Well, I’ve gotten my feet down. I got an email today from the person I was supposed to stay with. Her mom died just a few days ago (while I was in Germany) and so things are a bit of a mess for her, and she’s having a tough time coping, and just got distracted. Things aren’t well with her, so I’m probably mostly on my own while I’m here in London. I did, however, touch base with another member of the community I used to manage, and she may be hopping up to hang out with me Thursday and or Friday. There’s also a chance my friend whom I was originally supposed to be staying with might come down for a night or something. Still not sure. I find myself wishing my cellphone worked here, but oh well, I can manage on my own.
I stayed up last night watching “Invader Zim” episodes as the end of Carnival raged outside. Didn’t get up today until a little after noon – think I needed the rest after having to suddenly put everything together yesterday. Certainly didn’t expect to have to do it this way, but I’ll make the most of it. Thanks to the people who emailed suggestions on what to do and how to manage. I started getting things together today and did some exploring.
So, as a point of reference, I’m in the Notting Hill area, about ten minutes from the Notting Hill underground station, which means I can get to most places relatively easy. My hotel room, while ridiculously tiny, isn’t costly, which is the most important thing. I’ve sort of been piecing things together one step at a time. There’s a bookstore up near the underground station (or “the tube” as they call it) so I picked up a London guide and started figuring out what I wanted to see. The first thing that kind of appealed to me was the “London Dungeon” and that meant hopping on the tube.
There’s a good reason they call this thing the tube – it really is. I took a handful of photos while I was working my way through it, but there’s honestly no way to convey the surrealism of moving into the hamster-like labyrinth of tunnels that maneuver beneath London. I think tomorrow I bring my iPod with me to give me something of a soundtrack. In some cases, I was going down on escalators for what seemed like ten minutes. We took subways a bunch in Berlin, but there it felt like we were just a little bit beneath the surface of the city. Here, I felt like I was going down somewhere between three and six stories before I got to some of the subways I took. I had to transfer a few times before I got to the station, which was the London Bridge stop.
Shortly after getting off the Tube, I knew there was no way in hell I was doing the London Dungeon today – the lines were absolutely insane, lining the street in either direction for at least a block. So that idea was out. Thankfully, the Britain At War Experience was just a few blocks down, and it was basically empty. Now those of you who know me well enough are probably snickering – I’ve been complaining about World War II videogames for several years now, so a WWII museum certainly seems an odd choice for me, but I find the idea that this massive city could undergo siege during the last hundred years. The Experience wasn’t really much more than a film and a small museum (and ran me about $20) but it was nice way to start things off without getting overly swarmed.
I have a feeling much of my time here will be me sort of following an outline I develop in the morning and improvising a lot on the fly. After the experience, I just sort of went walking, saw the HMS Belfast from a distance and took a few snaps of the Thames. (Seriously, someone asked me if I was taking “snappies” for myself or for “a rag.”) I strolled along and found myself at the Tower bridge, so I wandered across, getting some interesting photos. By this time, it was almost 4:30 local time, so rushing through The Tower of London seemed a poor idea. Figure I’ll do that another day, but I walked around the outside of it, taking pictures here and there.
After a bit more of wandering, I hopped back on “the tube” and navigated my way back to my hotel. It’s about 7:30 local time as I write this (offline, as I’m having to conserve my internet time – I’ll post it up to The Touched when I hop online to do my email sweep) and I figure I’m going to watch one of my movies tonight and get an early night’s rest so I can start my travels into the city a bit earlier tomorrow. Figure I’ll take in Westminster Abbey first thing and then migrate around via tube past that, probably taking in the Tower of London sometime tomorrow. I think the hope is that I’ll go and try and see some show tomorrow night and stay out a bit, but we’ll see. The tube apparently closes down at 11:30 p.m., and I’m sure as hell not paying for a cab again, although I would imagine it’s a lot more reasonable (in looking at it, I apparently paid the cabbie to drive me all the way across London…) since it won’t be anywhere near as far.
Also in odd and funny things, losing pocket change in Europe would be no small thing. I’m starting to get to the point where I can recognize my change here in London, and the coins are no small things – I had a handful of one pound and two pound coins by midday today, and I hadn’t realized that my pocket change was worth about twenty bucks U.S. until I stopped to consider it. But I’m definitely keeping a closer eye on my change now. In Germany, I was aware that Euro coins were in one and two Euro denominations as well, but the pound certainly outweighs the dollar in value by a bunch right now (certainly by a good amount more than the Euro does) so that means keeping an eye on my pocket change.
Another thing I’ve noticed thusfar – I think I heard more English in Berlin than I did here in London today. I tend to have an ear tuned to conversations around me, and I heard a lot of Russian, with a good amount of German, French and even a bit of Japanese. I’m getting better at hearing my way around the London accent, but it can still take half a second. And let me tell you, the tube is CROWDED during rush hour, so I think if stay out later tomorrow, it can only be a good thing in getting my way back to the hotel. I was damn near afraid I’d get crushed at one point between changes.
Busking is also something that apparently people have permits for, and there are designated spots for it. I haven’t decided if I find this strange or cool. Quite possibly both, I suppose. There are also CCTV cameras just about everywhere I look. It’s odd, but after a little bit I found myself just tuning them out. I stand by the assertion I made to Avri back in Berlin – there are far too many cameras in far too many places for someone to actually be watching all of them. Sure, the information’s being recorded, but that only lasts for a while, and then I’m willing to bet they’re recorded over. And even with the recordings, there’s a giant need for humint (human intelligence) and so the cameras are more for intimidation purposes than anything else. I’m certainly not going out of my way to cause any trouble, but I suspect that the CCTV cameras really don’t serve any purpose much of the time…
So yeah, ignore the “god this sucks” post of last night. I’m getting it together again. I think a good part of it was just the shock of “hey look, I was relying on someone else and now I’m up shit creek” but then I remember “hey Cliff, you’re Cliff, you can handle yourself in almost anything, remember?” “Oh yeah,” I told myself, “thank god I slept that whiny bitch mood off.” I got some pretty good photographs and I’m starting to figure out the things I want to do while I’m here, and the rest? Well, I’ll just wing it. I still think it would be more fun with another person here, but hey, I’ll manage.
I stayed up last night watching “Invader Zim” episodes as the end of Carnival raged outside. Didn’t get up today until a little after noon – think I needed the rest after having to suddenly put everything together yesterday. Certainly didn’t expect to have to do it this way, but I’ll make the most of it. Thanks to the people who emailed suggestions on what to do and how to manage. I started getting things together today and did some exploring.
So, as a point of reference, I’m in the Notting Hill area, about ten minutes from the Notting Hill underground station, which means I can get to most places relatively easy. My hotel room, while ridiculously tiny, isn’t costly, which is the most important thing. I’ve sort of been piecing things together one step at a time. There’s a bookstore up near the underground station (or “the tube” as they call it) so I picked up a London guide and started figuring out what I wanted to see. The first thing that kind of appealed to me was the “London Dungeon” and that meant hopping on the tube.
There’s a good reason they call this thing the tube – it really is. I took a handful of photos while I was working my way through it, but there’s honestly no way to convey the surrealism of moving into the hamster-like labyrinth of tunnels that maneuver beneath London. I think tomorrow I bring my iPod with me to give me something of a soundtrack. In some cases, I was going down on escalators for what seemed like ten minutes. We took subways a bunch in Berlin, but there it felt like we were just a little bit beneath the surface of the city. Here, I felt like I was going down somewhere between three and six stories before I got to some of the subways I took. I had to transfer a few times before I got to the station, which was the London Bridge stop.
Shortly after getting off the Tube, I knew there was no way in hell I was doing the London Dungeon today – the lines were absolutely insane, lining the street in either direction for at least a block. So that idea was out. Thankfully, the Britain At War Experience was just a few blocks down, and it was basically empty. Now those of you who know me well enough are probably snickering – I’ve been complaining about World War II videogames for several years now, so a WWII museum certainly seems an odd choice for me, but I find the idea that this massive city could undergo siege during the last hundred years. The Experience wasn’t really much more than a film and a small museum (and ran me about $20) but it was nice way to start things off without getting overly swarmed.
I have a feeling much of my time here will be me sort of following an outline I develop in the morning and improvising a lot on the fly. After the experience, I just sort of went walking, saw the HMS Belfast from a distance and took a few snaps of the Thames. (Seriously, someone asked me if I was taking “snappies” for myself or for “a rag.”) I strolled along and found myself at the Tower bridge, so I wandered across, getting some interesting photos. By this time, it was almost 4:30 local time, so rushing through The Tower of London seemed a poor idea. Figure I’ll do that another day, but I walked around the outside of it, taking pictures here and there.
After a bit more of wandering, I hopped back on “the tube” and navigated my way back to my hotel. It’s about 7:30 local time as I write this (offline, as I’m having to conserve my internet time – I’ll post it up to The Touched when I hop online to do my email sweep) and I figure I’m going to watch one of my movies tonight and get an early night’s rest so I can start my travels into the city a bit earlier tomorrow. Figure I’ll take in Westminster Abbey first thing and then migrate around via tube past that, probably taking in the Tower of London sometime tomorrow. I think the hope is that I’ll go and try and see some show tomorrow night and stay out a bit, but we’ll see. The tube apparently closes down at 11:30 p.m., and I’m sure as hell not paying for a cab again, although I would imagine it’s a lot more reasonable (in looking at it, I apparently paid the cabbie to drive me all the way across London…) since it won’t be anywhere near as far.
Also in odd and funny things, losing pocket change in Europe would be no small thing. I’m starting to get to the point where I can recognize my change here in London, and the coins are no small things – I had a handful of one pound and two pound coins by midday today, and I hadn’t realized that my pocket change was worth about twenty bucks U.S. until I stopped to consider it. But I’m definitely keeping a closer eye on my change now. In Germany, I was aware that Euro coins were in one and two Euro denominations as well, but the pound certainly outweighs the dollar in value by a bunch right now (certainly by a good amount more than the Euro does) so that means keeping an eye on my pocket change.
Another thing I’ve noticed thusfar – I think I heard more English in Berlin than I did here in London today. I tend to have an ear tuned to conversations around me, and I heard a lot of Russian, with a good amount of German, French and even a bit of Japanese. I’m getting better at hearing my way around the London accent, but it can still take half a second. And let me tell you, the tube is CROWDED during rush hour, so I think if stay out later tomorrow, it can only be a good thing in getting my way back to the hotel. I was damn near afraid I’d get crushed at one point between changes.
Busking is also something that apparently people have permits for, and there are designated spots for it. I haven’t decided if I find this strange or cool. Quite possibly both, I suppose. There are also CCTV cameras just about everywhere I look. It’s odd, but after a little bit I found myself just tuning them out. I stand by the assertion I made to Avri back in Berlin – there are far too many cameras in far too many places for someone to actually be watching all of them. Sure, the information’s being recorded, but that only lasts for a while, and then I’m willing to bet they’re recorded over. And even with the recordings, there’s a giant need for humint (human intelligence) and so the cameras are more for intimidation purposes than anything else. I’m certainly not going out of my way to cause any trouble, but I suspect that the CCTV cameras really don’t serve any purpose much of the time…
So yeah, ignore the “god this sucks” post of last night. I’m getting it together again. I think a good part of it was just the shock of “hey look, I was relying on someone else and now I’m up shit creek” but then I remember “hey Cliff, you’re Cliff, you can handle yourself in almost anything, remember?” “Oh yeah,” I told myself, “thank god I slept that whiny bitch mood off.” I got some pretty good photographs and I’m starting to figure out the things I want to do while I’m here, and the rest? Well, I’ll just wing it. I still think it would be more fun with another person here, but hey, I’ll manage.
Labels: bumming around, Germany/England trip, photography
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