I walked down a while until we got to a glorious building called the Somerset House. As far as we can tell it’s a huge gallery. It’s amazing from the back, the side and when we turn the corner suddenly there’s the Thames. It was amazing to see. Boats drift past. The water’s a kind of grey-brown-green with choppy little waves. We decide to get a better view while crossing the Waterloo bridge. As we step onto the bridge and look to our left our breath is taken away. There was the dome of St. Paul’s cathedral. They must be developing the area around there because there were also a bunch of cranes. It was all very picturesque, but nothing compared to the view when we turned to look over the other side of the bridge. Behind us the sun was starting on its downwards arc in the sky silhouetting Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and the London eye. I took a picture. It and all the other pictures I mention are up on my flickr account. Just follow this link to the album(and e-mail me if it doesn't work).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29126917@N04/sets/72157612552112646/

Our goal was only to see the Thames, but after being blown away by that skyline we decided to try to visit the actual sites up close and personal. We cross back over the Thames by way of the Hungerford bridge. Once back on the North side of the river we followed whatever path looked like it would take us in the right direction. (Of course we didn’t go down shady alleyways, always kept our bearings and had a map just in case, Mom.) Somehow we kept accidentally running into amazing things. This is how our rout went: (Now is a good time to have my picture page ready for visual aids.)

Across the Hungerford Bridge we accidentally wandered through Charing Cross Station.
Outside of Charing Cross station we accidentally wind up in Trafalgar Square. (pics!)
From Trafalgar Square we see Big Ben just down the road. (pics!)
On that road we see guards on horseback in front of the Guard Memorial. (pics!)
Walking through the Guard Memorial we end up outside St. James Park.
We follow St. James Park looking at the huge white pelicans and Buckingham Palace is right there peeking through the trees. (pics!)
We decide it’s time to start heading home, turn down a street that will lead back to the Thames and there’s Big Ben… like… right THERE.
We look through the buildings on the block we walked down see Westminster Abbey.
There’s Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. (pics!)
We walk down the shore of the Thames and pass Cleopatra’s Needle, an obelisk from 1500 BC.
We follow the Thames until we get back to where we started, admire the skyline once again but now in sunset and get back to our neighborhood just as it’s getting dark.

Needless to say, Bri and I were just speechless. Later I tell our English guide to apartment hunting about our walk (in fact, he’s the chap who suggested we visit the Thames in the first place) and he said that we unknowingly took probably the best possible walk around the big sites. I don’t know how we managed it. Also, Mom, Rick, let me point out that this entire time it was me choosing the directions and getting us from place to place and back without getting lost. Just sayin’.

The rest of the night included another orientation talk and dinner provided by SU Abroad. It also included me falling asleep on top of the covers facing the wrong way on the hotel bed out of sheer exhaustion. And thus was day, and thus was night and it was good. Next post, apartment hunting.