London - Day One
On a map, London looks like a spider web, and without the benefit of compass points, I got turned around more than once. After a few wrong turns, I managed to find the nearest Underground Station a few blocks from the Hotel. Public transportation can be overwhelming when your thrown into it without a helping hand. I've never before seen such a bewildering array of options for riding a subway (and I didn't read my guidebook closely enough to get to the Travel Card section). I walked up to the teller, told him where I wanted to go, and then determined where exactly that particular station was based on the name printed on my ticket. Makes sense, right? Didn't to me either. The most humorous part of the experience was watching all the other tourists standing around gesturing here or there, scratching their heads, wondering what the heck to do... I followed people and did what they did.
"MIND THE GAP"
This is the recorded message you here each and every time you get on or off a train. About five minutes into my first subway ride, I was staring intently at the the map of the system and all of the sudden it made sense... tickets, zones, routes... from then on, getting around underground was a very simple matter. My destination was Piccadilly Circus, from there, I was planning to walk to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Queen's Guard. I never made it. I had this strange sense that I was in NYC until a group of twelve bright red guardsmen on horseback trotted past. I had no idea where I was so I followed them to a large palace with a wide open courtyard where people were gathering. I ended up being in the right place at the right time. The ceremony I stumbled on was the Changing of the Horse Guard at the Horse Guard Palace. There are a number of guard changing ceremonies in London, this is the only one that involves maneuvering horsies in unison. My next stop was the Houses of Parliament. On the way, I passed #10 Downing Street, the residence of the Prime Minister. I'm not certain, but I think I saw Tony Blair dancing naked in the window... I heard the bell before I saw the tower, Big Ben loomed over the artificial horizon of the rooftops. The Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey are all located within fifty yards of one another. I spent a good hour touring Westminster Abbey, the 13th century church and its tombs of British monarchs and heroes. I have to admit I found it a little creepy walking past the above ground graves of Henry V, and dozens of other long since deceased royalty. The church itself was beautiful. Big Ben was chiming again as I made for the far bank of the River Thames. The sun shone for a short while on my walk across the bridge and provided a prime opportunity for a few beautiful pictures of the river, Parliament and Big Ben. An hour later I was at the peak of the largest observation wheel in the world, the London Eye, looking out over a breathtaking view of the city. My last stop for the day was Trafalgar Square, the location of Lord Nelson's Column and The National Gallery. I was very impressed with the collection, stunned actually. A great many of the paintings I've only seen in history texts were on display. Van Gogh's Sunflowers, Turner's landscapes, Lucien Freud's nudes, and Sargent's portraits. My only regret is that I missed a couple paintings by Hans Holbein and Jan Van Eyck I would like to have seen. The building is so massive it stands to reason I would miss something. I stopped to rest on a couch and fell asleep for short while, I had been walking for nine hours.
That night, I ate at a good Italian restaurant, L'Accento, near the hotel in Bayswater and returned to the hotel bar for a beer and the first of a few very good conversations with the bartender, Lubos, from Slovakia.
