6/20/08 Friday

This 3 day weekend starting today is free time to do anything we want. Cynthia wanted to go to London to see Big Ben, Westminster Abby, and the Tower of London. I wanted to see Big Ben, Parliment, #10 Downing St, and the Tower of London. So we left together at 1230 pm on the train and got into London about 215 pm. From Paddington Station (where the trip terminated) we took the tube to the Waterloo Station. Wow...what horrible flashbacks to the NY subway system...so many stairs! From Waterloo we walked to the youth hostel we had reserved. This must have been 2mi at least. We made it to the hostel (Journey's Eye), dropped off our stuff, and then hit the streets again. By now, it was 4pm.

We headed down to Big Ben and the Thames. In person, Big Ben isn't as tall as it appears in pictures and video. That was slightly disappointing, but the grandeour and splendor of the clock and tower definitely made up for it. So we walked around Big Ben and the Houses of Parliment, taking pictures and video along the way. It hit me that this is where government happens-it has the same feeling as visiting the House and Senate at Capitol Hill. Then with the help of a bobby (police officer) we found Westminster Abby. It was after 5 pm and the Abby and Parliment was closed, so we explored the outside of the buildings.

Afterwords, Cynthia suggested we go visit Chinatown this evening, so we hopped the tube and got off at Leicester Square. From there, we found Chinatown and I took pictures of Cynthia at each of the three gates. We got dinner next at a Chinese restaurant and after the tasty dinner, we explored Chinatown and all of its little shops. Chinatown seemed small to me; it was just six blocks all within a rectangular perimeter. Cynthia stopped by a vendor who was making a Chinese candy, which looked like a whole bunch of white dental floss. As she bought her candy, I took video of the man who was making it. We were ready to leave, and we thought we had memorized the route back to Leicester Square station, but we got lost. Cynthia stopped an elderly man and asked for directions, "How do we get to the tube station?" The man asked if we wanted Piccadilly, but at the time it didn't make any sense to us so Cynthia repreted the question. He resopnded if asking if we wanted Piccadilly, and after a moment he said,"here's how you get to Piccadilly" and he gave us instructions. At the time, we didn't realize Piccadilly was the name of a tube station; my light bulb turned on when I saw the sign over the tube stairs that said "Piccadilly". I finally realized what the man meant. A dim bulb brightens...

We hopped on the tube back to the Westminster station. I suggested that we hang out at Big Ben in order to get pictures and video of Big Ben and Parliment at night with the lights on. I didn't bring a jacket with emand it was really windy. I froze my butt off it was so cold. We waited until 915pm, but then I was shivering so we started to take our pictures even though it wasn't 100% dark out yet. It was dark enough though and the buildings had a wonderful orangie-goldish glow. I could picture the flying scenes from the Harry Potter 5 movie in front of the Parliment buildings. It was really wonderful there at the Thames and Big Ben.

The 148 bus took us to the North Lambath tube station and from there we walked back to the hostel. The problem was I got us onto Kennington Road for 20 minutes before Cynthia realized we were on the wrong road. I swear I have no nagivation skills!!! They never developed! Cynthia stopped a couple of women, asked if they were familiar with the area, and they instructed us how to get back to the hostel. By this time, it was 930 pm but we made it back to the hostel in 20 minutes. It was as dark as nighttime.

So far, in this adventure, we talked to a Bobby, an elder gentleman, and two women; this was the common theme of our trip. We relied on the locals to guide us to where we wanted to go. So we did interact with the locals, using their language and guidence.

At the hostel, as we got ready for bed, (Cynthia was in the shower) I started up a conversation with a traveller staying in our room. The room consisted of four sets of bunk beds, and they were all occupied. The traveller was a middle aged woman and she answered all my questions about the newsprint media (I figured that this was a good time to complete my class assignment). She categorized the papers for me, explained what type each title was, and the effects of the papers and the internet. Somehow we moved into politics. Cynthia had come back from her shower and listened to our conversation. We discussed the Presidential primaries; she told me she was disappointed that Hillary didn't get the nomination. She felt that Obama doesn't have enough political experience and needs at least another four years to gain enough experience. Hillary's experiences as first lady and as a senator has made Hillary ready to be president. By 11, Cynthia and I were asleep.