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Trip to London |
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Day 1 |
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| Got into Gatwick at 8:30am GMT, which is about 3am PST. So I stumbled though Gatwick, trying to figure out what immigration and customs were. Managed to change some money and get a train ticket on the Thameslink express. I had never ridden on a real train before (I don't think the little trains at amusement parks count) so I was great at clogging the isle with my luggage. Got off at Black Friars station, which I thought was great because it's where |
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Richard gets the key to the angel Islington's cell by going through the ?"ordeal" in Neverwhere. Sorry, some peoplethink I read to much. Anyway, I had a hell of a time getting to the hostel. Apparently the British solution to jay-walking is to put up spiked metal fences between the street and the sidewalk. And the intersection in front of Black Friars is really confusing to an American who's never been in London before. Namely the traffic is going the other way and the only breaks in the fence were at the cross walk, which I couldn't see from where I was standing bleary eyed with my roller bag. Fortunately a nice cabbie who was on his breakfast break gave me directions to the hostel on Carter lane. |
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Saint Paul's Cathedral viewed from the south bank |
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Carter lane is a narrow road, barely wide enough for a single car to fit though. And the sidewalks are only wide enough for one person without luggage. Fortunately the only people out were delivery people and they hardly gave me a second glance, which I thought was great because I felt like a right idiot dragging my luggage though the middle of the street. Found the address by Zen walking (walking around and hoping you'll run into what your looking for) and then couldn't figure out how to get the bloody door open. ::grr:: but someone came along and pushed a button which, to my 3am eyes, was completely too close in color to the wall it was on. The door popped open and I was there. |
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Well, almost, considering my destination was someplace I could sleep. The lady behind the counter told me I couldn't check in until 2pm. As it was only 11am, that was three hours too long. So I stowed my luggage in the lock room and sat down to write my first journal post from London and e-mail several people who would want to know I got there safely. Then I went into the TV. room and attempted to sleep on a love seat which looked amazingly soft and comfortable and was, in fact, hard as a brick. Then a nice young Australian, Paul, woke me up and wanted to chat. I told him that was great, but that expecting me to make any type of sense, due to jet lag, was asking entirely too much. I excused myself from a conversation revolving around Australian politics at about 2:30 and crashed. Got up at 5pm for a dinner of Leeks and Lamb, which was amazingly good, e-mailed people back and went to sleep again. |
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| The youth hostel I stayed in, near St. Pauls. |
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Day 2 London Trip Index |
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