Sunday, July 24, 2011

London for the weekend


July 22nd-24th

My journey begins in London Town. I didn't sleep in my overnight flight, but I arrived excited and energized friday morning. The first things that I noticed were everything appeared to be backwards. Besides driving on the wrong side of the street, londoner's walk on the left side of an elevator and wait on the right, which is the opposite of what you expect. Houses and buildings are extremely old, people are quiet and reserved if you dont' know them, but if you stop to ask them a question they'll go above and beyond to help you out.

I met my old friend Ivana for lunch on friday and got a cheap phone. 10 pounds for the cell and another 10 for the card. 4 pence per text and 8 per minute. There's no long distance.

The Metro is pretty easy to understand with some practice, pick yourself up an oyster card that you swipe in and out for the cheapest possible daily fares. I've been topping out around 7 pounds per day.

Most of the museum's are free. The national library was a treat some very old books and documents including Magna Carta! The national musem's Egyption display was incredible, I found the Rosetta stone.

I've been couchsurfing for the weekend with a very experienced london host. We've done a big of drinking and eating. Last night was pub crawl night.

London is pricey. I've been lucky to have an excellent howst that's given me a couple free meals and met a few new friends who have bought me a pint. In 3 days I spent 108.5 pounds plus 15 for the metro on my oyster card.

I'm off to stockholm on the 6am Ryanair flight.