I heart London

Well, tonight is my last night in London. In fact, it’s my last night in an English-speaking country for the next four weeks. I’m hoping Mr. Keene taught me enough to feed myself in Belgium and France. After that, it’s all going to be guesswork for me.

I haven’t had a chance to go into any detail about what I’ve done since I’ve been here so what I’ll do is sort of give everyone a bullet-point type of list of what I’ve been doing, with a little commentary where it appears necessary. The brief summary, however, is that I love this town. I could spend another month here and still not get everything in.

What have I done over the last four days in London?

Went to the British Museum - My main interests here were, for some reason, the Rosetta Stone and the collection from the Parthenon. The Rosetta Stone was the first exhibit visible when they opened the museum, so that was pretty cool. I’ve seen the Parthenon before and I wanted to see the parts that were stolen, I mean taken to England for safe-keeping. Lots of other stuff here too, of course, but those were the highlights for me.

Went to the Tower of London – I paid four pounds for the audio tour and it was well worth it. Unless you’re an expert on the history of the Tower of London, I’d recommend it.

Took a tour of the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace – Fancy. Didn’t learn as much as I had hoped, though. Still, I suppose it was worth it; if not for the tour, then for the pastry I got at the café.

Took a tour of the Cabinet War Room and Churchill Museum – These are together and are both really cool. If you have any interest in WWII, this should be high on your list.

Walked from the Tower of London to Parliament Square – I think this was a few miles or so. During the trip, got to see the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey and several other buildings. Good for picture taking, though I didn’t get a chance to spend a ton of time at any of the landmarks.

Had Fish & Chips, Sausage & Mash and Beef & Ale Pie in various pubs – How much brown sauce is too much? Evidently, there’s no such thing as too much brown sauce.

Went to two Football matches – Highlight of the trip!!! Sat in the home side at a Tottenham/Manchester United match. Home side lost. Sat in the visitors side at a Fulham/Everton match. Visitors lost. Don’t tell PSG that I’m sitting in its side when it plays Lyon next week.

Crossed Abbey Road in the crosswalk on the album cover – I am now officially the fifth Beatle.

Went out drinking with some locals – The people that I hung out with were awesome. Very friendly and fun. Somebody told me that if you wanted to make friends in Europe, just talk soccer. So far, that’s been true.

Watched a British comedy and thought it was funny – It was called Lunch Monkeys. I’m sure there’ll be an American version eventually that will be funny for a few seasons and then lose its way.

Rode the Underground – Probably on at least half of the fourteen or fifteen lines. Even rode the National Railway out to White Hart Lane.

Rode a red double-decker bus – From Oxford Road to Abbey Road.

Made a phone call from a red box – Had to get my hotel reservation straight for Brussels.

Walked at least 25 miles – Saw a lot of the city and a bunch of different neighborhoods, including Chinatown (and San Francisco has nothing to worry about). A decade of walking around DC and three years of walking around Cambridge is paying off.

All around London there are plaques that say so-and-so lived here or worked there. I found one hilarious one and took a picture of it. Evidently, Benedict Arnold is still considered an American patriot here. (I know he once was in America, as well, but that ended a long, long time ago.)

That’s all I have for right now. Tomorrow, I’m hopping on a train to Brussels for a few days. The only thing I know about Brussels is the stuff in and around the Grand Place. If anybody has any advice or suggestions, I’d be happy to hear them.