Monday, April 18, 2022

London

I splurged on a hotel in London, like I mentioned earlier, because Eli 20.8 was staying with me. 

Our view:















That's Hyde Park. We were also forty yards from an Underground station, and a bus stop was literally across the street. This made getting around the city incredibly easy, even though we still walked for hours every day. 

Being in a city that was so walkable, with such good public transit, made me realize I don't want to live where I have to drive all the time. I'd enjoy not needing a car. Much healthier, too. 

Instead of going to the tourist spots in London, Eli took me to Borough Market, which is his favorite place in London: 















It was huge, and amazing, and we had excellent tacos for lunch. 

We kept seeing this display (pro-Ukrainian, anti-Russian) near our hotel, and couldn't figure out why it was so randomly placed.















Eventually, we realized that it was because the Russian embassy was across the street. It was totally unmarked, though, and I never would have known if I hadn't asked the two policeman stationed outside it. 

Random things about London:
--the Tube is loud at times. Very, very loud. And the first line was built in 1862, incredibly.
--I didn't encounter one rude person the entire time I was in England. 
--I didn't encounter any loud ones, either. Even the pubs were quiet (we went to one that was about 600 years old, and had to watch out for beams because the roof was so low).
--figuring out which side to walk on the sidewalk is endlessly confusing. On any sidewalk, most English people will naturally stay to the left. London is so international, though, that many people stray to the right, and it's a disordered mess.
--in London, people have to be on their game. Every place we ate, even the inexpensive ones, were delicious. 

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