England Trip, September 2009, Day 1
After an overnight flight that began on Friday evening, I arrived in London on Saturday morning, September 12. (Or "12 September" as they write in England.) The entire travel process took about 12 hours, including a brief layover in Detroit.
Rather than entertaining myself on the plane, I tried to sleep so I wouldn't be too tired when I landed and would have enough energy to explore London. I found it difficult to sleep and only slept perhaps two or three hours. This made the flight seem very long since most of it was spent sitting there trying to sleep!
Shortly before reaching England, we flew over Ireland. It was fun to see it, but exasperating to be so close and not be able to visit. But, with such a short trip, I decided to focus on only one country so I wouldn't waste all my time traveling between places.
Rather than entertaining myself on the plane, I tried to sleep so I wouldn't be too tired when I landed and would have enough energy to explore London. I found it difficult to sleep and only slept perhaps two or three hours. This made the flight seem very long since most of it was spent sitting there trying to sleep!
Shortly before reaching England, we flew over Ireland. It was fun to see it, but exasperating to be so close and not be able to visit. But, with such a short trip, I decided to focus on only one country so I wouldn't waste all my time traveling between places.
This may seem like a strange picture to start off with, but it's the very first one I took. This was at the airport, after the border control people accidentally let me into their country, and I was waiting for the Heathrow Express train that would take me into central London.
You can see the underground train flying by (it's all blurry, a common theme in my photographs), but what I was really taking a picture of was the sign on the ground that says "MIND THE GAP". It's found at many underground stops and the announcer often says "mind the gap" when passengers are boarding.
I was excited to see my first "MIND THE GAP" sign. I had read a fantasy book a couple years prior to my trip (Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman) which was set in present day London, and this phrase was referenced in the book.
You can see the underground train flying by (it's all blurry, a common theme in my photographs), but what I was really taking a picture of was the sign on the ground that says "MIND THE GAP". It's found at many underground stops and the announcer often says "mind the gap" when passengers are boarding.
I was excited to see my first "MIND THE GAP" sign. I had read a fantasy book a couple years prior to my trip (Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman) which was set in present day London, and this phrase was referenced in the book.
This picture is of Paddington Station, in central London. This was where the train took me that I was waiting for in the previous picture. Yep, that's really a McDonald's sign in the background. One of my first sights in London was McDonald's. :p
This picture was taken outside of Paddington Station, at the taxi queue. I didn't have to run around yelling and waving my arms to get a taxi like people do in the movies. The taxis all just poured non-stop into this queue and one by one we all got into the next available taxi and told them where we wanted to go.
From the station, it was about a 10 or 15 minute drive to my hotel. I had a lot of chatty taxi drivers during my time in England, but this guy wasn't one of them. He barely said anything to me except to clarify where I wanted to go.
We drove by Buckingham Palace which had an insane number of people congregated around it, but I didn't try to take pictures during this taxi ride so I don't have any pictures of anything else until after I got to the hotel.
From the station, it was about a 10 or 15 minute drive to my hotel. I had a lot of chatty taxi drivers during my time in England, but this guy wasn't one of them. He barely said anything to me except to clarify where I wanted to go.
We drove by Buckingham Palace which had an insane number of people congregated around it, but I didn't try to take pictures during this taxi ride so I don't have any pictures of anything else until after I got to the hotel.
This was my hotel room in London. The hotel was called City Inn Westminster. City Inn is a chain in England. You can see it's kind of small, but nice. All of the hotels in London are either small or expensive or both.
The cabinet in the back had a mini-fridge, which I hadn't remembered seeing in the hotel description, so that was a nice surprise. To the right is the iMac that comes in every room at this hotel. It also serves as the TV.
The cabinet in the back had a mini-fridge, which I hadn't remembered seeing in the hotel description, so that was a nice surprise. To the right is the iMac that comes in every room at this hotel. It also serves as the TV.
This may surprise you, but this is a bed. It may not look like much, but it was the most comfortable bed I have ever slept on. I really noticed the difference in how I felt when I woke up. After returning home, it occurred to me to ask the hotel what kind of mattress it was. They said it was a "Hypnos". I looked it up, and apparently Hypnos is the brand that the Queen of England sleeps on. They're also insanely expensive. I'm accepting donations!
This is a closer view of the iMac. It had a funky keyboard that drove me nuts. I'm not sure if it was an England thing or an iMac thing, but some of the non-letter keys were slightly offset or in different positions from where I expected.
This was a tiny little bathroom in my hotel room. The shower was particularly small, because it's a square instead of a rectangle. I had some issues with that folding door on the shower. I kept trying to push it out instead of pulling it in. After my first shower, I couldn't get it open and for a couple seconds I thought I was going to have to spend the rest of my vacation in the shower!
I took this picture especially for my mom. She loves toilets, outhouses, bathrooms, and bathroom humor. Fortunately I didn't inherit her oddness.
This is the view outside my window. The picture looks weird because of the reflection from the glass. Did I mention my lack of photography skills? You should see some of the photos I'm NOT sharing -- they're almost nauseating.
This hotel was in more of a business type area, but still pretty close to all the major sites. It was about a 10 or 15 minute walk to the Underground station and from there I could get pretty much anywhere. There was also a taxi queue right outside the hotel door, so if I needed a taxi I didn't have to go hunting for one.
It was funny, because the next morning I asked at the front desk in the hotel lobby for advice on how to get somewhere. We ended up agreeing that a taxi would be my best bet, and he kindly offered to get me one. Then he walked me outside, and we walked together about five feet to the nearest taxi where he "got me a taxi". He could have just told me there was a taxi queue right outside! He must have heard stories about blonde Americans.
This hotel was in more of a business type area, but still pretty close to all the major sites. It was about a 10 or 15 minute walk to the Underground station and from there I could get pretty much anywhere. There was also a taxi queue right outside the hotel door, so if I needed a taxi I didn't have to go hunting for one.
It was funny, because the next morning I asked at the front desk in the hotel lobby for advice on how to get somewhere. We ended up agreeing that a taxi would be my best bet, and he kindly offered to get me one. Then he walked me outside, and we walked together about five feet to the nearest taxi where he "got me a taxi". He could have just told me there was a taxi queue right outside! He must have heard stories about blonde Americans.
This is just another view outside my window from a different angle. There wasn't a whole lot to see outside the window, but it's still London!
This was the first picture I took after I left my hotel. This was still on the day I arrived in London. I took a short nap and then went out to explore. I promptly began walking in the wrong direction and got lost. From this point on, any time I say I went somewhere, you can just assume there's an unstated "and I got lost" at the end of the sentence.
Since I was just excited to be in London, I didn't much care that I was lost. Eventually, I found my way here. This is a close up view of a small part of the Houses of Parliament. You can also see the top of Big Ben peeking out behind the roof. This isn't a very pretty picture, but I took it because it shows how old all the buildings are. Most of them look this way to some extent, but it doesn't always show up clearly in the pictures. It was amazing how old everything was. I was a little awed at being surrounded by structures that had been built so long ago.
Since I was just excited to be in London, I didn't much care that I was lost. Eventually, I found my way here. This is a close up view of a small part of the Houses of Parliament. You can also see the top of Big Ben peeking out behind the roof. This isn't a very pretty picture, but I took it because it shows how old all the buildings are. Most of them look this way to some extent, but it doesn't always show up clearly in the pictures. It was amazing how old everything was. I was a little awed at being surrounded by structures that had been built so long ago.
This is a fancier looking picture of part of the Houses of Parliament.
This is a wider view of the Houses of Parliament to try and show more of it at once. This still wasn't all of it, though. It was a huge building!
This is the front of Westminster Abbey. This was another big building that I failed to fully capture in a photograph. I was too tired to join the energetically jostling crowds further back in prime picture taking distance. I figured there were already plenty of great pictures on the internet that I could look up anytime I wanted to, so what did it matter if mine weren't that great?
I toured the inside of the Abbey, but you aren't allowed to take pictures inside. It was beautiful inside. You could pick up an "audio guide" that sort of gave you a guided tour. As you walked around, each point of interest had a sign with a number on it. When you entered the corresponding number into your audio guide, it would play a narrative regarding it. Some of the information was pretty interesting, and I think other parts I was too tired to fully appreciate. I saw a lot of audio guides in various tourist areas and it was a good way to learn more about a place.
I toured the inside of the Abbey, but you aren't allowed to take pictures inside. It was beautiful inside. You could pick up an "audio guide" that sort of gave you a guided tour. As you walked around, each point of interest had a sign with a number on it. When you entered the corresponding number into your audio guide, it would play a narrative regarding it. Some of the information was pretty interesting, and I think other parts I was too tired to fully appreciate. I saw a lot of audio guides in various tourist areas and it was a good way to learn more about a place.
This is another view of Westminster Abbey, angled toward the right as you face it.
Big Ben! You can also see one of the famous double decker tour buses in the distance. (It's red.)
Note that everybody is driving on the wrong side of the road. Not only that, but they're sitting on the wrong side of their car! It could get seriously confusing trying to cross the street. You don't realize how deeply ingrained it is to look left first when you cross the road. There were signs on the curbs at many intersections reminding confused tourists to "look right".
The intersections with traffic lights also had pedestrian traffic signs so you knew when you could cross. The intersections without traffic lights were a little different. I never totally figured it out. At most of them, the cars would come to a screeching halt as soon as they saw you approach the curb and they would wait until you crossed. But I encountered one intersection where they didn't do that. A person was a little ways ahead of me and started to cross, apparently expecting the cars to stop like they did everywhere else, and the person had to jump back on the curb because an oncoming car didn't stop. So I don't know what made the difference, or maybe the driver was a confused tourist too, but I was very careful about crossing the street here!
Note that everybody is driving on the wrong side of the road. Not only that, but they're sitting on the wrong side of their car! It could get seriously confusing trying to cross the street. You don't realize how deeply ingrained it is to look left first when you cross the road. There were signs on the curbs at many intersections reminding confused tourists to "look right".
The intersections with traffic lights also had pedestrian traffic signs so you knew when you could cross. The intersections without traffic lights were a little different. I never totally figured it out. At most of them, the cars would come to a screeching halt as soon as they saw you approach the curb and they would wait until you crossed. But I encountered one intersection where they didn't do that. A person was a little ways ahead of me and started to cross, apparently expecting the cars to stop like they did everywhere else, and the person had to jump back on the curb because an oncoming car didn't stop. So I don't know what made the difference, or maybe the driver was a confused tourist too, but I was very careful about crossing the street here!
This was the "London Eye". It's a big observation wheel that you can ride and get nice views of the city.
This picture also kind of gives you an idea of how crowded it was in London. The couple in front of me are hiding most of the people from view, but you can sort of see the large conglomeration of people a little ways ahead of them. My pictures don't do justice to the crowd levels for some reason. I think this is because I tended to look for the pockets of open space because I like my personal space! I would also look for less crowded places to stop and take pictures, on the occasions when I actually bothered to stop at all. A lot of the time it was just too crowded to try to stop and take a picture, unless I wanted to be rude and block the path.
This picture also kind of gives you an idea of how crowded it was in London. The couple in front of me are hiding most of the people from view, but you can sort of see the large conglomeration of people a little ways ahead of them. My pictures don't do justice to the crowd levels for some reason. I think this is because I tended to look for the pockets of open space because I like my personal space! I would also look for less crowded places to stop and take pictures, on the occasions when I actually bothered to stop at all. A lot of the time it was just too crowded to try to stop and take a picture, unless I wanted to be rude and block the path.
This is a view from the London Eye. I don't know what all those people were doing in that grassy area, but the sign says "barclaycard". I have no clue what that means, but perhaps it was a company picnic.
This is another view from the London Eye. You can see the Thames River here.
This is another view from the London Eye. I tried to take pictures in all different directions.
This is another view from the London Eye. You can see Big Ben again, and the huge building to its left with the tall tower is the Houses of Parliament, from the back side. This is from the opposite side of where I was when I was taking pictures of it earlier.
This is yet another view from the London Eye.
This is one last view from the London Eye. This was taken when we were at the very top of the wheel. The entire rotation took about 30 minutes. It moved very slowly so you could take pictures and enjoy the view. The only problem is that I was really, really, totally exhausted by this point. I did okay when I kept moving, but after remaining still for so long I started to realize exactly how tired I was. After I took this last picture, I sat down on the bench in the middle of the capsule and tried not to fall asleep.
After this, I went back to the hotel and managed to stay awake until it was a late enough hour to go to bed. I ordered room service for dinner. I can't remember for sure what I had, but I think that was the night I had some kind of soup with seafood in it which was very good. And for dessert I had a strawberry tart which was delicious. For lunch earlier that day, I had stopped at a random street vendor and purchased a pancake topped with mushrooms and cheese, rolled into a cone and served in a cone shaped cup. They also had freshly squeezed orange juice that they made right there while you waited. The pancake thing may sound odd, but it was very good.
I slept very well that night on that comfortable bed!
After this, I went back to the hotel and managed to stay awake until it was a late enough hour to go to bed. I ordered room service for dinner. I can't remember for sure what I had, but I think that was the night I had some kind of soup with seafood in it which was very good. And for dessert I had a strawberry tart which was delicious. For lunch earlier that day, I had stopped at a random street vendor and purchased a pancake topped with mushrooms and cheese, rolled into a cone and served in a cone shaped cup. They also had freshly squeezed orange juice that they made right there while you waited. The pancake thing may sound odd, but it was very good.
I slept very well that night on that comfortable bed!