London Part 2
London town!!!
Part 2:
Day time.
After a night of arguing with the internet about airline prices, we decide to sleep in just a little longer. (Note: When traveling and booking last minute, do not use the local internet to purchase tickets, they are expensive. Instead contact someone at home base and buy them. Thanks Sandy)
The weather wasn’t going to anywhere either, cloudy and grey, with occasional rain.
our check out was at one and we used the full allotment of that time and then some. The hotel we stayed at had a nice smell of wood varnish as a majority of the furniture and decor was made of wood.
Reminded me of home, when my mom would break out the expensive wood polish to clean her furniture. She would have enjoyed the hotel more than I and tyler did, just because of the furnishing.
We secured a flight out of London Gatswick to Charles De Gaull Airport at 6 pm. Which meant that we had some time to kill.
Fortunately, Tyler’s choice of hotel put us stab dab in the center of most of the touristy things in London. Which was good because we crossed the Westminster Bridge and explored West Minster Abby where all the Royal Weddings take place.
We were hungry and found A Pret A Manger. Never been to that place, but the food was nice, and was a great contrast to the Mcdonald’s we had last night. I thought it was a quaint little shop. Unbeknownst to me Pret A Manger are every where. After our breakfast lunch we went to down to the Victory Tower Gardens which borders the river Thames. We walked across the Lambet bridge and were amazed at one of the oldest structures in London, the Lambet Palace.
“Should we go check out that medieval structure?” We pondered aloud.
“Nah, we will save our castles for Deutschland” we concluded.
We eventually back tracked to the hotel. The London Eye was our land mark a tourist trap ferriss wheel with a line, but Mr. Tyler wanted to waste time waiting in line. This is where me and Tyler split ways for a little bit leaving me to explore the streets of London on my own.
A nice thing about not researching a place before you arrive is the fact that the only mental representation you have is what media portrayed to you. The bad thing is you could waste a lot of time walking around.
I walked around for quite a while. I fancied two things in London, a pint at a pub, and a cup of coffee. I got both on my quest, and was lucky enough to find a really cool tunnel that the city of London, allowed aspiring aerosol artist to hone their craft.
Before I entered Leakes street, the hint of spray paint lingered in the air. I continued to stroll through and was amazed at the detail and skill the muralists had.
‘“If graffiti changed anything it would be illegal.” — Banksy.
Banksy that mystery artist has become a british icon and cultural treasure. Which is why the city allowed the aspiring street artists to spray paint the walls of the tunnel, I surmise. That or the cops were being lazy. I think it is the former, as there was not a lot of police presence in the UK’s capital.
I took a lot of photos on my phone and journeyed through the tunnel.
Afterwards I was set to find my coffee, and pint. I headed north on Lower marsh street. It was saturday afternoon and numerous street vendors selling books, art, and vegetables were dotted along both sides of the street. They were on their last hours of selling and some where packing up. I found my coffee. I ordered an Americano from Coleman Coffee Roasters and continued on my way through the streets of London.
I eventually did find my pint the Windmill, a little bit off the beaten path so I was hoping for a authentic experience. To which I was pleasantly rewarded, it was decorated the same way they do pubs in America, even with Football on the tele and everything.
I order the most English sounding ale I could muster and sat by myself looking out onto the street. When my glass was empty I thanked the Barkeep and walked back to the streets.
Remember kids, there are three airports that have the name London in them. We had to travel southwards to Gatswick. So I met up with Tyler and we had our second meal of the day. A nice cash only diner with fried food. Naturally I ordered the fish and chips.
Waterloo station was our next destination, and the rain was just starting to come down. I told tyler to check out Leake street with me and we could back track our way to the station.
We were figuratively right next to the station, but somehow managed to get lost. Tyler even wanted to hail a cab. Yet we succeeded and found our way in. I passed my second beggar entering the underground terminal.
Public transportation makes me nervous, being a suburban kid I am. We found the appropriate line, but we missed the platform we were supposed to transfer on.
Our check in time to the airline was rapidly approaching and we ended up a 30 minute cab ride to the airport.
We got lost at that airport and almost walked right pasted the terminal we were supposed to enter. Once we got checked in to the airline, we both became relieved and got some dinner.
WHoops.
We were in the arriving terminal, not the departing terminal and we didn’t make it through security yet with our bags.
Cue the anxiousness again.
Fortunately we found our airline and everything would be fine, until later on that night.
