We arrived at Houston at 9:30 or so, and had a 5 hour layover, so we hopped in a taxi and went to the mall, across from one of The Man's favorite places to eat - where he wanted to go to lunch when it opened at 11 (Saltgrass Steakhouse). While moseying around the mall, we realized that Saltgrass was across the freeway - not just a road we could easily cross. Um, small oversight! In Texas, taxis just don't hang out at mall entrances, so we eventually had to risk our lives and (don't read this part, Mom) RUN OUR FREAKING TAILS OFF through several crazy freeway ramps with no crosswalks.
Blame The Man for this, because everyone who knows me knows I'd never do something so stupid just to eat at a steakhouse! I would've been okay with the Taco Bell we went into to ask directions. See my "professional" diagram of this nightmare below (And, no, that nice yellow line that looks like it goes UNDER the freeway, doesn't - it meets up with it.) Also, imagine us crossing these crazy streets with over-stuffed backpacks on. People probably thought we were hobos - hobos who were "on something."
And thus the adventure began.
About 7 hours into our 10 hour flight to London (having already been on a 3.5 hour flight to Houston, with no sleep for about 36 hours at that point) I was actually ready to strap on a parachute and jump! I realized right then that our govenment should be spending a lot more money on the technology of teleporting :) Star Trek is on to something there!
When we could finally see England, my inner grumbling totally disappeared. My first impression when flying toward Gatwick Airport was seeing fields and fields of green, then just before we touched down, we passed fields of grazing fluffy sheep. From that moment on, I was completely smitten with England. Who wouldn't be, though? Just look at this photo from a corner of St. James's Park, for example:
And here's one from another park:
The train ride into London took forever (50 minutes or so - with standing room only), but was still cool. It was 7:30 AM there, so most of the people on the train were commuting to work. Their accents were of course super cool to listen to all around us, but it was also interesting to hear what they were talking about, and see what they were reading in the newspapers. One thing that surprised both of us was how everywhere we went EVERYONE seemed to be reading a newspaper. As we were in London longer, we realized this was because most of the papers are free and handed out wherever you go. And strangely enough, the majority of them are tabloids!!
It took a while for us to even recognize the difference between a legitimate paper and a tabloid. The covers were a lot the same, with a real news story, then you'd turn to the next page and it would say something like: PRINCE WILLIAM TAKES HARRY ON JOYRIDE IN MILITARY HELICOPTER - AT YOUR EXPENSE. Then they would just rail into the royalty like I couldn't believe. And I thought President Bush was hated here, but man, do they dislike their new Prime Minister. Or at least, it appears that way. It's just a different level of tabloid journalism over there - totally insane. I never imagined that about the "proper Brits."
Also, on their television news, we watched a session of Parliament and one speaker stood up and told the Prime Minister, to his face, "You're a LOSER, not a leader!" That was shocking to me. We deliver plenty of cheep shots to our president in our media, but in an actual session of congress? Wow - it was so weird.
Sorry to ramble, but I'm sure I'll infuse even more of my "eye-opening" lessons in humanity and culture as I go along :)
We went to the Victoria and Albert Museum so I could get a better idea of furniture and such from the Regency period in England (for the novel I'm currently working on). Then we went to the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, where the Queen's horses and carriages are kept. Here's a photo of her coronation carriage, which we were told hasn't been used again because it was so uncomfortable to ride in :) Keep in mind that it probably cost a couple million dollars, and let me tell you it was huge, and nearly ALL gold:
We also went to the world's most famous department store this first day, Harrod's, which promises to sell you ANYTHING you want to buy - including baby elephants if you're in the market for one. Harrod's started as a grocery store, so one of the coolest things to see is the elaborate food court. It's not like our mall foodcourts here, though, they are more like fruit, veggie, and meat markets - but all inside and with food displays that look like they belong in a museum. We just happened to be there when Tony Curtis (Costar with Marilyn Monroe in Some Like it Hot, for you younger kids, hee hee - and Jamie Lee Curtis' father) was displaying some of his artwork. Boy was he looking old - I suppose because he is:
Interesting detail that we learned about Harrod's from one of our tourguides: for many many years they were the official food supplier to the Queen and other royal households. Then Princess Diana began to date Dodi Fayed (the oldest son and heir of the man who owns Harrod's), they were both killed in the car accident in Paris, and Dodi Fayed's dad accused the Queen's husband, Prince Phillip, of arranging the "accident" to kill them both. Totally ridiculous, if you ask me, but it of course caused a lot of strain on the relationship with the royal family (to say the least!) and the Queen's contract with Harrod's was cancelled.That night, we ate at Sherlock Holmes, a "traditional English pub." I had shepherd's pie because I totally love my mother-in-law's version of it (she's from Scotland) and it was . . . well, gross. I didn't really care for traditional English food itself, but the food we had in England as a whole was yummy!! There is so much variety. We went to one place for a gyro three times! And I also became addicted to a mozzarella and tomato panini from Costa (a chain deli). I never would've expected that going to London :)
We had been warned to not go to sleep when we got there, since it's so much harder to adapt to the time zone when you do. And I agree - it was hard, but once it was 8 PM, our bodies were totally ready for bed even though it was only noon according to our biological schedule. I was SO tired that day, though, sort of in a dreamlike state.
This was our hotel, The Trafalgar - yep, you guessed it, right on Trafalgar Square. It was a GREAT place to stay. We highly recommend it!!
This is a small section of Trafalgar Square - with the National Portrait Gallery in the background.
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