London or Bust.
Without a doubt one of my favorite parts of being here is how easy it is to travel. Only a week or so ago Erica and I were joking about how great it would be to frolick in London and days later we were on a plane. We spent four days getting to know as many nooks as we could.
Our first night was absolutely hilarious, in passing of course. We landed in London around midnight, changed some money and were horrified at how expensive it was just to get into the center of the city. The Gatwick Express took us into town for close to 18 lbs each (almost 30 dollars) one way. We arrived in town and took a bus to Hyde Park and found our way to the hostel Erica had found only to find that it was less than pleasant. Way less than pleasant! Luckily we were able to make the most of it and laugh ourselves to sleep. The next morning we set off to meet the town and to find a new place to lay our heads for the night. Low and behold we found Belushi's Christopher Inn which was the lap of luxury compared to our first experience. We settled in and met several really nice folks, some from Brasil, Belgium, France, Ireland and Italy.
For the most part we spent our time sightseeing with William, a friend we made from Brasil. To our delight we found out about the glory of the day passes which allowed us to hop on and off all busses and metros for just under 7 lbs a day. As you might imagine it was our first stop at the beginning of each day. Well. Not counting breakfast. I would even go as far as saying that we were metro connoisseurs by the end of our trip, at least on the blue line! Oxford Circus. Piccadilly Circus. Covent Garden. Hyde Park. Big Ben. London Eye. Buckingham Palace. National Gallery. British Museum. Saatchi Gallery (swoon) and of course pubs.
It was really nice to revisit London. I feel like I got a chance to appreciate it a bit more than the last time I was there. Aside from my battles to find wi-fi and the pure shock of pubs and metros closing as early as they do, I would say the trip was a success. Now back to Lisboa for some more exploring...