bridges around the world

Since last post I've been quite busy.

This weekend, Jo, her friend Hannah & my hostel roommate Tommy went out on the town to the hip neighborhood of Camden to see where the party was at.

It was at The Cuban, a very fun salsa bar. I danced with many strange strangers and was asked for Joanna's hand in salsa by some creepy tourist who was hard of hearing.

We also had drunk chips and found an immensely hipster hipster bar called the Elephant's Ear.

The next morning I attempted to meet Jessica, who was my rooommate last summer in Uganda, at Trafalgar Square for what was supposed to be the UK Creole Festival but was instead a talent show and rising stars showcase to commemorate the last day of UK World Peace Week. Jessica and I never found each other, so instead I watched a number of mediocre rappers call for peace, and also visited the National Gallery. The highlight by far of the art there was Rubens' "Rape of the Sabine Women."

Joanna met me at the not-Creole festival later in the day, and we enjoyed the dance stylings of these two gentlemen:

Today I visited the Tower of London, though I didn't go in because it cost about $30 US to go and that's pretty ridiculous. So instead I took pictures of signposts that pointed toward the "Ticket Booth," "Cafe" and "Beheading". Then I climbed the Tower Bridge and visited the mini-museum there! The museum consists of climbing about seven flights of stairs to the top crossing, and checking out some signposts and "exhibits." It was totally worth it for the view of London though, and for the "bridges of the world" exhibition description which read the following: "Manhattan can represent an unattainable dream to some Brooklyn residents whilst some Manhattanites view Brooklyn as a dull and undesirable neighbor." Then I jumped the bridge on a motorcycle:

[click photo to see the whole thing...blogspot cut it off]

Yea, I've stayed busy with my new hobbies and such. I'm in London until Friday, then it's off to Amsterdam to stay with my cousin Liz & Frans!

LDN

In London!

I arrived yesterday at 9-ish am local time and took the underground to my hostel. From there I wandered over to Shepherds Bush, which Pip advised me is the city's Little Australia (a London Tourism website advised me that the neighborhood is affectionately known as "Da Bush"). Later in the day I took the underground to the Westminster stop and sightsaw/sightseed? I saw the Parliament building and Westminster Abbey, and walked to the Thames on the North Side Riverwalk. After walking up and down the Riverwalk, I crossed a Jubilee bridge (cute name, right? there are two matching ones on either side of train tracks) to the South bank of the river and visited Trafalgar Square.

There was a man dressed as the Grim Reaper reading names over a microphone, standing on a high promontory next to the National Portrait Gallery. Officials brought him down...

Some of the boys from the hostel and I went to a pub for dinner and pints last night. It was very fun, but, having been awake since the day before, I was exhausted and headachey. I wound up falling asleep that night after 28+ hours awake. A personal record, I think.

Today two of my roommates, Tom and John, and I met Joanna and visited her school (UCL) and the British Museum. Afterward, Tom Joanna and I saw Buckingham Palace (though we missed the changing of the guards) and some lovely parks. Jo and I then walked to Trafalgar square and the Riverwalk on the South bank, eventually crossing the Millennium Bridge, which to me has the divine association with the 6th Harry Potter film. By the time we got on the train back to her house we had been touring for nine hours.

I'm putting in some serious walking time and sightseeing effort, and have been thoroughly exhausted as a result. The beds at the hostel are clean but less comfortable than sleeping on a hard wooden floor, and Tom snores so loudly that you'd think it was a cartoon impersonation of snoring. I figured out a way to plump up my pillows so that they're thick enough for me to fall asleep, thankfully, but what I really need to invest in is a set of earplugs.

There's already a snag in my travel plans, and I haven't left yet!

But your intrepid traveler has booked a bed at a hostel in Kensington.

Flying out tonight

First Post

Here I go again (on my own)! Ok, enough Whitesnake.

My flight leaves tonight at 9pm for London. I've been sitting around New York for long enough; I'm so anxious for this trip to start!

I don't know how often I will have access to computers after the first few weeks, but I will try to upload this as often as possible.

My itinerary: NY-->London-->Paris-->Prague-->Vienna-->Budapest-->[London-->] Rwanda!-->Kenya-->NY.

Most of the time I will be alone-ish. In London and Paris I will be staying with very lovely and gracious friends, and for the Prague/Vienna/Budapest leg I will be traveling with my Dad. But mostly I'm flying solo.