London

October 5, 2014- London

Nick and I are packed up and getting ready to catch the train from London to the Stansted airport where we will catch a cheapy Ryanair flight to Naples, Italy.

London was not all I expected and I am not sure why. Maybe it is because I have heard so many great things about it that I had very high expectations. Or maybe it is because I have already experienced some of the world's great cities like Rome, Paris, and Barcelona. Seeing an old European city for the first time is amazing. Wrapping your head around the fact that the houses here are older than our country back home. I suppose the weather has played a role in my being less than impressed. It pissed rain all day yesterday, so we could not really enjoy walking the streets. The hop on hopp off bus was very informative, but because we could not sit up top in the open, we could not really see anything out the window. I will admit the National Gallery was amazing, and we did enjoy going to the opera last night. Otello was played by a well known tenor whose voice was amazing. During the intermission between acts, I bought a small plastic dish with a few olives in it...set me back $7!!

People do not exaggerate when they say things are expensive here. The few meals we have had here
have set me back a fair bit, and have been nothing great to speak of. I was so looking forward to some good fish and chips - but what I got was soggy, tasteless fries, cold peas and carrots, and a large portion of fish (properly cooked - thank God), but rather boring. Nick's venison pie looked amazing, with a huge - quite stunning really - puff of pastry on top that would put anyone's beef wellington to shame, but the internal stuff was, in his words, "underwhelming. Joel could make a better filling in a instant and it wouldn't cost $30!". With one pint each, the meal set us back $75!

We stayed two nights in Covent Garden area of London, right in the midst of the theatre district - full of bars, clubs, eateries ad theatres - so the activity around here was high. Lots of people, lots of noise. I did not get a wink of sleep the first night, as we are staying in an old flat that sits above a business below, on a skinny street lined with bars. After the carousing settled down, the garbage trucks began picking up the night's mess, and smashing all the bottles collected. Last night I put on eye covers, ear plugs and took a sleeping pill and slept 12 hours!

So our short stay here has already come to an end. I am not too sorry it was too rainy to stand in the the 3 hour long queues to get into every building. Even visiting Harrod's famous department store was an exercise in frustration given the crowds (though it WAS a beautiful building).