Mind the gap...

So I am in London.. and what a trip. When I landed here we heard the news that London has been experiencing crazy amounts of snow since the previous day. I thought that it would be pretty cold and would only mean that everything would be white and pretty. However, I quickly relized that London would soon be "ground to a halt" (the headline I read the next day). Anyway I still am having a great time in London and the snow has not kept me from exploring the city and I have done a great deal of wandering around the city. The 'tube' or underground subway here feels super old when youre on it, and its no wonder that it gets shut down when it snows. I felt like I was on the Matterhorn at Disneyland half the time I was riding it.. between the flashing lights and creeking tracks, it feels like at any moment everything could go wrong and I could slide off the tracks.

I have seen most of the "must see" attractions, my most favourite of all were the England Museum and the Parlement and Big Ben at night. Got some really good pictures from both of those places. I think my favourite time of the day was when I was waiting for dusk, and sat across the river from Big Ben and Paliament for an hour with my Ipod. It was a nice time to sit and think. I got a lot of reading and journaling in which will always make the day worthwhile. For those that dont know I decided to pick up "Whats so Great About Christianity" by D'nesh Dsouza (SP?), so far it is one of my favourite books that Ive ever read and has the potential to have a great impact on my life. The only problem is that I am breezing thought it quite easily and I dont know what I will read next. If anyone has a good intellectually challenging book that they can recommend to me... please do. I will probably be done with this one within the next week.

I also conquered another of my goals for London which was having a "real ale". This is an ale that is pulled from an oak cast and is not carbonated and is pulled from an oak cast. The beer has yeast that floats on top of it and continues to ferment the beer while it is in the cast. Needless to say it was amazing despite being served nearly luke warm. Its too bad I can not upload pictures on this computer else I would have a nice story to show.

As for the actuall flight it was a pretty interesting journey. It was probably the most physically uncomfortable journey that I have ever been on... this is due to the fact that my knees were jammed into the seat in front of me for the entire 12 hour flight. What made it bareable was the endless amount of movies, tv, and other entertainment that was available on the virgin atlantic flight.

The most entertaining story I can tell thus far is my fight night in the hostel. First of all the hostel houses about 200 people much more than I was expected. Fortunately it is a pretty nice place to stay and I cant complain at all about it so far. Anyway since I was unable to get any sleep on the flight I was extremely tired when I got here. I ended up going to bed at about 730 london time (since I had not slept for about 48 hours) via Tylenol PM. I went to sleep immediately and eventually woke up at 930. I felt refreshed and ready to explore the city. There was a peculiar thing thought, and that was that the light was on and there seemed to be some people that were only getting ready for bed. Needless to say the Tylenol did not do its job and didnt knock me out until the morning. It was a very confusing time and I really didnt know what to do. Fortunatly I was able to fall asleep farely quickly and was ready to put my tourist cap on for the next day.

As for that next day... I have explored the British Museum, the Tate Modern, St. Pauls, Parlament, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and Im sure Ive left out a couple places. London is pretty cool but it still does not feel too foreign. I guess its a good place to starty my trip. I have met a few people, especially at night when everyone hangs around the hostel bar. I am thinking about going to Oxford tomorrow to check out some CS Lewis sights. Sorry if this post is too straightforward, and also sorry if it has any spelling errors. I cant seem to find a spell check and the keyboards are a little different here. I am also rushing this post a bit because I only have about a half an hour on the computer. Anyway I hope this gives the just of my trip. Ill be in touch...
-Kyle