UK Stories Part one

After much ado, here finally are my accounts of our trip to the UK.

It's taken this long because I've had to adjust to normal life again--that is, the workaholic, obsessive-compulsive, freaky-clean existence I wake up to every morning. I do miss travelling and touring, but I remind myself, it's good to be home.

So anyway, let's go back in time shall we? {insert wavy video transitions and sound efects here}. It is the 19th of March. We touch down at the largest airport I've seen: Amsterdam's Schipol airport. We're to take a one-hour connecting flight to London. This airport actually has its own museum! But more on that later.

Anyway, after a one-hour flight, we finally touched down at the London Heathrow airport. "Hey-th/rouw" is how you pronounce it. And it's 0 degrees celsius! It's f***ing cold! I'm shivering in my jeans but my niece who;s come to greet us, is in a tank top and torn jeans and flirty flat shoes! So they quickly bundle us up in coats and mittens and bonnets and whisk us off to our Hostel. Our first night was a blur for me, and all i remember was the cold and the drive and lugging our bags up a couple flights of stairs. Then washing up and turning in.

The first place we visited was the British National Museum. It was a colossal building and definitely could not be explored in a day. The foyer alone is quite overwhelming. A criss-cross of metal and glass formed a dome over the entrance. If the entrance was this big, you can imagine the rest of it!

So we focused on the Egyptian and Etruscan exhibits. We wanted to see the code of Hammurabi, and the mummies. And boy did we see mummies. They were either standing around in glass cases, or were in perpetual recline inside their sarcophagi. While we were
there, there were school kids on field trip for the day. No more than 7 years old, the kids were drawing what they saw, asking their teacher questions. One particularly precocious kid, hand in pocket, the other waving his notebook was exclaiming "I don't believe this! Did you see this? It's totally unbelievable!"

We spent a couple of hours there, then walked to a nearby Pizza Express for lunch. I noticed that when you walk into a restaurant, the waiters, whatever they're doing, will always greet you with a "Hi guys! Need a table?" I noticed also that the Londoners were quite nice to tourists. They would even offer to take our photos for us. AH, well maybe they're used to seeing all kinds of people in the city. But still, I did feel quite welcome.

We made our way to Covent garden afterwards, but the stalls were closing. Though I wanted to buy some mementos I couldn't bring myself to, especially when I remembered the exchange rates (P90=GBP 1). So all I got were two hand crafted stamps. There wasn't much
else to see, except for the other vendors, who were packing up for the day. We took the
underground back to our Hostel by ourselves, and it was a very rewarding experience. As long as you know the routes, and how to buy tickets, you're all set. You can tour the whole place yourself.

It helps also that all the streets are accounted for, names are constant, and maps are matino. It also helps that the underground doesn't conk out just because.

So we go back to our hostel. Our hostel was beautifully located right behind oxford street, the main street, sort of like EDSA. So from the hostel it's easy to navigate anywhere. There are pamphlets all over the place telling you where the nearest supermarket was, the exchange offices, the nearest underground station and post office. It was really budget-friendly.

Our hostel, the YHA is a backpacker accommodation. We stayed in a tiny room with a sink,
and had to share communal baths. Ahhh, I thought I w as gung ho with communal baths, but
I realized I wasn't. Not in this one at least. The problem is, it smelled kulob, and you know no sun really got in there to shine on the molds. Because it was so dang cold! No way would you open those walls to 3 degree temperatures in the middle of the day! So no sun, no airing, and everybody desquamated in there. It also didn't help that there were some patrons who didn’t know how to use bathrooms. You know what I mean.

I couldn't sleep too well in the hostel either because I was being hypocondriac-ed about the sheets and the carpets. And the curtains. It's a good thing we didn't stay there all day, and spent our time going around.

That night we met up with Kath. Finally! After a year of correspondence, we had dinner together at Belgo, this great mussels restaurant where they serve fruit beers. Yummmmy! I don't drink beer, but this one I drank like a glass of water. I naturally had the strawberry beer, and it was the best! Now I want some more. :) I will search high and low all over Manila for a micro brewery that serves fruit beers! Or I can ask Kath to bring some home for me.

She showed us more places where we could visit, and pointed our streets that intersected
so that we could take short cuts. She advised us against going to Stonehenge on our own. Shyuks. It was too far she said, no trains and it was a three hour drive just to get there. *Sigh* maybe next time.

We walked to the "Madison Square" of London and took some shots. Then she had to head
home at around 8. She lived an hour outside the city, and we didn’t want to keep her.
Too bad I couldn't spend more time with her. She was busy too, and we only could stay a
couple of days more in London. And both days would be spent with Ate Shay and her
family. I promise to return next time. Maybe then we could have a longer coffee
session.