Hotel Taco

This past weekend I payed my first visit to London, England. My plane left at 6:25am from Dublin and arrived 1 hour later at Standstead airport. There is a reason for the early flights being cheap...no one in their right mind should take one. I had to wake up at 3:30am to catch my flight! That seems like a time more suitable to going to bed rather than waking up.

When I arrived at Stanstead, I had to take a bus for another hour to get to central London. This cost me 15 Pounds return, which is over 30$ CAD. London is bloody expensive. It's a little bit more than Dublin. For a 1 way ticket on the Tube (Subway) it is 4 pounds, that is 8CAD! For a 1 way subway ride!! The buses are 2Pounds...that's more than 4$!

After arriving downtown I wasted no time exploring. I walked to Buckingham Palace to say hi to the Queen. I also saw the Roayl Guards with the big black fuzzy hats. I've always wanted to see one of them. Next, I strolled through St. james Park and watched swans swimming around. I then made my way to Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. The buildings in London are amazing. Everywhere I turned, there was something that caused me to stop and stare.

After lunch, I went to see the London Eye (friggin 20Pounds to go on so I skipped that. it's a big ferris wheel that they built for 2000 and you can see a nice view of London), walked along the Thames River, saw Cleopatra's Needle, the Roayl Courts of Justice and St. Paul's Cathedral.

It started to get dark around 4pm so I saw the National Gallery and Nelson's Column all light up. I next wandered around randomly and found myself in some cool shopping districts. I wish I had money to shop in London...but alas, I am not rich...yet!!!

Around 8pm, I took the subway to meet Taco. Taco was a classmate of mine for the past 4 years at CMCC and he is now doing his Master's in London. For those that don't know him, he's a little crazy...but you would have to be to go back to school after CMCC...jk.....anyways, Taco was a great host. He cooked dinner for me and showed me places that I could visit the next day in London. He knows London pretty well and also provided me with some history of the places I would see. My neck and shoulders were sore from carrying my stupid backpack around all day and so I got treatment too! Taco's roomate had an extra mattress and sleeping bag so I got some much needed sleep. I'm so glad that I did not have to stay in a hostel! Hotel Taco gets 2 thumbs up and I recommend the place to anyone...though, the neighbourhood is a little bit "dodgey", but if you are lucky like me and got bus service, i.e. got picked up from the bus station, it's all good.

I woke the next morning to start my sightseeing adventures again. This time I went to the Horse Guard where I met horses that are like the Royal Guards that just stand there and do not move. I also got my picture taken with one of the guards. After that, I went to the Admirality Arch, back to Trafalgar Square to the Telecome Tower and finally to the British Museum. I had a day pass for the tube on Sunday so I just randomly hopped on and off to different places.

The British Museum was huge! I only got there towards the end of the day so I only saw the Egyptian and Roman stuff. It's nice to see all those things but funny at the same time because they really belong in Egypt and Rome. When I was in Egypt, I saw the pyramids and temples but they were empty. In the British Museum, I saw all the things that were supposed to be in those same temples and pyramids.

I took the bus back to Standstead airport at some insane hour and slept at the airport until my 6am flight to Dublin. At first, I wasn't sure about spending the night in the airport so I was going to just stay up all night but when I got there, there were already lots and lots of people doing the same thing as I, so, I laided down on my coat and napped for a few hours before my flight. By the time I got into my bed in Dublin, it was 9:30am. Good thing I didn't have any patients booked this morning!

Ok, now to decide where to go for Christmas...any suggestions?