Day one!

  London, United Kingdom
Thursday, August 9, 2007

We arrived at London Gatwick Airport today around 10:00 am London time. We took the Southern railroad to Victoria station which is right near our hotel- it was about 8 pounds or a little over $16 USD each. There is also an express train available which costs a little more- both are around 30 minutes into London. As soon as we arrived the first thing we noticed was how expensive everything was! We knew that this would be the case and it is mostly because of how weak the dollar is against the British pound right now- at an all time low. To give you an example- a tiny hostel room with a shared bathroom is still over $100 USD a night- you can't really find a pint for under $10- and we had a hard time finding a lunch at any of the little pubs or cafes near our hotel for less than $20 a plate. We walked from the station to our hotel wearing our backpacks without much trouble and checked in- but our room was not available yet. We checked our luggage and headed out to eat. After observing a lot of places we could not afford, we settled on a little pub where we ate a traditional meal of fish and chips and a pint and sat outdoors at a little picnic table.

Fish and Chips

The weather was beautiful mid 70s and sunny. The fish and chips were good though SO greasy- I think that will be my only one on this trip! We have heard horror stories about London weather. When we returned our room was ready. Our hotel- Hotel Enrico- is on a strip of inexpensive hotel/.hostels on Warwick Way in Westminster. It is a tiny- about 6 or seven rooms and a few bathrooms- no elevator. Although we booked a shared bathroom room we ended up with a room with its own bathroom which is smaller than our bathroom was in our Japan apartment- you can hardly shut the door while you are sitting on the "loo!" Other than that, it is small and very old and ugly but clean! After a much needed nap, we headed out to explore London in the evening on foot. We took the "tube" to Picadilly Circus which is like a very sized down and less crazy Times Square.

Picadilly Circus

From there we tried to walk over to Trafalgar Square but got lost. We did get to see St. James' palace on our detour and ducked into a really fun and crowded cobblestone alley to go to a super old pub there. We walked on and finally found Trafalgar which is huge and surrounded by castle like old buildings.

Chris at a phone

Trafalgar Square

After a little wandering we ended up in Leicester Square which is a great nightlife district and went into a Scottish pub and then eventually downstairs into a dance place called Dune. This was a great people watching lounge with excellent music and we sat and watched people dance wildly at only 9pm! Eventually we got hungry and headed out again to try to find a meal we could afford. We decided ethnic- Indian, Thai etc.- was usually a good bet for cheaper sit down eats. We found an Indian place called Maharaja which looked inexpensive but didn't come with any bread or rice and so ended up actually being pretty expensive. The wait staff was nasty too! After dinner we ventured out again and found a place nearby called O'Neill's where there was no cover charge and a great live British punk band. After a while enjoying the show we finally headed out to go home. The tube had already stopped running so we walked for a while and then hailed a cab. I was weary to cab it after stories of how expensive they were but it was something that Chris wanted to experience in London. We only went a few miles but it ended up being more then $20 US! Finally at home we passed out again...