London like NYC...

I wake up well rested after my first day in London with friends. Yay for familiar faces. My trip in was very stressful with making connections and being in a big city with time just passing forward into the early morning. My train from Florence to Pisa and then to the airport was easy. I got to the airport in plenty of time and I feel it was one of the easiest connections yet. My flight took off and it was 2 hours to London. We arrived a little late because of the jet stream. I landed and I was greeted as if I were landing in the United States. A very long customs and immigration line. It was especially longer for me since I was not a EU passport holder or UK citizen. The line was about 1 1/2 hours of waiting to pass through immigration. This meant I didn't get through the line until 2:00AM! I arrived at the baggage carriage and my bag came around quickly. That was good. Then it was in search of a transfer. I found one for £10, whoa. In US dollars that's about $20. In the UK, the prices on things in the pound sterling are double for US dollars. I got about £30 out of the machine, so that will be $60 from my account and that amount of money won't go far here. Wow, but I was prepared for that one. I got the transfer okay and it was an hour into the central part of London. Next thing was to get to my friend about 20 minutes away with the tube being closed for the night. After about 40 minutes of walking around I finally found the bus station I was supposed to find. It was a hidden marking that would only be clearly seen from the inside of the tube station. Luckily I meticulously followed the map at one of the other bus stations after walking around the equivalent of the Wall Street area in NYC for those 40 minutes. I got on the bus and was on my way. She met me at the stop and I was at her flat by 4:00AM! That was quite a journey. Still unshowered from the train ride from Prague and a long day of walking around in 2 hot places. Mmmmm. I was feeling quite grimy. We sat up and chatted for about 2 more hours before we retired for the evening. What a long day.

The next day was a lazy one and not getting started until the late afternoon. This was okay. This is the relaxing part of my journey. I'd already been to London and seen the major sights. This part was just to meet friends and see and experience the London I wouldn't get to see from getting here by cruise ship. I did some laundry, caught up on some internet, and then we went for a late lunch in Covent Garden. We walked around a bit before deciding to buy tickets to se Spamalot that evening. We decided to head back to her flat to change and then we discovered there was a tube strike. Only 3 lines out of 12 were running and the strike was expected to last for 2 weeks (a fortnight according to the paper). Wow. It was packed on the platform. Every tube that came on the Piccadilly Line was packed full and people were smashed in there like sardines. We let 2 trains go by before deciding to squash into one. We got home, freshened up, and we were out again. The train ride in was easy and we made it to the show just in time. Fabulous. The show was awesome and what a PERFECT show to see in London. It was the musical about the Holy Grail story by the famous comedy troupe of Britain, Monty Python. It brilliantly made fun of stage musicals and had a somewhat political view as well. I was dying of laughter and got most of the jokes and British humor thanks to Kerry (my friend I was visiting). We saw the show with her roomie and afterward headed back to their flat for a late night snack and just to hang out. Another friend of the Prinsendam showed up and we just hung around chatting until 1:00AM. I kind of feel at home here since London is a little like NYC in the sense that there is loads of theatre, artists, and also a busy business community. There are tourists galore here and everything is expensive. With the same TKTS stand in the central part of Covent Garden in the West End, it definitely felt like Manhattan. It's been great so far and the trip is now nearly over.

This part came at the right time just as I need friends to keep my spirits up during troubled times. I'll be anxious to go home in a few days once leaving here with my mind full of the wonderful places I've been and ready to deal with the heaviness my heart will feel upon landing in Ohio and knowing the changes that are happening on the home front. Today we're taking London very casual and hoping to meet up with more friends. Another nice and relaxing day in London.