London Day 1

      I reached London, purchased a oyster pass so I could use "the tube", and headed out to meet up with my friend Ethan. This metro is completely different than the metro that I became accustomed to in Madrid in that it isn't completely underground.

       I fell asleep on the way to meeting up with Ethan, and missed my station. I woke up and was a couple stops away, so I had to back track a little. After we met up, he walked me around the city and showed me some cool places.

       He told me that people don't really use the telephone booths anymore other than for wifi and to get out of the rain. I guess London just keeps them because they are like a trademark of the city.

       This plaza is like the Times Square of London and there were a bunch of street performers and people just hanging out and enjoying the wonderful weather.

      Ethan took me to the Covent Garden Market and we wondered around the shops and vendor stands for awhile.

       This place was also packed with people and street performers. I keep comparing London to Madrid, and one thing I noticed is that there are a lot more people here.

      We posted up inside this market area and watched a street performer as he juggled knives while jumping up and down on some makeshift po-go stick. It was pretty impressive.

       I had to snap this photo because it is like a typical view of London. There are telephone stations like this everywhere.

       After the market, Ethan showed me Drury Lane, you may recognize it from that old nursery rhyme about the Muffin Man. "Oh, do you know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man. Oh do you know the Muffin Man, who lives on Drury Lane..."

       There are a bunch of other cool buildings in London that we passed, and this building dated back to the 1700's.

       We reached the river and the views from on top of the bridge were so incredible. This photo shows the view of part of downtown London.

       This view shows London's infamous "Big Ben". I plan on getting a closer look at this place later on this weekend.

      Ethan had a play to go to and I headed out to find a pub to grab a beer. I came across a place called The Craft Beer Co. that had a large variety of beers and there were a lot of people inside. After buying a beer, I stood outside of the pub and sipped on it as I gawked at the beautiful architecture. It wasn't long until I joined into a conversation with some Americans and a Londoner and we ended up hanging out for quite a while. The Americans were from Michigan and Illinois, but they currently live and work in London. I messaged Ethan to meet me at the bar after his show, but my phone died. Luckily, one of the bartenders had an iPhone charger that she let me use. 

      After his show, Ethan found his way to the bar and we enjoyed a couple craft beers together as we conversed with our new friends. Since this was my first day in London, I was still familiar with the eating times and habits of Spain (Spanish eat while they drink and in London, just like America, this is not the case). I was feeling the effects of the craft beers and told Ethan that I simply had to eat. We parted ways from our new friends after taking a couple photos and headed out to find some food.

      We found a Subway, and that sounded fantastic. I ordered a Philly Cheese Steak, but the guy behind the counter looked at me like I was drunk (I mean I was, but I didn't pronounce it wrong, he just didn't understand the reference). I corrected myself by saying a steak and cheese please and then the guy understood. Ethan and I ate and then headed out toward the tube. However, it was closed because it was so late. So I had to pay an expensive cab ride to get back to my hostel. During the ride, I watched a moped rider try to pass a cab on the left (The streets run opposite here and he was supposed to pass on the right), and the cab door opened, stopping the moped rider in his tracks as he crashed to the ground. My cab driver kind of laughed and then passed the other taxi as we continued toward my hostel. Overall, it was a great first day in London and I want to thank Ethan and our new friends from London for showing me a great time.

Thanks for reading,

      RCE