I made it!
Once in London and through customs, I picked up the Picadilly Underground Line and took a 50+ minute train ride into the city. Once off the train, the station required you to either climb 15 flights, or squish into a lift. I was able to make it onto the third one.
Was able to find my hotel easily, and it's right on
Russell Square. I thought this might be some sort of concrete park, but was pleasantly surprised at the trees and blooming lilacs!
I am pretty tired tonight, so I decided to do just one thing, so I walked two blocks to the British
Museum. A free museum I might add, as many of them are here in London, kind of amazing. The trade off is that every exhibit is the So-and-So Exhibit brought to you by some foundation. The content was varried, but my favorite room was the room of Enlightenment. A gigantic room filled with books, and sculptures. It didn't focus on one age of enlightenment, but many so as you walked through the room there was natural history, art, sciences, etc. A really beautiful room. There was a hands-on table, where a woman had three artifacts to pick up and hold, touch, rub, smell etc. One woman even rubbed it on her face. There was a copper piece that intrigued me and the museum curator told me all about it being part of a pilgrimage box dedicated to a saint, and then showed me complete examples.
It has been harder than I expected to find wi-fi here, they want you to jump through a million hoops to get it. In Russell Square there is a bench sponsored by Microsoft that is a free wi-fi hotspot. I sat here and composed this blog post!
Well I'm off to find dinner, somewhere, there's a pub next door and that may be a good option. There's a small place in the hotel but the menu literally reads Tea and Pastries. I could also order Crisps, Peanuts, or Olives.
I thought I knew what crisps were, but now I'm not so sure...
Ahh! Speaking of differences, here are some of my musings for the day:
- There were three guys playing baseball catch in the park, and it seemed out of place, like I thought that Brits had too much swagger to play catch
- I shouldn't just call people Brits, because not only are there tourists, but there is a very diverse litany of people here. Admittedly I love hearing the accent. My mother joked about me finding someone in Europe, now I just need to find one that doesn't think American's are stupid...
- Speaking of stupid, I had one of those moments today. So at many other museums I've been to they make you put your backpack in a locker. So when the security guard asked me to check my back, I assumed he meant, put away, as in coat check. I asked him where I could do that and he seemed almost as confused as I was. The guy behind him was trying not to laugh. Finally we figured out what was being asked and I opened my bag for him to see. Ugh *facepalm* I expected my language barriers to be over complicated words and usages, not over a one syllable descriptor that is in my everyday vocabulary.
- Lovely. I have heard this word more than I thought I would. I knew I heard it in American versions of UK life, but I thought it was a charicature of it... nope. Some girl got a seat on the train, "Oh, aren't I the lovely one!" Another said, "She's lovely." I feel I will have to be extra careful about the habit I have of saying Lovely in a sarcastic manner. Who knows, maybe I'll get the hang of it.
- Surname - I understand what this means, but it took me twice as long to understand what I was supposed to repeat to the Front Desk Receptionist at the hotel. Ooops
- Dress, I was talking earlier about swagger, but perhaps dapper is a better word, even the advertising is aimed at a more sophisticated audience.
I welcome thoughts, comments, suggestions, etc!
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