So, without further adieu…

Sunday evening, met the whole group. Not quite as diverse as the Haggis tour last year. Intrepid Travel was recommended to me by an Aussie, and it’s Aussie based. Of the group, 9 are not only from Australia, they are from Melbourne. Three of them by way of the UK where they are working now. And then there are three Americans, including me. We all went and had dinner together in a little cafe. Had Egyptian pancakes with cheese and veggies. Quite tasty! Was a fun evening and as everyone knows my predilections towards familiar food, something I would not have done solo.

Monday morning, up bright and early. We had to be packed and downstairs by 8am. We kept two rooms at the Victoria to store our bags and to clean up later. Headed down to a nearby metro stop and took it to Giza station like the Egyptians do. Did not see any other tourists there. Jam packed in with everyone else (really the cars looked like sardines). There are women only cars and our guide for the Giza pyramids and museum took the women of the group with her. Their cars looked more filled to the brim than ours.

Arrived at Giza station, and Sam and Ola, our local guide, secured two taxis for us. The taxis have to be seen to be believed, black and white 1970′s era station wagons. Tattered, but they got us to the Giza plateau. And, as I had already read, the pyramids are surrounded by Cairo, not isolated as most pictures (including my own) portray it.

Still, what can you say about the Giza pyramids? Amazing? Around 4,000 years old and just mammoth. You have to work a bit to imagine them as they originally looked sheathed in another layer of stone, but they are still just phenom. We journeyed around all three. We were immediately beset upon by vendors, as we had been warned. The worst I’ve ever seen, trying to press things into your hands, lay them on your shoulders, whatever it took to get them into your hand. Of course, “free, free, free – Christmas present!” Rightttt….

Circled the first pyramid, the largest, the tomb of Khufu. It cost 100 pounds to go in (about $20), but Sam recommended the second one. We all waited for the second, the pyramid of Khafre, far cheaper – about $4, and a bit less time to crawl through. Glad of that. The first tunnel down was well lit, but the next tunnel up into the King’s chamber was not… pitch black, scrambling up hill…. beaned my head several times. And once inside, the air is stifling, hot, thick, and feels like it’s been thrice-breathed. I was ready to get out, but the line out moved far slower. It was still a once in a life time and amazing thing I wouldn’t trade.

We checked out the smallest pyramid from a distance and then headed down to the Sphinx. The Sphinx is not as large as you imagine it, but still incredible. It was originally carved out of one block of stone. There’s been some repairs, though, and it’s not as obvious anymore that it was originally all one piece. They are still restoring it so you can not get down close to it right now.

After we exited the plateau, we walked to lunch. Passed a perfectly good pizza hut and KFC combo. Ha! Literally right outside the gate, good product placement guys! Anyway, we walked on to a little hole in the wall I would again have never thought to try. Had something called Koshary (sp?) which was a sort of pasta mix with veggies and a meat sauce. There’s also a hot sauce you can add. I sampled just a bit (only one at my table who did) and nearly fried myself. Hot means hot!

We made our way out into the streets and found another set of taxis and rode to the Egyptian Antiquities museum. Followed Ola around and saw the wonders. It’s a lot like the British Museum, vast and overwhelming. Saw the highlights and headed out with the UK Aussies to find a taxi. Interesting experience, of course. We’d been told what to pay and kept having to fight to pay that until we found a taxi who accepted the fare. Made our way back to Victoria and cleaned up and prepared to move on.

This was, of course, New Year’s Eve, and the itinerary had us on the train to Aswan. The train was over an hour late, but it was passable. Clean transportation and had sleeper cars. New Year’s Eve was unique to say the least. The club car was packed with an array of tourists that could have been ripped from the pages of a novel. It had a slightly seedy trailer park feel to it with the aging wood paneling and very dated furnishings, but the crew hosting the car were just a riot. Did all sorts of stupid pet tricks and danced to out there Egyptian music for us. I left for awhile. It was packed and smoke-filled. Came back closer to the end of the night and called in New Years with 7 of my fellow travelers. The Americans were fully represented, even though our New Years was truly 7 hours later. The train stopped somewhere shortly after midnight which was awesome as I got to drift off to sleep.

Got in a good five hours and then slept off and on for another 1.5 before finally getting up in Luxor station. Khan, my roomie from Australia, was also awake so we stood out in the hall and watched the scenery go by once the train went into motion again. It was still nearly 3 hours to Aswan. By that point, 95% of the group was in the hall of the sleeper car. Had breakfast shortly before arriving here.

After checking into the Nile Hotel and cleaning up a bit, we all went across the Nile to Elephantine Island, home of the Nubians who were displaced by the Nile dams flooding their homelands. Got to meet a family that lived there and then took another boat ride to the edge of the Great Sahara.

It turns out Sahara is a bastardized version of the Arabic word for desert, so Sahara Desert is actually desert desert. From there we all got camel rides across a piece of the Sahara. Another experience of a life time, but I can’t say it was all roses. I was not at home on top of that camel. I didn’t feel like anything was holding me on. I know the guide knew that because I was one of the ones who never was just let go. Only when the camel got a little speed did I feel tied down and, of course, the guide running along could only do so much of that. Oh, to understand, the saddle or whatever, is a sort of platform with a wooden post that you hold onto. Gravity and your balance is about it for securing you to the beast. I held onto my post for dear life, only got a few pictures. But it was a beautiful sunset ride.

At the end, we went back to the Nubian village and had a dinner (ehhhh, it was alright, but I was not as excited as the rest of the group, remember tho, I am a picky eater), and then dancing and singing. I also got some shopping done from some of the handcrafts done by the Nubian women there.

Back across the Nile and to bed for all too short a spell. To go to Abu Simbel requires getting up at 3am. First, Abu Simbel is a temple to Ramses The Great. It was moved in the 1960′s because it would have been flooded by the High dam. So, it’s a bit Disney feeling, but entirely worth it. It was originally carved out of solid rock and was a testament to Ramses power to the Nubian people entering the Nile from the south. It was cut up and reassembled on higher ground. Incredible carvings. VERY crowded. Unless you’re taking a plane down, you must go in a convoy that leaves at 4am. And you must return in the convoy. There were hundreds and hundreds of buses and cabs and mini-buses going down. Took about 3 hours. We got there just shy of 8am and had to leave just shy of 9am. So, about an hour and back on the bus.

Next stop was almost back in Aswan at Philae, another set of temples relocated. These were on an Island and moved to another higher island. This one was a test. We were all tired and the boat drivers kept fighting us on price. Today was a “free day” even though we all choose to stay together. So, Sam wasn’t with us but had told us precisely what to pay for everything we wanted to do. Finally they bended to the legit price and we spent half an hour on Philae. Very interesting, the temples there are a blend of Egyptian and Roman.

Now back to the hotel… exhausted but happy.

Tonight a group dinner, and in the morning on to the Felucca, an Egyptian sail boat, for two days down the Nile towards the Valley of the Kings. We’ll sleep and eat on the boat. Make occasional stops along the way and moor at night. This will be the closest to camping I’ve come in quite some time.

Having an incredible if tiring time and will be out of touch for a bit. Hope everyone is having an incredible new year!

Friday’s coming undone found me running behind as usual.  I don’t remember the last time I left on a trip and was packed well in advance.  I know in 2004, the first time I went to London, I was practically packed a week before I left.  Now, I’m tossing things in the back on the way out the door.  This is almost too literal for words.  I guess I’ve become sloppy about it, thus the unraveling.

I got to the airport fine, but stood in line for nearly an hour just to check my bags and get my boarding pass.  If anyone ever tries to give you paper tickets, especially for international travel, fight tooth and nail not to take them.  Thus was the results of booking my trip through American Express (to use up all my points but save $$ on airfare).  Luckily, security was less than 5 minutes.  No waiting, so I made up my time there.  Ironically, the bad weather on Friday delayed the flight an hour as well.  I knew that was going to happen.  I looked outside at the dreary gray mess I was leaving and just knew that there would be delays.

The Delta flight over to Paris was better than the last time I flew them over the Atlantic.  Roomy seats and I watched two movies.  I did my best to sleep along the way but got precious little.

Arriving in Paris, I managed to muddle my way through security and go wait on the next plane.  It’s so weird.  I’ve been to France now, but I wouldn’t really add it to my list.  It’s not like the airport of any city counts for much. But the Paris airport was predictably sytlish.  It felt like a mall with airport gates scattered throughout.  I slept for maybe a half hour at my gate. Woke up to the sound of people getting up and saw that the gate changed.  Trudged across the entire terminal and couldn’t sleep again.  Boarding was haphazard.  No announcements, no calls for rows or zones, just a note on the board for when boarding began and that they would not announce anything to cut down on the multiple languages required.  For the haphazardness, I couldn’t tell.  It was just the same as every other plane I’ve boarded, people crowding the aisles, hunting for space in the overhead bins, etc.

Most of this flight was in the dark.  The only daylight I saw after leaving Atlanta was sitting in the Paris airport.  Nearing 24 hours being awake, I slept almost all the way (4 hours) between Paris and Cairo.  I missd the meal, all the drink service, everything, just zonked out.   Believe me, it was exhaustion, not the seats, among the most uncomfortable I’ve ever sat in.  So much for the reputation of Air France…

So, this is the state I arrived in Cairo last night, nearing 24 hours of travel and over 24 hours awake.  And I enter the passport control area in a muddle.  Luckily I paid extra for airport transfer and the Intrepid rep met me and helped me get my Visa, pass through passport control, and get the heck out of there.  He popped me in a hired car to deliver me to the Victoria Hotel.

Here’s where things got interesting…  or started to… wow…  the driving here…  well, it’s not unlike Naples, Italy.  That’s to say that Cairo joins the list of places where Mark will never drive.  Let’s say they are creative about the number of lanes of traffic.  The lines are really just vague suggestions more than anything else.  And the number of lanes can go up and down suddenly.  It’s really an art to watch…  safely from the seat with my seat belt on and holding on to the “oh golly gosh darn EEEK” handle.   Mind you, the driver was not buckled… c’est la vie…  One other observation about Cairo drivers, they are far more aware of the dimensions of their vehicles than their American counterparts.  I’ve watched us, we never seem to think we have room and almost always have over-estimated the size of our cars.  The folks here, they KNOW they have room, and I’m looking out the window at the 2 inches that proved them right.  I’ll have more observations on the driving in a moment, but we’ll stick to chronological order for the moment.

Arriving finally at the Victoria Hotel (nearly an hour of that driving later!), I noticed something very common here, metal detectors when you enter the hotel… wow…  okay….  Mind you they seem to just be a formality because I beeped and no one stopped me.  And I’ve since seen that over and over.  And then I got to the reception desk and was informed I’d been moved to another hotel… oy vey…  I got very vague directions to it that I couldn’t follow on the amount of sleep I was working on.  I also couldn’t seem to find out if this was just a one night thing or what.  My first night here was my own thing, not part of the tour, so was I coming back.  They had no idea…  Great…  they did send a bell hop to show me the way.  We got to the corner, and again, I had no clue where he was telling me to go.  A taxi driver overheard and offered to drive me.  I wasn’t too thrilled but the guy was incredibly nice and said it was so close “no charge.”  He drove me the few blocks (no way I’d have found it in the dark, though, as tired as I was) and I tipped him what was probably more than the fare would have been for his kindness.   I may have gone too far, he was very happy.  Oh well…

I checked int Capsis (I think that’s the name) and they couldn’t tell me anymore about my permanence at the hotel, and I was too tired to care.  I went up to my room, text messaged my parents I was alive and collapsed.  Even the rhytmic honking in the streets 6 stories below (it was that loud) couldn’t keep me awake.

Now, the morning prayers that started around 5:30am, THAT woke me up… wow… piercing is the word!  It gets your attention.  And I could see a minaret nearby out my window – the only nice part of the view.  I was awake but watched some channel that was showing an Italian translation of an American movie…

Finally, got down for the included breakfast, which was surprisingly filling for little more than hard boiled eggs and bread.  I asked the front desk again if they had any idea if I was staying or moving to Victoria or what. No idea…  Okay, I asked, could I leave without worrying when I came back, i.e. check out is at noon, what if I am changing?  They said if my bag was packed, they’d put it in storage if I was to move.  I could come back whenever.

And so, I wandered out into the streets of Cairo, with no real aim of what to do.  I figure I’ve got 14 days coming of touring.  I thought maybe I could just take in some of the city not per se touristy.  I had contemplated an early morning sunrise at the pyramids, but I had missed that by hours and tomorrow morning is the pyramids anyway.  So, I walked…

And walked…

And walked…

Maybe I skipped the part about running?  Fast?

As nuts as Italy was, I finally got comfortable crossing streets there.  There was a controlled chaos in that the drivers seeing you crossing would slow to allow time.  Not here.  No slowing down at all.  I don’t know what they’d do if you couldn’t make it.  But it really is that bad.  Every major street crossing is an exercise in pray and run.  I was heading more or less towards the Nile, so I figured, why not see the Nile.  Not that I won’t be floating up it in a few days, but still something to do.  Wow, hair raising street crossing after hair raising street crossing to get to the Nile near the 6th October Bridge.  In fact, the last 3 or 4 lanes of traffic (hard to gauge how many), I kept standing at a cross walk painted on the street thinking surely they’d stop traffic at some point to let all those other lanes trying to cross up ahead…  Until a friendly officer walked up, hooked onto my shoulder and walked me across…  This was very nice of him, but also a tad scary.  This is the approved way of crossing – frogger style!

I didn’t stay long.  Took a few pictures, enjoyed the grimey ambiance and moved on.  I started heading back towards where I was staying.  I was a touch faster at all those crossings this time, but still it’s not a particularly pedestrian friendly place despite all those pedestrians.  And there’s nowhere in this area to just sit and enjoy.  So, I did a turn around the El Fath mosque (just the outside) to see where my wake up call came from and headed back to the hotel.  Went up and read the guide book trying to think up what to do next.  Was there maybe 15 minutes when the phone rang, my Intrepid tour guide!  Yeeesss!!

He’d come to collect his wayward tourists.  There turned out to be 6 of us that had been sent over and he was moving us back to the Victoria.  This place is definitely a step above.  Still not the ritz for anyone with US expectations, but I open the window and I hear birds!

We meet up later tonight to do the group orientation and have dinner.  So, I figured the internet cafe in the garden meant it was time to catch up.  I’m not sure when the next opportunity will be either.

Tomorrow morning, according to the itinerary is early morning at the Pyramids followed by the Egyptian Museum (walked by it this morning).  Not sure where that gets us into the day, but in the evening we board a sleeper train bound for Aswan.

Since we were spending another night on Skye in Kyleakin (think I spelled that right), the morning was easy not having to pack and load the bus. So, easy start to the day and we were up to a couple of stops before lunch. Did a little sight seeing before stopping in Portree, the largest place on Skye. Portree has a pop around 4,500, so like Montezuma back home. Really nice place. Had this fantastically nice bakery. Couldn’t tell you WHAT I had, but was something lemon and another strawberry, my two favorite flavors.

That held me over quite well until lunch when we stopped at this little Hotel elsewhere on the isle. Quite nice place, but I had steak dish. Should have known better from my past visits to Britain. It was the best I’ve had here as far as steak dishes, but still not something I’d intentionally try again.

The afternoon was more wandering. You just had to see the scenery to believe it. I can’t do it justice with words. You’ll have to wait for the pictures. Everywhere you look in the north of Scotland are dramatic cliffs, water tumbling down everywhere. The last stop was some high crag in the middle of the island. Sun was setting, mist falling. Really incredible scenery. Some of us scared the guide to death by climbing up higher than he had expected. I wasn’t one of the dare devils way up the mountain side but I too had wandered off just a bit. I thought he was going to have a heart attack when he realized where everyone had gotten off to. His main concern was the mist that was coming down the mountains and the possibility that the mist would descend before we got back to the bus. Well, we’re all still here!

Last night was Indian for dinner again, followed by the excitement of …dum duhm duhhhmmm… laundry! The nice thing was that most everyone was gathered at the pub next door, so I go back and forth between the laundry and the pub to spend time with the group.

Skye to Ullapool

Today we bid farewell to Skye and headed up here to Ullapool. Along the way, really great sun. The stops today were scenic but didn’t compare to anything on Skye at all. Still, northern Scotland is beautiful and the sun was fully out today. Some stray clouds, but nothing wet falling from the sky! Yaay!! Granted, the ground is soggy with every step, but really nice.

Lunch in another small town, which included a bakery. In fact, I just got a sandwich and dessert there and so cheap. And quite good. I’m impressed with how nice everyone is up here. Not that I had any bad experiences with Edinburgh, but it is a larger city. Up here, everyone is just so genuinely nice and glad to see you. A lot of the roads up here are one lane, and I mean, just one paved lane, for both directions of traffic. That’s no problem because you so rarely meet oncoming traffic. There are little periodic sections of pavement where one of the cars can pull over to avoid oncoming traffic or to let overtaking traffic pass you. And every time a car pulls over into those areas, the drivers wave politely at you. It’s really so unlike anything I’ve seen in America where the other driver would drive like mad to force you into that turn-out in order to avoid having to stop.

I guess you have to understand how few people live up here. Roughly 1700’s, the Scots had been doing subsistence farming on the land up here. The Highland farmers lived on land that belonged to Lairds. Eventually, it came to be that there was more money in sheep, so the Lairds cleared out the highland farmers and forced them off. This is referred to as the Highland Clearance. It was also intended to get rid of the troublesome clans that had been rebelling against the regime in power at the time. Isle of Skye before the clearances had a population over 30,000 people. Today, it has just over 12,000… You can see some of the old villages that no longer exist even today on Skye.

I’m having a great time. Tomorrow we head off again to Inverness. The next night will find us back in Edinburgh. Can’t believe how close this part of the trip is to being over. Still have to figure out what I’m doing with my last two days afterwards.

Of course, tonight is the big New Year’s celebration. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather! Last year’s was canceled as a result of bad weather. Apparently that was the first time since they’d started having an organized celebration.

Yesterday, I took the train to Stirling. It’s nearly an hour away but well worth it. I could totally envision just spending a few days there. So much to see and the city is quite accessible. Within a few blocks of the train station, there was a touristy district that was packed with places to eat and an actual mall. I did walk through the mall just to see how it compared to back home. I was most struck that there was not a real food court, but the Princes Street mall here has a food court, so maybe it depends on the whim of the people who design them.
Walked straight away up to Stirling Castle. And I do mean up in every sense of the word. That was a heck of a hike. Any invading army would have been winded by the time they got there. Like Edinburgh Castle, it’s built on the remains of an extinct volcano. The castle is, of course, beautiful. It was actually in use by the military into the 1960’s, but Historic Scotland has been working to restore the place. What they have done is amazing. I managed to get there about an hour before a guided tour, so I walked around for a bit and saw some on my own and then came back for the tour.

I noticed one thing during the tour – I have a harder time with the Scottish accent than British. I can understand as long as I concentrate, but if my attention wanders at all, I’m probably lost for the rest of the sentence, so I lost track during some parts of the tour, especially if I took my camera out to take a picture of something he was talking about.

I read before I came here that you could see all four seasons in a day here. I believe it now. I haven’t seen Summer yet (I hope), but I came close yesterday. I was cold when I left in the morning. By the time I got to the Castle, it shortly started to rain.. got colder.. sleet… occasional flurries… then it stopped for a bit and there was a rainbow (tried to get a picture – I hope it shows up well!). The sun came out for a few minutes, and then a persistent drizzle started that pretty much continued the rest of the day.

After the castle, I walked down to check our Argyll’s Lodings, also owned by Historic Scotland so covered by the Explorer pass I purchased. I might not have gone otherwise, but it was quite a place. It’s considered a “townhouse” by 17th century standards. While my townhouse might have more modern amenities, it’s by no stretch as impressive as this townhouse was. I think I may have seen some early Scottish thrift upstairs, though, in the grand dining room. They painted the panelled walls and columns on plain flat walls! Did a grand job of it, mind you, complete with shadows and all, but probably cheaper than all of the carpentry work.

I had wanted to go see the Wallace Monument. I got a couple of good pictures of it from the Castle, but I was talking to the guide at Argyll’s Lodging and the place closes at 4pm this time of the year. She suggested getting a bus if I wanted to make it. It was a little past 2:30pm at this point. She couldn’t suggest a particular bus number as so many apparently go in that direction… So, I went down to town centre again. I asked three bus drivers if they went that way. The first two were a bit on the rude side and just said no. The third driver was kind enough to tell me that a bus number that would be by in about two minutes went that way. I looked at my watch after he left… almost 3pm… I don’t know how long it would take to get there, but I decided I didn’t need to see it so bad as to have limited time there. I know that even the bus doesn’t drop you off there, that you still have to walk up the hill to it. So, I decided that will be another trip someday.

I left the bus stop and found lunch at a Subway (yes, I am in an American rut food wise). The funny thing was I asked for a meal deal that was on the menu over their heads… stunned silence… “what” – so I pointed at it… uhm… has no one ever ordered a value meal here before… Strange! She still didn’t seem to get it. So, I ordered the individual components in the value meal… Rang up to the right price anyway… Afterwards, went across the street and found a bakery. Wanted something sweet for the train ride back. I forgot the name of what I had, but it was kind of a short-bread cookie with jam in the middle and the top was iced. This is how the lady behind the counter described it when the dumb American asked what it was. I may have forgotten the name, but it was scrumptious!

The train ride back was quiet. I pulled out my MP3 player the first time since I’ve been here and listened to some music and nodded off some of the way. The train terminates in Edinburgh, so I didn’t have to worry on that front.

When I got back, I did a little souvenir shopping and then went on a “Ghost and Ghouls” tour of the vaults beneath the old bridges in Edinburgh. Apparently, the city long ago built these bridges and the city more or less built up around them until you can’t even really tell the bridges are there in most places. When the bridges were built, some of the barrell vaults had rooms in them. Mostly used for storage, but some were used for pubs and such. Apparently some poor may have lived there at one point. It was very near a slum in that period that was overcrowded. Supposed to be one of the most haunted sites in Britain. I had heard of them already and planned to take a tour, but I also saw a spot on them on the Travel Channel not too long ago. It was quite fun. The tour guide was excellent. He did some general macabre stories of old Edinburgh. In one, he used two people from the group as demonstration victims to show how Edinburgh used to torture people guilt of crimes (circa 1600s). I was one of the victims who was chosen from the group Victim #1 (me) was flogged and then had both ears cut off and ear drums punctured… nice… Victim #2 (another guy) had the same flogging but his mouth cut and his tongue exploded… (the way they did that is kind of hard to explain – kind of a torniquet situation). I now know the original meaning of “grinning ear to ear” – I may never use that term again. I’m not sure which of us got off lighter.

Afterwards, wandered over to the “Night Afore International” – this year’s them is France. So, it had a certain Cirque De Soleil (sp?) feeling to it. At one end a band was playing. I listened to a couple of their songs and then was distracted by the street performers. First they had these large animals that were elephantesuqe but kind of fantasy based – the faces were very like puppets. I only got a couple of pictures because my battery was running down. Afterwards, I saw this big musical display with these people on stilts dressed all in white. Their outfits expanded (by fans and air) into these giant bubble headed beings with glowing heads. They danced around these other giant balls and eventually they lighted up and flew. Another giant balloon that was blimp like had a person strapped to the bottom who circled the crowd flapping these wings and throwing out confetti. I’ve done a woeful job of describing this but I did not piece together all the meaning. I think the giant glowing heads gave birth to the two glowing balls but I’m not sure what the blimp-deal was. It was still fun to watch.

At this point, my feet were protesting and I was a good bit damp and decided to call the day quits.

London Day One

I arrived at Gatwick airport a little after 7:30am London time. I was exhausted and I’m sure more than a little bedraggled. I had slept little during the week with hopes of being so tired that I would sleep on the flight to London. No such luck. I could never get comfortable enough and I was sort of wired by the excitement.

I filled out my “immigration form” – which was a little scary. I don’t want to STAY here, I just want to VISIT. Oh, I fill this out to visit? Okay…. I found that I got through passport control rather more quickly than I even got on the plane in my own country.

Would that the train station for the Gatwick Express into London had been as fast. I had pre-purchased my tickets, sort of like the will-call at the theater. I wanted to have as much of my trip pre-paid for as possible. So, I popped my credit card into the machine to get my tickets, and it, uhm, ate my credit card… bye-bye little Amex card. So, having destroyed a piece of British technology along with my card, I wander over to an information desk and tell them what’s happened. They send for help and tell me to go stand by the machine… joy… About 20 minutes later, help arrives. He asks what type of card it is, and I tell him, “Amex.” He asks, a bit more emphatically this time, what type of card it is, and I had my one moment of being an ugly American. After he finally asks me to describe the card, I figure out what he means and tell him that it’s one of American Express’ Blue cards and is sort of a clear plastic. Ah-ha! That card won’t work in any machine in this country , my new friend tells me. After 30 minutes spent freeing my card from the machine, he takes me to a counter to help me retrieve my tickets. I leave, slightly defeated and tired.

My original plan had been to get into London and drop off my bags at the hotel followed up by a “hop-on-hop-off” bus tour of the city for which I had also prepaid. Luckily I wasn’t locked into any specific day. I felt too tired for it. I decided instead to drop off my bags and visit the Tower of London and the environs near there. After figuring out that Victoria Underground and Victoria train station are two separate entities basically adjacent to one another, I learned my way around the city enough to drop off my bags and spent most of the day at the Tower.

The Tower of London is part of my family history and the cultural history from which I spring. To walk those same halls. To wander past ancient Roman Walls nearby. I can’t imagine living in a city with such a context of history all around. It makes one feel fairly small. I took one of the Yeoman Warder tours and totally enjoyed it.

Afterwards, I took a tour of Tower Bridge, the bridge that everyone thinks of when they think of London. It was pretty cool to imagine that London was capable of a draw bridge such as this a hundred years ago. The mechanics behind it were impressive. You would never look at this stone structure and think of it being so sophisticated But the stone is just the outward appearance. Tower Bridge was designed to complement the Tower of London which is adjacent to it. It’s really a fairly advanced – for its time – metal bridge on the interior. I took the walks above as much for the view as anything else.

At this point, I figured my day was pretty much done. I walked from Tower Bridge past the Tower of London and took a train to Leicester Square, where I wandered, eventually finding myself at Trafalgar Square. With its crowds of people enjoying the London version of heat wave, it all really sank in where I was. I saw Big Ben in the distance and decided to set off down the street for a look see. As I’ve known I would for years, when I came into view, I found myself uttering that infamous line from National Lampoon’s European Vacation, Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament.

I took the train up to Piccadilly Circus, and I walked down to Hamleys Toy Store, of which I had heard so much. It’s an over two century institution in London and apparently one of the largest toy stores in the world. While it was neat, I think I had built it up and beyond what I saw. I had hoped for more import toys. It seemed to mostly be things I could have purchased in the US, not so much the rest of the world.

That done, I was pretty exhausted for my first day, and I took the train back to my hotel and checked in. I found an internet cafe near the train station and e-mailed family and friends of my safe arrival. Afterwards, I found dinner at a McD’s near the hotel and then pretty much collapsed for the night.

London Day Two

I woke up early and got showered and ready for my second day. I walked down to a 24 hour grocer, Budgens. I got some yogurt and milk and such was breakfast that morning. I also began a four day quest for plain M&M’s, but never found anything but peanut M&M’s. I don’t even eat M&M’s that often, but discovering their absence from my new landscape was disturbing! Went back to the hotel and had my little breakfast while waiting to go on my one package tour of the trip.

The trip started off fairly uneventfully. The tour company had two tours going to Stonehenge that day, although with different side trips. The bus that picked me up was actually for the other tour but the two drivers picked up people in their common areas and then met up and shuffled us between the buses. One family who was picked up by my bus but was going on the other tour apparently decided to have a little breakfast when they should have been getting on the bus. This was something that the driver for our bus didn’t let us forget about all morning.

Now, let me say that the tour itself was great. The guy who led it was incredibly knowledgeable on the subject matter of each place we visited. He went out of his way to make sure the trip ran smoothly for all of us. I just realized part of the way through the tour that it wasn’t my style at all. I had known this before I booked it, but with such a short trip to begin with, I was afraid that I could easily fritter away an entire day trying to get to Stonehenge on my own. I probably wouldn’t have seen anything else, either. So, if I hadn’t gone this way, I probably wouldn’t have gone at all. But I don’t even WEAR a watch. I haven’t in years and years. At work, I’m at meetings, etc. on time. I make sure of that. However, in life outside, I hate living by the clock. And everywhere we went when the driver finished telling us what he could and was ready to let us run free, there was always the detail of when we should be back on the bus to maintain our schedule. In some places, I didn’t care as much as others, but it did illustrate what I already knew deep down, that I don’t travel well with time constraints like that.

At any rate, we began our trip by visiting the village of Avebury and its standing stone circle. I knew that Stonehenge wasn’t the only stone circle in the UK, but I’m not so familiar with the others. It was rather interesting. Less of this circles is intact, but it was still quite interesting to see the different styles. I believe, if I recall correctly, that Avesbury was actually older. I know it was a different style. The builders of Stonehenge shaped the stones in that circle. At Avesbury, the stones were stood upright in their natural form. Modern researchers do believe that the stones were selected for their shapes and had some symbolic meaning. While there, the driver gave us little dousing rods and set us on a path of Ley Lines. Because of my friend, Brandy, I had heard some of this topic before. Apparently, there’s some belief that many of the ancient sites in England (and elsewhere I suppose) rest on some sort of energy lines, be they magic or explainable by science or what have you. All I can really report is that my dousing rod test showed the most activity of anyone in the group. Both of my rods spun around to point back at me when I walked between a set of stones. The driver said he’d been trying this for several years and found that this particular set of stones created the most results. While in Avebury, we also visited a little local gift shop and had a little free time before continuing on.

Afterwards, we drove through more of the English countryside. Along the way, we passed by a couple of chalk horses carved into hillsides both in distant times past and in contemporary history. We also passed by a lot of burial mounds that were of the same or older vintage of Stonehenge. There’s some belief that Stonehenge may have been built as a sort of shrine to all the dead that are in the mounds that dot the landscape around there.

We ultimately ended up at Stonehenge where we were given an audio tour and sent off on our own. The audio tour was pretty good. I would have liked to have been able to take one of the tours where one gets to go inside the circle itself, but I was content to be so nearby. The ropes really don’t keep you far from the stones. It’s amazing to realize that our ancestors were capable of something on that scale. With the tools I posses now, I would not be able to remotely build something like Stonehenge. The details in how they sculpted the standing stones, not just for appearance but to the point of building wood-working-like joinery into the stones to hold them together…. I just don’ t know what to say. I was impressed.

Leaving Stonehenge, we went into a nearby village. I believe it was Amesbury, where we had our pub lunch. It was a small town. I would say the size was somewhere between the town I grew up in, Montezuma, and where I attended college, Americus. I was struck that the “pub” was really little more than a small town cafe. It was nice, but it also drove home that a small town restaurant the world over is pretty much the same. I listened to the music in the restaurant beat out a fair number of 80′s pop songs from my side of the ocean. The food… I probably should have tried the chicken rather than the beef. I am a picky eater, and the beef didn’t excite me. It was really my only foray into British food outside of the odd bit of candy the rest of my time there.

After Stonehenge, we drove to Salisbury Cathedral. Along the way we passed the country estate where rock star, Sting, lives. That was rather entertaining as an unexpected side-note. Salisbury Cathedral was breath-taking. This was one of those places that I wished for more time. I saw a couple of ancestor’s tombs there. And I got to see a copy of the Magna Charta. Definitely a place to spend more time one day.

From there, we drove to Old Sarum. Basically, before Salisbury was built, the settlement was there but had grown to fill up the top of the hill and could grow no more. The whole settlement moved down to where Salisbury Cathedral was built. Old Sarum is the remains of the royal castle that once stood there. It afforded a great view of Salisbury and the surrounding countryside. It was a nice cap to the journey.

We headed back into London through the typically American traffic jams. So, it’s nice, again, to see how alike we are in some ways. Even if the English do drive on the wrong side of the road!

That evening, I took the train in and took a walking tour for Haunted London. It was great fun. The guide was wonderful and I got to see some of London, the back alleys and such, that I never would have visited otherwise. In London, I discovered that the city is not just the main streets. London is crowded with small alleyways, which are populated with shops and pubs and such. As an American tourist, I never would have though to wander down the Alleys. I learned more about London, about the Plague in 1665 and the Great Fire of 1666.

Exhausted from the long day, I wandered through Piccadilly Circus and headed back to the hotel and another night’s sleep.

London Day Three

I woke up early enough to get ready to be at Portobello Road Market by 8am. I had a quick breakfast at McD’s and hopped the train for the short ride to the next station. I probably could have walked had I been confident about the streets.

When I got there, the Market was just starting to warm up. By the time I left two and a half hours later, it was a hub of activity. I didn’t get a lot, but I did find some decent-priced matted prints that I bought. Some will be for myself, others for gifts. I took tons of pictures. There were some decently priced stuff, but nothing that I was both in the market for and could reasonably get back here with. I would definitely go again some-day.

Afterwards, I went back to the hotel and dropped off my purchases and then headed off on foot to Baker Street to start my hop-on-hop-off bus tour of the city. Was a lot of fun. I definitely see why people often do this on their first day. I had a far better understanding of the central city afterwards. I took plenty of probably bad pictures (motion, bus railings in the way, etc.), and I got a nice sun-burn on my head that’s evolving into a decent tan now. When the bus got near Parliament, I hopped off to take the included river tour of the Thames. That was way more fun than I had expected. It was perfect weather for wandering down the Thames and seeing the sights from there. That took about an hour and I walked from the docks at Westminster pier to Westminster Abbey and took my tour. There was unfortunately no Verger led tours on Saturday, so I had to do an audio tour. Again, the audio tour worked well and I enjoyed it.

The tour of Westminster Abbey concluded near the votive candles where you were invited to light one for yourself or someone, etc. I lit one in memory of my grandmother who passed away last year. I had not planned to do this. I did not think it would feel so meaningful, but the emotions were almost overwhelming. Maybe I’ve shaken a little more of the pain that has lingered with that lose. Maybe…

Afterwards, I visited the gift shop and then hopped back on the bus and completed the tour ending back at Piccadilly Circus, ostensibly where the tour proper had begun earlier.

I wandered through the area again and had a sandwich (late lunch) at Trafalgar Square. I contemplated dipping my tired feet in the fountain I was sitting on as many kids and adults were wading there. I tipped my fingers into the clear water only to discover that the British understanding of warm water and my understanding, as someone who hails from the Southern U.S, differs dramatically. I settled for sitting there and appreciating the warm sun.

Afterwards, I headed down to the Embankment tube stop for another walking tour. This one was about murder and crimes. The tour guide was incredibly entertaining. His tour was nearly two and a half hours and I was entirely absorbed by his stories. Between his expertise at leading the tour and that I had begun chatting with a fellow American who was in London working on her advanced degree in Art History, I totally lost track of the time.

Standing at the last stop on the tour, the time hit me. As he concluded, I had a half hour to make it to the Tower of London for the nightly Ceremony of the Keys. I had written and requested tickets in advance, as you must if you want to attend. Still, while I would have normally gotten there quicker, I should have had time. I ran back to Embankment tube stop in about 5 minutes to hop a train…. And I discovered that the train situation had worsened. The Circle Line was already down for maintenance. The district line, the only other option to get there was also partially down for maintenance issues… The train pulled in just as I got there, but the driver was taking a break (he had been going back and forth from Embankment to the end of the line, the only train on that part of the route)…. My hopes sunk. His break was to be around 15 minutes… I had 20 left to get there. With no idea how truly far away the Tower was, I sat out on foot. I alternated between walking and running along the Thames. I probably covered 2.5 miles give or take in a half hour, but it was not enough. I was still about a mile away when I ran out of time.

I returned to the hotel defeated and tired. I ordered a pizza and read for awhile before bed. I still had a great time, and I will do the ceremony one day.

London Day Four

This was my last day and the only day that I didn’t set a wake-up call with the front desk. I woke up about 7:30am and sleepily gathered myself together and took a shower. I walked down to Budgens and grabbed some milk and cookies. I had discovered on Friday on my bus tour that I was rather close to the northern side of Hyde park. It was less than a five minute walk. So, I had resolved to have a fairly leisurely Sunday morning. I walked through the park. Deep in Hyde Park, it was hard to believe that one was in a city the size of London. It was a beautiful place and being the beginning of spring, an ideal time to visit. Coming out by the back of Buckingham Palace, I proceeded on through Green Park, coming out by the gates at Buckingham. It was only 9:30am and I had been told that in order to see the Changing of the guard, one should show up about an hour early. I should have still had another hour, but I could see that if I wanted to see this, my meandering would have to end. The fence was already fairly full of spectators. So, I sat in front of my spot at the fence for two hours…

While the ceremony is quite well done, etc., I’m not so sure I would have waited there two hours. There was perhaps too much a feeling of being at Disney land when the marching band whipped out their sheet music and the stands for it. It was a good memory, but not something I can envision repeating ever again. I took an ungodly number of pictures through the fence.

Afterwards, I headed for the British Museum, my next stop. I spent a little more than three hours there and it was not nearly enough. I took a highlights audio tour because I had just missed a live tour that I would have to wait another hour to take. The audio tour in this case was not so great. I did learn some. I did see some astounding treasures, including the famed Rosetta stone. But, I want to go back with more time one day. Specifically with either some better plan of what I want to see or perhaps a lead tour.

Leaving there, I stumbled across a comic shop on Great Russell Street directly across from the Museum!! Yes!! I was excited. I had to go inside, but I didn’t buy anything. They didn’t have any of the back issues I was searching for. Although their collection of Trade Paper-Backs was phenomenal, the stuff I knew well enough to buy, I could get for cheaper here in the states. Still, it was nice communing with my geek side for a little bit.

Afterwards, I headed for the Underground at Tottenham Court Road Underground station. I was heading back to the Piccadilly Circus area. I did not, however, realize that I was leaving at the same time that some championship soccer game was winding down. I have never seen so many drunk, happy, and enthusiastic soccer fans! You would think it would be a little scary, what with the shattering beer bottles and all, but the general spirit of the crowd just kind of grabbed you. I rode the train to Piccadilly Circus, where I’m sure a good number of soccer fans also jumped ship.

I was getting fairly tired at this point I had a little more souvenir/gift purchasing to do and got it out of the way before settling down at an internet cafe in a Burger King there across from the Eros statue. I caught up on some e-mail with friends and family. Afterwards, I went across the street and had my only real sit-down meal for the trip at Garfunkle’s. By the time I was done, it was too late to try to head down for the last walking tour, Jack The Ripper, that I had planned on. Instead, I hung out in Piccadilly Circus and Leicester square. Eventually I found a place called the Trocadero where I played video games, Dodge-ems (bumper cars), and more. I don’t know that America has anything that would compare. Dave & Buster’s would be the closest, and the Trocadero would win!

About 10:30pm, I bid farewell to the still bustling Piccadilly Circus and headed back to the hotel to pack up and prepare for the trip home.

The next morning, I bundled off for the airport and bid my farewells. I’ve promised myself, it won’t be the last time!