London, Pt 2 (Forgotten Things and New Experiences)

Hey guys,

Back again, blogging about my times here in London for those of you who wish to read. There were some things that I left out from the first couple of days here, so the goal tonight is to touch on some of those and also to bring you up to speed on Tuesday's happenings. Without further ado...

Forgotten Things

"Why Have You Come Here?"

So I'd flown all night long upon arriving in London, it was about 1:00 pm here and I'd had no sleep. The screaming children on the plane had made sure of that. Still, being abroad for the first time, I had the desire to speak with my first truly British person.
I know it sounds petty and maybe a little discriminative, but some of those who I look up to the most are from this city and this country. Writers, actors, directors, musicians... All sorts of folks that I admire are from Great Britain.
So I step up to the gate upon arriving in Heathrow and the fellow checking my passport asks with an air of mysteriousness, "Why have you come here?"
Now this wasn't "Why have you come here, chap? Have you heard we're awesome here? Come to see the city, have you?"
It was more like "Why have you come here? Have you lost your marbles? Are you lost? Why would you want to come here?"
Yeah. Like that.
"To visit." I replied.
"To visit. What do you mean? You're on holiday?"
"Yeah," I said, rather cheerily.
After that I went the wrong way in the terminal and prompted the gentleman to say, "This way, sir."
I just thought the whole thing was kind of funny. In retrospect, I laugh every time I think about it, not begrudging the man at all, just finding his air about the whole thing a bit hilarious.
"Why have you come here?"



Pennsylvania

Several kind folks here in London have asked where in the States I was from and I 've received some rather funny replies to my answer. Please note I'm not poking fun at these marvelous folks. Most everyone here has been amazing and I feel great when these folks are willing to take time out of their days to wonder about me.
Upon arrival at Westminster Abbey, perhaps the kindest, sweetest little old lady in all the UK greeted us at the door.
"Oh, here we are. We've a map for you and the free audio guides to the Abbey are right over here."
"Thank you, ma'am," I said.
"Where are you visiting from today?"
"The States."
"Oh, another one! You know we've got half the United States here today."
She was so sweet and witty.
"What part of the States have you come from?" she asked.
"Pennsylvania. Around Pittsburgh."
"Oh, is there really a pawn shop on the corner?"
Huh? I thought to myself. You've lost me, you dear lady.
She picked up again. "There used to be a song, oh you're too young to remember, 'There's a pawn shop on the corner in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania'. Is there?"
I could only reply, "It's definitely possible, ma'am, definitely possible."

Our waitress at the Hard Rock Cafe asked us the same thing. Where we were from, that is. Apparently, this pawn shop was not so renowned that only I, having lived on the doorstep of Pittsburgh for some time now, was the only one who didn't know about it.
When we told the waitress that we were from around Pittsburgh, she replied "Oh yeah. Had to be Pittsburgh, 'cause everything in Pennsylvania starts with a 'P'. Pittsburgh, Phildelphia... And that's pretty much all I know about Pennsylvania."
Such a great person. She had us laughing the whole time we were there.



And How Could I Forget...

One of the coolest things that I forgot to mention was all the notable people who are buried in Westminster Abbey. I actually stood at the graves of Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, CHARLES DICKENS, and a whole host of others!



New Experiences

Which brings us to Tuesday...

The Museum of London was our first stop today. The name really does serve here, folks. It's bascially an archaeological and cultural history of London, even before it was London!

Lots of great and interesting stuff there dating back to hundreds of thousands of years BC. Things from archaeological digs to the fire in 1666 to Medieval London. It's all there, guys, and it's all amazing.

Next up was Madame Tussauds's Wax Museum featuring lifelike sculpts of many celebrities, sports icons, musicians, world leaders, etc. That was truly an experience. Of all the "celebs" I would have liked to have had my picture taken with, the place was so crowded that I only managed Julia Roberts and (I INSISTED UPON) the Beatles.

There really were a lot of icons there, though, and they were truly a sight to behold. Brad and Angelina, Morgan Freeman, Tom Cruise, David Beckham, Tiger Woods, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury, Robert Plant, Barack Obama, Martin Luther King, Jr., Ronald Reagan... Oh my... So many. I'll have to post some pics when I get back home.

And while I'm on the subject of posting pics: If you're wondering why I haven't as of yet, I can't get my phone to upload into the netbook. So those of you you asked for lots of pics will get them, but I've gotta get back across the pond first.

Anyway... The next stop was the Natural History Museum, which reminded me a lot of Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, if you've ever been there, just on a much grander scale. We had dinosaur bones (and actually a KICK ASS animatronic life-size Tyrannosaurus Rex THAT MOVED! SCARY GOOD!), a study of the Earth, the details of the human body and how it works and a whole exhibit on human evolution.

Capping off the day was something that Erica wanted to experience: The department store Harrod's, which was breathtaking in its scope. Lots of high end fashion and a mammoth building to boot. We swung in quickly for an item so we could say that we've shopped there.

Other experiences today have to do with something we are probably all familiar with: FOOD! We kept it low-key today and went to McDonald's, where I ordered something that I think was called a Chicken Legend. I ordered it anticipating the equivalent of the Crispy Chicken in the States. What I got was a delicious chicken sandwich like I've never experienced in the States. Totally different. I thought that was interesting.

We went to Subway for dinner. It wasn't until after I had instructed the sandwich artist in building my Italian BMT that I discovered that THEY DON'T HAVE ITALIAN DRESSING HERE! GAAAAAH! Anyway, I got by. And I also couldn't help noticing that corn was one of the veggies you could have scooped onto your sandwich.

The fast food stuff is pretty goofy to comment on, I realize, but I just thought I'd share.

SO...

That's about it for today. I've got to end this one and get some rest. Another day of vigorous walking has done me in and I've got an early day tomorrow including a Jack the Ripper walking tour! Should be cool...

I'll try and post again soon.

Peace...