Monday, April 26th, 2004, 8:05pm - London, England

Well, we have arrived in London! We got on the plane only to be served dinner within the first 30 mins (which we had just eaten at home!). However, Geo managed to wolf down this 2nd meal while I ate almost none of it. Then, "Cheaper by the dozen" was the in-flight movie which I couldn't resist b/c I hadn't seen it yet :S So both Geo & I managed to get only 2 hours sleep on the flight over.
Meg - Saw Alex at the airport ... we were on the same flight (I figured we would be). I'm sorry I missed your call on Sunday (my sis gave me the message). It was awesome of you to call!
So we got off the plane in London at 10 am here ... which is actually 5 am back home ... only 2 hours sleep under our belts ... yikes! Got our bags ok & everything. Went down to find the tube (the subway). Pretty uneventful tube ride - about an hour to get into Soho ... however lots of really nice houses to look at along the way when we weren't underground. Really old buildings ... pretty cool ... oh! and those gardens w/ the divided up little tiny lots ... those are so cute! I always thought that was an old British thing, but I guess the gardens are still around & thriving. Then Geo & I went to get off the tube & as we were about to exit the station I realized that somewhere b/w the tube & the exit ("way out" as they call it here, not exit) I dropped by ticket! Argh! Couldn't believe I lost the 1st thing, after worrying so much about Geo losing stuff. The guy at the counter sold me a replacement ticket for cheap tho which was nice.
Geo & I got off the tube w/ pretty much no clue where we were going. We stopped to ask a few store clerks where our hostel's street was & no one had any idea. So we just started walking in the general direction. We walked for about an hour, stopping every so often to check the general maps in our guidebooks & stopping once for some food for breakfast/lunch at the grocery store.
Finally we found our hostel & checked in ... not the nicest place, but we do have our own room w/ it's own key which is great & it has a locker for each of our packs in the room too. The weather here today has been fabulous ... warm, sunny, and 18 degrees or so ... a nice change from the cold rain that was coming down in Ottawa the nite we left. I even got some colour on my shoulders today :) The tan isn't far off!
For the afternoon, Geo & I walked up to Regent Park (a fair walk away) and strolled around the Park for a few hours ... it was huge! Paths everywhere, little lakes w/ ducks & birds in them, tended gardens that were absolutely gorgeous. After a few hours (it took that long to do a loop of the Park) we headed back to the hostel & had a much needed nap. Woke up around 6:00 & headed out to find some food ... ended up getting Chinese down the street from the hostel & then walked over to this internet cafe to check email & such.
So, so far so good :) We're exhausted so tonite will be an early nite, but maybe tomorrow we'll check out the nightlife (they were lining up outside the discotheque at 7:00!!!! Who lines up for a bar that early?). Not too much culture shock, other than the busy streets to contend w/. Cars speeding down narrow little roads & thousands of pedestrians everywhere it seems. It took us a while to figure out the street names are up on the sides of buildings as opposed to on posts on each corner. And we keep having trouble figuring out when we're supposed to cross at some of the more confusing intersections. But we haven't been run over yet, so we're all good ;) Oh yeah - and everyone dresses so trendy here. Now, that just maybe the neighbourhood we're in (Soho), but no one is out in frumpy, relaxed clothes ... they're all dressed up all nice!
I still can't believe we're here. In Europe! We've got another 2 days here in London (good thing it's only that - money sure doesn't stretch far here!!!). We're really enjoying it tho, & I'm sure we'll be all gung-ho again in the morning once we get a proper sleep under our belts. Sorry if this was all jumbled up ... I'm sitting in the internet cafe trying to think of everything that happened throughout the day ... my apologies if it came out a bit mixed up!
Don't forget to write me & tell me what you're up to! Keep me updated :) Love you all & miss ya!
I miss you sweetie & love you very much ... thankyou for the letter & candy ... you're amazing!


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