Day 1 details

(Blog post alternatively titled: "Why can't I come up with more clever blog post titles")


I think jetlag gets a bad rap.   Jetlag didn't come at me with flaming jaws of fury like they say, he only gave me just about the most fulfilling 3.5-hour Saturday afternoon nap that has ever been experienced in the history of all of Holly's Saturday afternoon napping experiences.  

So my flight landed this morning at Heathrow at around 7:30 AM.  (By the way, if you've never flown internationally, I'd recommend it - tons of free stuff!  Free movies, TV shows, hours of entertainment...  also they were offering free beer and wine to those over 21, which I did not partake, but still!  Free.99!)   I picked up a trolley (hey America, let's get on the ball with the whole trolley-at-the-airport thing mmkay?), picked up my luggage - which all showed up - bought some postcards and some purple Rockstar, and made my way to the train to get to London Paddington station where Meagan met me.  I realized later that I totally forgot to take a picture of "Mind the Gap" and I haven't seen it on any of the Underground stations..  Here's hoping I'll see it again!   Meagan only lives about a block away from the station, in this cute old ex-hotel dorm building type deal.   She's got a private room with an attached full bathroom and kitchen and to stay here (for a cot rental and such) for the entire 6 days is still costing less than a single night at my hostels in either Paris and/or Rome.   Woohoo!   So I feel no remorse over having blown quite a bit of money today not doing a whole lot.  lol   Plus, it's nice to kind of ease into this whole foreign experience thing with someone I know, who knows a lot more about the city and where things are (and when to switch to a different metro line to get where you want to go...)  

We spent some time talking and thinking about what we wanted to do today, then we finally headed out and got a traditional English breakfast.  (Which includes:  eggs, potatoes, sausage/bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, and baked beans.  I passed on the fungus and gag-inducers.)   Seriously, baked beans for breakfast?  Are we sure I'm not in North Carolina?   Apart from the mind trip, they were delicious.

Then we headed out to the Underground station, I bought an Oyster card (basically a 7-day free-for-all Bus and Metro pass for the 2 main zones, covering all the areas in the City and some surrounding - all the touristy areas)  and off they went to the grand ol' opry.  I mean Trafalgar Square.

I really hadn't been feeling tired at all at this point.  We walked around Trafalgar square a bit - you can totally see Big Ben from there! pictures to come - and went into the National [art] Gallery which is right there.   The steps of Trafalgar square lead into the gallery.    Saw a bunch of old Catholic paintings, some super old triptychs and ditychs and such, plus of course a bit of Monet and Manet and Renoir and Cezanne and all those lovely French painters that make my little heart happy.  [P.S.  Totally stoked to go to Giverny when I'm in Paris.  Just sayin'.]

{Anyone else getting irritated with how often I'm using ( )'s and [ ]'s?}

Point is, National Gallery = rocksauce.   We'd been handed a flier about a concert tonight at the church there in the square,  St. Martin-in-the-fields, an orchestra concert doing some famous Baroque pieces like Vivaldi's "The Spring" and "Concerto for Two Violins",  Pachelbel's "Canon" and some Bach and such.  It was beautiful!   I really miss going to things like that even back home - and here, the church was so old and authentic and there were these pretty chandeliers that they'd dimmed to the amount of light candles would have had.  I sat there with my eyes closed (our cheap tickets didn't have a view of the 6-person orchestra anyway) listening to music I've known since childhood and imagining myself surrounded by people in turn-of-the(last)-century clothing, with the gloves and everything, sitting in a candlelit church listening to really well-performed music.  There was a guest flutist (flautist?) and it was just all quite lovely.

I find myself wanting to say things the British way, like instead of saying "Is it supposed to be...", you'd say "Is it meant to be.."   At times I think,  "No Holly, you're American, you can't go pretending you're British" but then I remember - my last name is Bradford.  There's a whole freaking city named Bradford up north.   Both sides of the family are predominately British.  So seriously, folks - it's in my blood!  ^.^

In between the National Gallery and the concert, we walked around quite a bit trying to find this one grocery store, and then came back to Meagan's room and took the aforementioned 3.5 hour nap because we were both really tired.  Tired after walking around the city on a Saturday morning/afternoon.  Go figure.

And then we ate dinner in a freakin pub.   I feel so local!  Awesome dinner (chicken veggie soup and chips [fries]) and the fact that everyone kept calling us "Love" was fairly delicious too.

Whatdya think, folks?   Day 1 = Success?

Tomorrow's potential plans - Portobello Market / Notting Hill, Single's ward in London (mm mm mm!) across Hyde Park, and...?  Not sure what else yet, though the single's ward is from 2:30 til 5:30.   Go figure.