london calling

Ahhh London...

The Andy has landed, and I currently sit in an internet cafe beneath a hostel. Oh how this reminds me of the good old days. I remember when we'd be sitting in Queenstown at some internet cafe playing World of Warcraft for hours. And by playing I mean me hating every moment because I sucked at it and am a devout Command & Conquer fan. What was I talking about again?

London. What a busy city, my god. Even as I sit here not I peer over to a subway map that appears to be a sprawling maze of twists, turns, and diagonals. We've mostly avoided using transportation, as it has caused mass headaches and confusion. Millions of people walk the streets, and most of them are dressed better than the last. So, so much money here. Every bloke has either a Ferrari or a BMW Z3, and a brand new Civic is considered below-grade.

My hotel is situated right outside of Kensington Park, which has been such a bonus because every morning I treat myself to an hour walk through the park, past the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, past a few palaces with swans on the lawn and through the park, which makes Victoria Park look like a grass stain on a pair of jeans. Just to get an americano.

From there we've been doing a lot of bus tours and a bit of shopping. The fish and chips are boombastic, and again, the ability to roam the streets with a beer is ever-present. The cans of Foster's here have the widget in the can, which ups the quality so much from a carbonation point of view.

The city is massive. At least with the other cities I've visited, when you walk somewhere you actually feel like you've made some progress. Here, you walk for an hour and barely make a blip on the map. The cars drive on the other side, so I've been in a few close-calls already. All buses are double decker,and I've seen every major monument in the city there is to see (save for a few musical monuments and addresses that I wanted to see but won't).

Seeing as I have six minutes left, I will conclude the final Spreken Ze Talk from overseas. I will still continue to update this blog once I return home tomorrow, so if you feel like a good read (and one that hasn't been quite so rushed), tune in and I'll throw a lot more content up.

All I can say for now is that I'm sad to be going home, but am pleased to know that I'll see most of you when I get back. Thank you so much for the feedback and the nice emails and kind words. It's been a positive (and stressful) experience, not only to document for myself, but to let those who are interested know what's been happening.

Thanks again and stay tuned for more