Towers, beer, and rabbit...

Oh London, such a beautiful city. Full of history…people…pollution. For anyone who may be interested in the workings of my body, I have a very stuffed nose, and I leave a tissue black when I blow my nose...if you were grossed out by that, imagine how I feel. I have no sympathy for you. Otherwise, it is a lovely city. Bustling with activity, there is never a dull moment.

My first day was a blur of confusion, shock at prices, and things happening around me. Arriving around 9AM, with not a wink of sleep, I navigated the intensely confusing Gatwick Airport, making it to the North Terminal by the inter-terminal busses, somehow getting there before a complete shutdown of the busses for “unconfirmed reasons”. Eventually finding my easybus, I would have dozed off during the 1 hour drive if it were not for the company of a friendly but shy Argentinean my age who embarrassedly tried his English out with me. He did well and after a couple words of encouragement, he looked a little less shy, and a little happier to share stories of his home country, and plans of his upcoming visit. Dropped off in the South West of London (Fullham Broadway for anyone familiar with London), I fumbled my way to the Underground, and with much instruction from a transit worker, (less than happy to deal with another silly tourist) found my way to a station relatively close to the hostel. The hostel, which it turns out, is lovely! (See, I’m speaking British already! Ok, well hardly, but I try for a little local culture here and there.) No more than a few years old, Central YHA (Youth Hostel Association) is modern, very clean, and not in the least smelly (as I’m warned many hostels are)! After being dragged out by a well meaning, friendly backpacker from Japan, I made my way back to the hostel around 7, exhaustedly showering, and passing out in bed. We weren’t out that long…it just took me until 2 to find the hostel!

Turns out there are a lot of things to see in London, and after waking up at 7 on Thursday, I made a priority the Borough market, of which I have heard so many good things. From what I saw however, it seems to be a lot of hype. Aside from the world’s biggest (ok, overstating a bit…) pot of curry chicken, which admittedly smelled delicious, the produce was good looking, but nothing amazing. Maybe its my Nova Scotia upbringing, with its delicious fruits and fresh vegetables, or maybe the Thursday market is less spectacular than others, but nonetheless I was underwhelmed. A quick jaunt across Tower Bridge and disbelief at a £7 charge to see the engine room and go to the top of the bridge, I arrived at the highly recommended Tower of London. If I have been amazed with one thing in London so far, this is it. For £14.50 (as a student), it is a steep entry fee, and add in the optional audio tour at £3, it is an expensive affair. But after losing all sense of time in the history of one of London’s great landmarks, 4-5 hours later, I realized I truly had my money’s worth. From my first peak at Roman ruins, to the White Tower (currently hosting a display called Henry XIII, Dressed to Kill, a look into King Henry’s life, including his exploits as an athlete, and athletic he was until he fell off a horse and injured his knee, sending him the way of obesity), to the absolutely jaw-dropping Crown Jewels, the Tower of London was spectacular through and through. The alternative to the audio tour is the free tours offered by the beefeaters, who give you a generally comedic tour of the Tower, throwing in personal experience as well.

The imposing White Tower in the Tower of London

After the tower, and plenty of walking around in the city, the day was pretty much shot, all touristy things closing around 5PM. A trip back to the hostel to recoup and eat some supper later, I found myself in league with a couple of friendly Aussies my age. We headed to a pub down the street (The Green Man if I recall, although there were no green men… truly disappointing) to converse about each other’s countries, over a traditional Fullers Beer (pride of London as I hear, and at £3.50/pint, it had better be something to be proud of. Turns out it is pretty good, but that’s really just the price of domestic beer). Returning to my room, I discovered that of the 5 in the room Thursday night, 3 of us were Canadians. I was worried as to their intentions, putting all the Canadians in one room…lucky I escaped safely that morning.

Checking out around 8, I headed into unknown territory, north towards Archway. I arrived at the house of Anton, a South African (moved after completing med school) Gastroenterologist. We met through CouchSurfing, and it is both his and my first time hosting/surfing. He lives in a nice little townhouse on a quiet street not too far from Highgate Cemetery, and Hampstead Heath. He is trusting, giving me keys to his house, of course, I did leave my gear with him throughout the day, and so the trust is mutual. Heading out from his house, I went on a free walking tour of London’s ritzier districts, starting at 11AM and supposedly going until 1:30. At 2:30, the tour finished, and some of us went to a pub not too far, to enjoy discounted food and purchase discounted tickets for other (non-free) tours run by the company. I purchased two, one for older parts of London, and another for the “Grim Reaper” tour, a walk exploring London’s shadier history. This tour and the Old City tour I saw earlier today were both run by a young man named Ed. A graduate from Cambridge with a degree in English Lit, he is now a standup comedian and actor (snicker…), moonlighting as a tour guide. His tours are humourous, informative, yet not so overbearing that you can’t take in any more information. I sincerely look forward to the Grim Reaper tour on Tuesday night

Anton had informed me about the BBC Proms, a music festival lasting over two months in London, ending tonight (Saturday). I had the chance to see a performance or two, so I hopped on a bus to the beautifl Royal Albert Hall across from Hyde park. After queuing for an hour, and for only £5, I received standing tickets in the gallery, at the top of the theater (where the peasantry stand). The orchestra was (of course) phenomenal, but the standing became quite tiresome after a long day of walking on tour.

The beautiful Royal Albert Hall hosts the BBC Proms

I sat at the edge, peering through the railing, but just about fell asleep (classical does that to me if I’m at all tired, as it is already quite relaxing). So I must admit, I did leave early, avoiding food/back pain, and the crowds flooding out at the end, but I did take in the majority of the show. Regrettably, this means I wasn’t around for the next show, which was Yo Yo Ma, which would have been terrific. I was already considering not attending however, as it would have finished just before 12, and with the tubes shutting down at 12:30, I didn’t want to get stuck in Westminster without a place to sleep. Speaking of a place to sleep, Anton has made me completely at home here. His couch is a twin sized bed, as comfortable if not more so, than the bed at the hostel. I couldn’t imagine a better host.

This morning (Saturday), I walked from Anton’s down the street through a lovely smaller park, coming out the other side upon Highate Cemetery, the famous resting place of Karl Marx (among others). I was going to go in, but upon finding out there is a £3 entry fee, I entered into moral debate with myself, over the prospects of paying to enter a cemetery. It doesn’t seem right to those who rest there… I would feel better knowing where that money was going, but given the state of disrepair of most of the cemetery, I don’t think its going towards maintenance. Check out my photos on Picasa if you haven’t already where there are a couple of panoramic depicting the differing conditions of the cemetery. I may decide to come back later if my curiosity for history outweighs my morals. I continued on to Hampstead Heath, a gorgeous, HUMUNGOUS park just north of the City of London (only a 15 minute tube ride). The park has ponds for dog swimming, ponds for duck feeding, and a “lake” for swimming. Coming from the “City of Lakes”, I was concerned with the colour of the swimming water (a lovely shade of brown residents of Halifax will be quite familiar with). Considering the Thames however, I guess that is just par for the course in London (Thames comes from the Latin word Tamesis, meaning grey). After exploring the heath for a while, I attempted to get into the city, getting completely lost of course, but eventually finding my way to a not so nearby tube station, and zipping along to the meeting place for the Old City tour of London. Again led by Ed, this tour took us through the older parts of London, the City of London itself, rather than Greater London. All sorts of interesting things were explained along the way, such as why the Monarch isn’t allowed into the City of London without ceremonial permission from the Lord Mayor of the City of London, not the Mayor of Greater London. We saw such Hollywood hits as the Knights Templar church from the DaVinci Code, and the clock used as the Hogwarts clock.

From there, I came back to Anton’s house, called home, and we went out for dinner not too far down the street to where we learned was named the top Italian restaurant in London by the Guardian. I enjoyed my first ever taste of Rabbit (meat is murder, tasty, tasty murder…) and noted that the white meat tastes like chicken, and the dark meat, like nothing else, but very delicious. And here I sit, far past my bed time, but oh well, no commitments tomorrow. There is a festival on the Thames, and I will go check it out, before a supper with other couchsurfers here at Anton’s. He is apparently quite the cook, and I am curious to see what he cooks up! Something to do with Chocolate Hazelnut cake though…

Interesting tidbits and observations about London so far:

- The flag of the UK is not a Union Jack, but a Union flag. It is not a jack unless it is on a ship.

- It is treasonous to even speak ill of having a monarch

- Some of the Underground’s train cars are made by Bombardier (that’s a Quebec company for those of you who don’t watch Historica Moments)

- Quebec has its own Government office, aside from the Canadian Embassy

- The Crown Jewels are ridiculous! Why does a modern monarch need a piece of jewelry that costs enough to purchase a small country?

- London public transportation is excellent. I paid only £24 for a 7 day travel card, granting me unlimited rides within zone 1 and 2. Seem steep at around $45CAD? Consider that a 1 day unlimited ride ticket costs around £4.50 ($8.50CAD). It hasn’t taken me longer than 30 minutes to get anywhere within zones 1 and 2, the area of London along the Thames and more than a few kilometers back from the river, and if I need to get out of these zones, apparently the pass works on the busses anywhere

- Anyone who dies in the houses of Parliament, that's ANYONE, is entitled to a Royal burial. Only problem is a law which makes dying in the House illegal. So anyone who has ever died in Parliament probably has been carted out the back to be pronounced dead in the hospital, to avoid them being criminals in their last moments.

- Why have I not had Rabbit before!?!?!? Its delicious!

I do believe that is all I have for you tonight. I will point you in the direction of my photo album at http://picasaweb.google.com/fosterd3. I’m pretty sure If you subscribe it will notify you about new pics. I hope you aren’t too tired of my story to check out the photos! And please, leave comments!

Cheers for now,

I will be back with more soon!