We left Hong Kong for Great Britain. I have always thought how dare a country have the nerve to call itself "Great?" in its proper name... I know, now the country's proper name is the United Kingdom for politcal correctness, but I distinctly remember reading that in my social studies class in elementary school and thinking the country is so small, and we beat them in the Revolutionary War, why should they be called "Great"? Well, when I grew up and learned that just because you loose sometimes it doesn't mean you can't be Great, plus there is always more to a story than you think. We all lose sometime, if you don't you are a damn cheat! The true measure of a person, is what you do after you lose, can you dig it?... Did we (USA) win or did Britain lose? They made some bad mistakes politically and militarily, and we had some help (French) though we don't like to admit it! Anyway, it made me study this country thoroughly...whatever you think of Imperialism (it is/was wrong), this country can surely be classified as "Great". For such a smallish country with a limited gene pool to be able to dominate upwards of 65% of the world's population for so long is an incredible feat. Also, all of the technological and scientific contributions to humanity are incredible when put into perspective. I will not go into the UK's history, after all, we all know Britain's history due to the aforementioned "world domination". Let's talk about what we did...
We caught the train then taxi to the hotel. My bag doesn't have wheels, so I'm lugging 55 lbs (26kg) on my back, and that sucks when you are walking through a huge airport like Heathrow, then to the train, then up the stairs and out into the cold to the cab. My back is killing me! I am still glad I did it, because saving weight on the wheels gives you a couple of extra pair of clean underwear as well as longjohns! I haven't worn longjohns since the Washington DC snowstorm of 1994! But we needed it! That London wind tried to cut my face off! It was wet, windy and cold (about 3 degrees Celcius) and we had just left the Phillippines where it was 39 degrees Celcius dammitt! I understand why they wanted to dominate the world now, this damn island is cold and wet! If I lived here in the 1600s with no thermal underwear, no heat or hot chocolate, I would've got on one those damn boats and tried to squat on somebody else's land too! I've been trying to figure out how to squat on one of those islands in the Maldives ever since I left!
We had decided to stay in London for only 2.5 days, so we jammed it with a day of insider sightseeing with Adrian, a new friend from our dive trip in Australia; and an 8 hour commercial tour that let's you cut all the lines. I hate being led around like a 3rd grader, but it is worth the cost in these touristy cities just so you can cut the lines at museums, castles, etc. Why did we only do a couple of days in London? Because we knew how expensive it is, and we have a few friends in London, so it is almost guarenteed we'll be back. This trip is about discovery; London's history and culture is really "our" history and culture. Even though I had to keep translating "real" English to Carmen who is used to mostly "Southern American" and/or "Spanglish":) Going to London is like going to your grandmother's house. It looks, smells, and works basically like your parent's home. Indeed, it does, London to me is a cross between my hometown D.C. and New York city. Some of our governmental buildings are replicas of buildings I saw in London. Even the people looked the same. Beautiful, intelligent, diverse, sophisticated, self absorbed, self important people rushing around trying either to save the world or conquer it. It was a relief to get from under the microscope and do a little people watching ourselves, one of our favorite pastimes.
Adrian, who we feel like we've known for 10 years, graciously agreed to show us around to some of his favorite spots in London. We started at a historic coffee shop somewhere near Picadilily, good eats. Get your belly full, as Adrian and I hashed out the new developments in British politics (the Toreys are losing ground). Then he took us to Sir John Soane museum, which was absolutely incredible! Soane was a wealthy architect who travelled the world collecting treasures from every corner. He had Roman statues next to an Egyptian sarcophagus next to French masterpiece oil paintings next to preserved animal specimans from the 16th century! It was crammed tightly into his 5 story home, and you got to be up close and personal with his priceless collection. This was a truly unique experience and it was my favorite part of our stay in London. Yes, better than the Tower of London.... http://www.soane.org/. Then we went to the cool bar, "Ye Old Chesire Cheese" that was something out of a movie. The bar was built originally who knows when, but had been rebuilt and continuously operating since the Great London Fire of 1666! Holy crap! I'm sitting in and breathing the same foul air as some peasant from the 1600s! Wow! We got thouroughly drunk there while Adrian educated us about England, Scotland, and Ireland.
After stumbiling out of the bar, we tried to make it to the British Museum...too slow. So we went for an apetizer at a famous London restaraunt, which was packed. Carmen is greedy as you know, and had shown that on the diveboat in Australia, so Adrian showed us to a spot that should've sparked her interest. They served every part of the pig, from the root to the toot..baby! Delicacies such as bone marrow pate', pig toe nail soup, and a snout sandwich :)! Damn you got to love the Brits, so 'civilized', but they have 'Neanderthal' palates!!!!!!!!! I opted for the Bone Marrow pate' and it was fatty, salty and delicous. The texure was too much for Carmen. In other words, she punked out:)! Do you know how demoralizing it is when your beautiful wife can out eat you? I'm not a small man, and I have a competitive nature, it's depressing when you eat three full plates at the buffet and can't move another step, but your wife goes for two more!!! You resort to excuses like,"Your stomach has more folds than mine,etc.,etc!) I got her this time yall! Mind over matter, I put that marrow down and Carmen had to watch in defeat!
I didn't realize when I ordered it, that the marrow would still be in the damn cow femur! They don't even do this is Georgia, incredible! Most travelling Americans will go to London sometime, you have to try this place! After our apetizer we went to dinner at a restaraunt in the Theater district. Again, beautiful people everywhere. The food was nice, the drink better, and the company even better. Thanks Adrian for a great time!
The next day was with the tour company. We did all the typical things: Tower of London, Guided ferry down the Thames, Parliment, Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, Big Ben, etc.. I have to admit all of these sites were awe inspiring, but the most entertaining part of the whole day was our tour guide. He was in his best Brooks Brothers suit complete with leather trench, posing and speaking in his best 'high' English like he was in a Shakesperean masterpiece!
London was a great time overall, and I wish I would've had the opportunity to visit when I was younger and had the patience to put up with all the 'pomp'. That has nothing to do with London, I don't do well with it at home or anywhere for that matter. I don't understand the fascination with royalty or warfare as sport for the upperclasses. When you look at these monuments and giant architectual structures, remember something: there were millions of real lives that were sacarificed so that Prince Charles can looked down upon us peasants from Buckingham Palace with no real sacarifice of his own! Don't be such sheep people, your life has just as much value as his, greatness is earned...... not given!
We had a great time and we saw what we were supposed to, but no time to really connect and feel the 'soul' of the country. Next time. You can see the pics by clicking here
Off to Copenhagen, Denmark and Sweden!
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