I’m back in London after two
weeks away in Costa Rica.
The past two weeks were absolutely awesome for one reason in particular, it was
spent with Leire! After leaving Miami
all the way back in March, Leire and I have been in almost constant contact.
Sending text messages, emails, online chats, Skype calls and a few telephone
calls too. Finally being reunited again was exciting and a whole lot of fun. But now
it’s back to single life in lonely London,
its no wonder I miss Leire already.
Today I went walkabout. I loaded up Google maps on my iPod
and sketched a basic path to central London.
I went to Whitrose the local supermarket here in Russell square to get some
lunch and supplies for my walk. Sitting in the middle of the small market in
the shopping square in front of Whitrose, I soaked up the early afternoon sun
eating my mixed salad lunch watching the shoppers hustling by. After 30mins or
so I got stuck into my snickers bar and noticed something odd. Twice within the
same minute I saw two couples that seemed to be following a new fashion trend,
or so I think.
The first couple walked by and I chuckled. The female was
dressed up kinda fancy but to me seemed like mutton dressed as lamb. The fella
strode alongside with his bare chest pushed out, checkered shorts and
flip-flops, shaved head and bling sunnies, as his blonde haired woman pushed
the pram. Not more than thirty seconds later an identical couple walked by in
the exact same manner. I could be wrong but it seems like the females are
trying to look like Britney Spears and the fellas like David Beckham. Later
that day I saw another couple sporting the same fashion trend in Westminster, why the
fathers aren’t wearing shirts is beyond me, maybe I’ve missed a new show on TV
or something.
Anyhow.
After lunch and a good hour of sun soaking I headed off on my trek. I
followed a main road that split off to the right. I came to a bridge and walked
halfway over it before stopping to admire the sights. Looking out to the left
of the bridge was a nice view of the city with that tall blue egg shaped
building. Looking over the right side of the bridge was London Eye on the left
bank and Big Ben on the right. With the sun still high in the sky it was a
pretty impressive view.
I turned back deciding to walk to Big Ben first. I followed
the path along the river in the shade of the big oak trees. I joined the mass
of tourists surrounding the parliament houses and took a few pics of Big Ben
and the statue of Cromwell on the buildings side. Crossing the busy roads I
ventured through a little Abbey that had an old cathedral and another clock
tower building which was hardly as impressive as Big Ben. The tower didn’t even
have a clock; instead it had a sun dial, which to me is pretty cool because I’ve
never actually seen one in use as such, so I took a picture of that too.
I crossed the Thames at the next bridge and
stopped at a bench on the bank opposite Big Ben. Some fella was running up and
down the pavement at fast pace shaming the joggers who seemed close to
collapse. He ran by maybe six times while I sat there soaking up the sun. After
a good ten minutes or so, and with my hay fever getting more and more annoying,
I headed off in search of a tissue.
A hundred meters or so from the London Eye the filthy littered streets became
swamped with tourists and the sounds of children being little brats, I had
reached McDonalds. Wading past toddlers, prams, pregnant women and soccer mums,
I finally made it to the toilets and stocked up on tissue paper. After sneezing
about five times in a row I headed back out onto the filthy streets and
continued following the path.
The London Eye isn’t much to look at, it's just a big ferris wheel after all,
and with the street jammed with tourists I pressed on with hardly an upward
glance. I passed by a few living statues and other street performers,
pavement artists and a mini skate park covered in graffiti under a bridge. It
was an interesting and colorful walk but sadly, it was completely overrun by
grotty tourists and annoying children.
I now intend to spend the rest of my time in London
lazing about at Hyde Park spending as little
money as possible. It should be a relaxing end to my adventure if only my hay
fever would stop!
