A New Trip

It's been only 4 months since I went to Italy, and I'm on the road (or in the air) again. This time, I'm going to be visiting London, England, Bydgoszcz, Poland, Berlin, Germany, and Paris, France. In fact, I'm currently in London now, and I'll tell you about how I spent the last day and a half. Sunday evening, we (my Dad and I) departed from Boston to Iceland, where we would connect to London after a 5 hour flight via a 3 hour flight. We were eventually in Heathrow Airport at around noon, but because of low sleeping time and time change, we were completely exhausted. Despite that, we decided we do some sightseeing anyway. Using our London PASS, we took the one hour train ride from the airport to our hotel near Downtown London. Here, we got our first impression of the London Underground, and it was pretty lousy. The trains were old and dirty, and the ride was bumpy and incredibly noisy. It is however the only real way to get around London as their famed double-decker buses are always stuck in traffic that goes slower than average walking speed. After checking into our hotel, we decided to visit the Tower of London. The name "Tower of London" is misleading, as it not one tower, but a castle-like fortification consisting of many small towers. Basically, the fort was the home of the kings of England for nearly 500 years until being moved to Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. When we entered we noticed a guy giving a free guided tour of the fort, so we decided to follow him and his crowd.

It turns out, he was one of the royal custodians and guardians of the fort, and he gave quite a humorous tour of the whole complex poking fun at British culture and telling stories about kings and executions. After the one hour tour, we decided to walk around the complex ourselves, seeing torture devices, the royal treasury (containing crowns and coronary artifacts from the last 1000 years), and the royal armory (containing weapons and armory that were stored to defend the fort from attacks). We left the Fort at around closing time, and before continuing on our sightseeing walk/ride around London, we stopped by the London Bridge, which we will visit again tomorrow. After seeing the bridge, we took a subway train to the corner of Hyde Park so we could see Buckingham Palace (The queen's residence). On our way, we noticed that the pedestrian crossings also included equestrian crossing signs and buttons (for cavalrymen). Apparently, those who rode horses were not satisfied with just a picture of a man walking, but also wanted a picture of man on a horse crossing. At Buckingham palace, we saw the Royal Guard defend the Palace, as well as the crowds who flocked to see them. We then walked through Hyde Park, which is London's version of Central Park, famous for its large open field used for hosting music concerts. Hyde Park will also be a venue for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Lastly, we decided to ride a double decker bus on London's famous shopping streets, Oxford and Regents. Since there was so much traffic, the bus was almost as slow as the pedestrians on the sidewalk. We ended our ride at Piccadilly Circus, a famous intersection that serves as London's Times Square. After spending some time there, we took the subway back to our hotel, but before going back, we had dinner at a small Japanese kitchen. There, I had some very good fried chicken and rice, and my dad had some sushi. We then returned to the hotel, and I wrote this blog entry. I will be back tomorrow with its interesting events, but for now, goodbye.