London Day 1

It's 5:30 pm almost over here. What a day it's been already. Sat on the plane next to a guy from Malta who had bad breath but otherwise was very interesting to talk to. He unfortunately lost his son to cistic pibrhossis (sorry for the spelling) a few years ago.

Landed in London and I have to say the view on the landing was of damp houses. The periphery of London looks quite impoverished. The walk from my plane to the customs inspection was about 1 km... not joking. It was long. Then I hopped on a bus to a tube station. The coffee there was quite good and not too expensive.

Took the tube (subway) for about 50 minutes to my hotel. Couldn't check in so I put my bags in storage for 1 pound each. I took the tube to the bank of england to exchange some old notes so instant 30 pounds for free. Well worth the trip. In that trip, I became a veteran of the tube. I changed three lines and had to go up and down two flights of escalators! The escalators can be quite large.

After the bank, I took it to Westminster station where I took photos of London Eye, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. I then took the bus to Chelsea area and thought I missed the tour of their stadium. So I had some chinese food.. 5 pounds with a full plate and coke.. decent by London standars. When I got to the stadium, I was fortunate to catch a tour.

The tour guide was quite fun. She told us anecdotes about football like the fact that Totti spends 40 minutes in front of a mirror before a game. And it's actually in Beckham's contract that he get 20 minutes before a game. Silliness. There was also something about using the away team's dressing room to have a psychological edge for a home game (like cranking up the heat in their dressing room prior to a game).

The city seems very multicultural like Toronto. I heard a lot of French and even spanish on the way from the airport (maybe all tourists). A lot of colourful faces. It's neat.

I am off now to check out Picadilly Circus.