When London Calls, You Must Answer

I knew I had to take the opportunity to visit London while I was here. LMU has a study abroad program in London so I knew that I wouldn't have to find anywhere to stay for the weekend; all I needed to do was book a ticket over there. I'm going to use this entry to talk about traveling/public transportation in Europe. Don't get me wrong, all of Europe is light years ahead of us in terms of public transportation systems. The problem is, is that you have to allot so much more time in your travels. At home, you just take someone in the airport and drop them off. It's easy. It's direct. To get to the Cologne-Bonn airport, I first had to take the metro to the bus that would take me to the airport. However for some reason or other the bus that I was going to take came and left 5 minutes early so I had to wait another half of an hour for the next one. I left about 4 hours before my flight but barely made the original time it was going to fly out. Luckily the flight was delayed because of the weather. Once I got into London-Stansted I had to take a bus into the city center. This took another hour and a half until I could meet up with my friend and then take another metro, sorry "the tube," to the station where her flat is. Estimated Travel Time: 6 hours. The good thing was the time difference in London which gave me back a temporary hour of my life.

It's always worth it though. Driving into London at night was gorgeous. I couldn't wait to explore during the day. I met up with Holly at Victoria Station and we took the metro to her flat at South Kensington. It was only about 10:30pm which gave us enough time to get ready to go out. So I dropped my stuff off and got ready to go out on the town. The bar Holly wanted to go to didn't look that fun to her so we went to another bar up the street. I figured out that this would be an expensive weekend after I paid the entry: 10 pounds. It was a lot of fun though. I thought it funny how different the Londoners were from the Germans. In speech obviously, but in personality and attitude as well. Being in London reminded me of being in New York. The people there are classy, and they know it.

In every country I go, I try my best to attempt the respective language of the country I'm in. In Germany it's obviously German, in Paris it was the little bit of French I know to get me by, in Switzerland it was pretty much any language I wanted, i didn't even try in Prague, but in London it was English!!! It was funny though because I was still apprehensive when I'd order for fear that the clerk might not be able to understand me if I spoke English. My mind was still in Germany. It was refreshing though to understand people without having to actively listen to them. Actually, that's not true- sometimes people had too thick of an English accent for me to understand. Anyway, clubs in London close a lot sooner than they do in Germany so we made it home around 3am.

The next day was for sightseeing. We walked all over town and saw all of the major sights: Big Ben, Parliament, the London Bridge, the Eye etc. Then Holly took me to all of the big stores on Oxford Street. It was Saturday so everyone and their mum was out spending their hard earned pounds. The first store Holly wanted to show me was Harrod's, a department store akin to Neiman Marcus, but way more intense. We stayed on the bottom floor but even that was enough to get an idea of this place. Each room had a theme. A Perfume Room, a Luxury Goods Room, an Egyptian Room? Then we went into the food rooms. There was a room simply devoted to poultry, one fruits and vegetables, another coffees and teas. My favorite was the candy room obviously. I told Holly to escort me out as quickly as possible because it probably wasn't a good idea for me to stay in there. We walked into a different room and they were having some sort of James Bond-themed fashion show. There was no defined runway, so the models would just sort of designate a path to enter their "stage" on and people just made a path for them. It was really ridiculous and equally as funny. After Harrod's we went to "Top Shop" a clothing store I had wanted to go to for a while. It was humongous and I would have bought some stuff had there not been so many people in it; I got a little overwhelmed.

That night we went out again. It was a lot of fun but again, clubs in London close way too early for me. The next day we sort of lazed about around the house. Coincidentally a friend of mine from high school was living in the flat above Holly's so I got the chance to see her for the first time since high school and talked to her for about a half of an hour. It never ceases to surprise me how small the world is sometimes. We walked around a little bit closer to the flat and I was surprised to find that stores were actually open on Sundays. Germany is 50% Protestant, the other 50% being Catholic, so virtually nothing is open on Sundays save for restaurants; Germans love eating. I also was suprised to find very American stores in London. Urban Outfitters, Abercrombie & Fitch, TJ Maxx (although in London it's TK Maxx). I even saw a Costco as I was making my way to the London-Stansted Airport. I could live in London but I think I'm getting such a different and possibly more challenging cultural experience living in Deutschland.

The next morning we went to see Buckhingham Palace and a few other touristy things before Holly had class, it was a Monday after all. So I spent the afternoon on the computer and packing before I had to make my way to the airport for my 7:30pm flight. Again I almost missed it because it took me almost 2 hours to get to the airport on the bus but I made it and fortunately got to sit by one of my friends who was also flying back from London.

I know I want to live and work in Europe somewhere for awhile. London would clearly be the easiest option because everyone speaks English. There is also so much to do in the city, and with such ease. The museums are free, there are countless numbers of plays in the West End, and most importantly there are a lot of places to shop. I had a really good time in London and although I only spent 3 days there, it was enough to make me want to return.

All of my pictures are available to view at Picasa.