The London experience

I can think of at least one person who'd want this long-awaited posting to be headlined, "Dateline: London", but that headline would only work if I were blogging directly from London.

But anyway, as many of you already know, I went to London recently for business (thankfully, my visit took place before the London bomb scare), and during my downtime in the evenings and over the weekend, I played Mr. American Tourister to great effect.

Some of you were aware of this next bit, too, but my business trip to London actually coincided with my parents' vacation there! They had made their vacation plans long before I was even asked to go for work, so it was just an ironic twist of timing that we should end up there at the same time. But all the same, talk about a supreme moment of "Of all the gin joints in all the world . . ." (Though upon reflection, maybe we should substitute "pubs" for "gin joints.")

All told, though, spending a week in London was quite a remarkable experience, and as you can see, I have plenty to talk about! (NB: most links will take you to pictures.)

Cultural Adaptations

The only major cultural adjustment I had to endure were cars driving on the left side of the road. I knew to expect this, but it's actually something of a shocker to look down from your airplane and see an entire highway of cars driving on the left side.

I have to admit, I never quite got used to this. I might add, too, that it made crossing the street rather confusing. I'm so accustomed to looking left, then right, when crossing the street that it genuinely threw my sense of left and right out of whack by having to reverse that. Thankfully, though, messages were painted on the ground at each crosswalk, "Look to the right" or "Look to the left"—so that helped. My one tour guide made mention of this, and I wasn't sure if she was joking or serious (probably both!), but she said that the tourism industry was suffering without these signs because way too many foreigners were being run over from looking the wrong way.

Finding my office was a little challenging at first, too. For one thing (and this is my own fault), I didn't have any kind of real London map on hand when I arrived. The only geographical reference points I had were Google printouts showing where my office and hotel were. And trying to determine street names provided an unexpected twist! I was looking for street signs up on posts, like I'd normally see in America. Instead, what I found were the street names printed on the sides of the buildings, up around the second floor! I might confess, I found this approach rather fascinating.

Oh, I almost forgot about something! This isn't necessarily a cultural thing, mind you, but more of a noodle-scratcher: the hotel I stayed in didn't have any public phones. I first noticed this when I thought to call my parents to arrange a dinner meeting after I'd arrived in town—and lo and behold, there wasn't a phone in sight within my room! According to the front desk, too, the hotel didn't have any public phones, so I had to make any and all calls either from a pay phone or from my office phone.

The Pubs

Before I left, I was telling people that I'd probably spend every night at the pubs—and I wasn't kidding, either!

The pubs were quite a fascinating experience! "Pub" is short for "public house", and it's sort of a cross between bars and classy restaurants. It's a place where class and wealth don't matter, where everyone is equal, and where anyone can go to wind down from a long day at work. I found the experience of dining at a pub much more logical (and relaxing!) than a regular American bar: at a pub, you order your beer and food right there at the bar, and pay right when you order. The waiter serves your beer right then and there, and brings your food to your table when it's ready. To me, this feels more efficient than ordering at your table.

One thing I noticed right away is that the pub menu is exactly the same from pub to pub. I kid you not—there's little to no deviation whatsoever. I visited several pubs while in London, though I divided my time primarily between two (The Museum Tavern near work, and The Goat across from Kensington Gardens), and again, the menu was practically identical at each one. From the set menu, various dishes I sampled included the black angus burger, the eggs and mash, the sausage and mash, the Ploughman, and it was all fabulous! The portions were quite large, too. They don't look large at first sight, but when you actually dive into it with a knife and fork, all the servings of sausage, bacon (more resembling cooked ham than strips of pig meat), steak and ale pie (like pot pie but with different meat), baked ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, fried eggs, thick slices of cheese, mincemeat, hard bread, apples, cooked carrots, and peas . . . let's just say I never left hungry. And a few times, I was even brave enough to order dessert: bramley apple pie (apple pie served with hot custard) and profiteroles (little cream puffs with powdered sugar and warm chocolate sauce drizzled overtop).

And for all those wondering, yes, the Guinness was fabulous! I'd actually already sampled some authentic European Guinness before this visit, but consuming the genuine article in a British pub is an experience in its own right.

The London Tube

Having lived in DC for knocking on 7 years now, riding the subway has become second nature to me. I rode the Tube literally from the moment I arrived, because it runs from Heathrow to the general neighborhood of my London office (a very long ride, I might add). The rail cars and the stations are more reminiscent of the New York subway system in terms of station architecture and rail car layout, and I felt completely safe riding the Tube, even at the oddest of hours.

The Tube has a few practices, too, that I think DC's Metro could take a few pointers from:

• Rail cars run with surprising frequency, even during off-peak hours and weekends. I got on the Tube around 7:15 Saturday morning and again at 8:30 Sunday night, and if this had been the Metro, I'd have waited at least 10-15 minutes, minimum, for what would probably be a Blue Line train. On this particular weekend in London, I waited no more than two minutes for a train, with each line running one after the other. I can't tell you how much this eased my travel throughout the city!



• There are several more rail lines on the system, covering a vastly greater amount of the city. So that like the New York subway system, you can take the Tube to damn near anywhere you wish.



• The "Walk to the left, stand to the right" signs have been a constant issue on DC-area escalators, and I noticed a practice on the Tube that I think might work for Metro: on London's escalators, they post signs that simply read, "Stand to the right." That alone I think is enough to get the point across that those wanting to stand on the escalator, as opposed to walking, should move over to the right. Thus, those wishing to walk can simply take the pathway on the left—thus alleviating Metro's worry about liability for "encouraging" people to walk on the left, because it doesn't actively encourage people to walk. It just asks those who are going to stand to politely move to the right.

The British Museum

Our London office is actually located right next to the British Museum, which is famous for housing one of the world's largest collections of Ancient Egyptian artifacts and exhibits (next to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, of course). And I'm not talking random Egyptian artifacts here—I'm talking actual mummies and sarcophagi of famous rulers, like Ramesees and Cleopatra! I've held a lifelong fascination with Ancient Egypt, and paying a visit to the British Museum was like winning the lottery for me.

Suffice it to say, I got a bit camera-happy when I walked into the Egyptian wing—and let me tell ya, they waste no time thrusting you into the exhibits! The very first exhibit after you pass through the entrance is nothing less than the Rosetta Stone! Off to the right, you're greeted by the busts of Ramesees II and Amenhotep III, a portion of the beard from the Sphinx, several vaults and sarcophagi, countless artifacts, artworks, eye-catching mosaics . . . and last but not least, actual mummies. The real treat was the mummy of Cleopatra, which was visibly rewrapped but nevertheless captivating, because right in front of my very eyes was an actual historical figure! The feeling of standing outside Cleopatra's case was much the same as when I first visited Washington's tomb at Mount Vernon and understood that one of the fathers of this nation was literally only a few feet away from me.

Adjacent to the Egyptian wing was a Greek exhibit. Here we found several sculptures from the Parthenon, along with the Elgin Marbles—the highlight of the Greek exhibit.

Windsor Castle

Once work was done for the week, I fell fully into the tourist role, and on Saturday I ever-so-subtly made my way into my parents' tour group of Windsor Castle.

I was surprised to discover that Windsor isn't too far from London, actually (just past Heathrow). I had kind of expected it to be out in the country—which is was, but I had guessed it to be further from the city. The town surrounding Windsor is quite charming, with a lot of quaint little houses lined up along narrow streets—though the castle itself overshadows all else.

All my photos are of the outside of the castle, because no photography was allowed inside. A pity, because the interior was quite eye-catching as it showcased some beautiful architecture and artifacts from past monarchies. (We were even lucky enough to witness a changing-of-the-guard ceremony in the courtyard outside!) The castle tour itself lasted only about an hour, and at the end, we managed to get a very informal tour of the chapel below, where several past monarchs (and a few more recent ones) are buried.

Touring London

Visiting the British Museum was the first real chance I had to play tourist inside London. After returning from Windsor (outside London), we hopped onto the double-decker tour bus that goes all around the city—passing nearly all of the key sites and providing tourists (like me) once-in-a-lifetime chances to see some of the most famous monuments, relics, and sites that we have heretofore only seen in movies and on postcards.

And let me state here and now that some sites, such as Big Ben, can only be seen with the naked eye, because postcards and photos in no way compare to seeing it up close and personal!

Though before we got to Big Ben and Parliament, we passed by such sites as Marble Arch, St. Martin in the Fields (which was actually undergoing extensive renovation), the National Gallery, Piccadilly Circus, as well as several random sites. Then we came up on Big Ben and Parliament, Westminster Abbey, 10 Downing Street (I never knew they were all within blocks of each other!), the London Eye, St. Paul's Cathedral (which was even visible from my hotel room), the Tower of London—and of course, the Tower Bridge! Only briefly did we get to see some of Buckingham Palace, but by then it had started to rain heavily, so we sought refuge in the most logical place—inside the nearest pub.

I didn't make it over to Hyde Park, but my parents were actually staying near Kensington Gardens, which houses Kensington Palace—birthplace of Queen Victoria and current home to various royal relatives. As expected, the grounds of Kensington Gardens are quite spectacular! And not too far from there is Royal Albert Hall (which Alfred Hitchcock helped make famous) as well as the Albert Memorial.

Stonehenge

Like Big Ben, the ancient grandeur and mystique of Stonehenge can only be experienced up close and personal; no amount of pictures can prepare you for the real thing. Sadly, though, it poured rain the entire time I was there—but I was still able to get in a fair amount of pictures (but nearly froze in the process, because it was only 50-some degrees out in a cold rain, and I was wearing only a T-shirt).

I didn't even see Stonehenge when the bus was approaching the site, but I was looking out my bus window at the countryside, and then much to my surprise, my tour guide announced, "We're here!" Caught off-guard, I shot bolt-upright in my seat and began frantically looking out the windows—and lo and behold, there it was, right at the top of the next hill and off to the right. Despite the rain, Stonehenge was still very crowded that day! Nobody was allowed to get up inside the circle of stones; everyone had to follow a circular footpath around the monument, but even so, the path still allowed us to get pretty close—maybe to within 10 or 20 feet!

Moss covered many of the stone slabs, but that's to be expected after eons of exposure to the elements. Yet in a way, it enhanced the ancient mystique of Stonehenge, because it makes the mind wonder what rituals took place on this same site hundreds, thousands of years before our time.

Bath

A visit to Bath was part of the Stonehenge tour. By the time we left Stonehenge, it had finally stopped raining (Murphy's Law to full effect), and the drive to Bath was serene and uneventful—though it afforded lots of beautiful countryside (more on that below).

We arrived in Bath late into the afternoon, and it struck me as being much smaller a town than I had expected. In a way, it felt like a small town with a bustling day-to-day life, with quite a lot of shops and plenty of sites to see. We parked near Bath Abbey, which was just as stunning as Westminster Abbey in London, and just around the corner from the abbey were the famous Roman baths that we had come to see. We only had about an hour to spend inside the baths, so it was up to us to make the most of it. Upon entering the building, we immediately came into something of a rotunda that greatly called to mind domed ceilings of Ancient Rome (not to mention the National Art Gallery in DC!).

At first, we could only view the baths from the glass enclosures above, but the end of the tour allowed us to get up close and personal with them—though not to go into the baths themselves, because the water was very old (and probably contaminated). I could be wrong in this, but I think I'd heard that the water was the original water used in the baths thousands of years ago! But in between the glass enclosure and the final baths were several underground exhibits. I didn't get to see what many of them actually were (since I didn't listen to all of the audio tour), but they were quite eye-catching all the same.

On a funnier note, we ran into something of a heckler when we were about to depart for our return trip to London. A middle-aged lady was standing near several of the tour buses, was visibly drunk, and started heckling Americans a little bit, with such lines like, "You're a weird lot, we don't understand you, but I still love you guys!" My slightly embarrassed tour guide politely suggested the heckler have a nice pot of tea when she returns home. The heckler's happy proclamation in response to said suggestion was, "I drink gin." Touché!

Countryside

Let me state this here and now: the British countryside is unbelievably beautiful! I must have taken close to 30 pictures of the countryside alone when I went out to Bath and Stonehenge. The countryside is so vast, so green, so lush, that it's almost impossible to take your eyes off it. And on this particular day, the clouds over the horizon were simply indescribable! It poured rain all through the Stonehenge visit, so dark grey clouds hung precariously over the horizon for much of the afternoon, but the interplay between the dark clouds and the bright white puffy clouds were so stark that it was impossible to take my eyes off them. The brightness of the white clouds was actually augmented by the darkness of the storm clouds, creating an unbelievable and captivating contrast.

In Conclusion

What can I say, except that this was one hell of a trip!!! I highly recommend going for those ever itching to travel the UK! The food is excellent, the sites are spectacular, the people are nice—it's well worth it.