Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Half way through and our London adventures!

When traveling abroad you can be inundated with getting around, finding places to eat, and just understanding the language. Half way through the trip, I can't believe it. London was a welcomed destination, not only because it's an English speaking country but also because we have family living just outside of the city center. Don't get me wrong, Paris was a beautiful city with much to see; Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre but the people were not the friendliest or the cleanest. Like it was someone else's job to clean up after them and pick up their trash and even their dog poop. Also they would just walk right in front of you with no concern for your presence. I'm not a tiny lady and by the end of 4 days in Paris I was ready to kick people or at least step on their feet. We were lucky to get some time with a good friend, Kenna. She was so great at showing us around and taking us to some local bars and restaurants. I would say that besides the cool things to see and do, she was my favorite part of Paris.



Back to our London fun time! We decided to stay a week here to connect with family, some had visited the states last year. I was looking forward to the inside scoop on the best pubs and Indian restaurants, as well as just checking in with how their lives were going. Our hotel was pretty much in the center of everything, the SOHO area. This was good for getting around, with many underground stops close by but man were there people everywhere all the time and at all hours of the day and night. The Underground or Metro is what we would call a subway, a myriad of tunnels taking you almost anywhere within and just outside the city. I love them and wish that Seattle or the Pacific Northwest would get on board with cheap, easy, environmentally friendly transportation. Yeah, there were times that it was a little crowded or certain lines were closed for maintenance, but so effective and way more affordable than your own vehicle. Can you say no car payment, no insurance payment, and no filling up the gas tank? Let alone there's no where to park in London and they drive on the wrong side of the road. That can just make walking around difficult. I was always looking the wrong way first when crossing the road, luckily we had some locals on our side. 




We had to hit some of the sights; the Tate Modern Museum, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, and many many pubs inbetween. We walked along the Thames River numerous times, watching buskers doing all sorts of things to grabbing some frozen yogurt to just walking around and people watching. I loved all the outdoor spaces that were available to anybody and everybody. There was an outdoor sandbox where many people brought their kids to play and a skatepark being used by all sorts of folks. Public spaces are just more prevalent and commonly used throughout Euroupe and the UK. The parks and green spaces always had people in them, day and night, with such a mixture of people just hanging out, socializing and in some cases even drinking. London being such a big city, had no shortage of outdoor spaces and put importance on having them accessible to all. 





There isn't a shortage of pubs either. You think there is a lot of drinking establishments in Olympia! Drinking at pubs is expensive at almost 5€ a pint, that's about $7.50. Those were the happy hour prices too. Drinking in public isn't legal but it's like if you're being responsible and not making a ruckus it's no big deal. People had more self accountability and weren't in the park to get drunk but instead they were there to hang out with friends and alcohol was present. Don't get me wrong, lots of people drank in pubs but the idea of a pub was that is was your local neighborhood hangout. Most of them, back in the day, had living quarters upstairs for the family who ran the bar. They close around 11pm to midnight so people can still make it to work the next day. Liquor is a whole separate thing with everything being measured. There is no free pouring so we stuck to pints cause it was more cost effective. We also learned that nobody tips in bars. That seemed so foreign for us coming from the states where the culture is to tip a $1 a drink. It did show in service at times but overall all the pubs were pleasant places to be. You could even stand on the street corner, with drink in hand, and nobody ran after you to leave your drink. Again, people were just self accountable and expected to not impede pedestrian traffic or walk away with the drink. We even got to meet up with our good friend, Jim Foley and his son Finn on their own European adventure. 




We got to spend some great quailty time with family, see some amazing things, eat great Indian cusine and are looking forward to exploring more upon our return. 






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