Onward to London

What can I say about London?

London is big, and London also *sprawls*. Many buildings don't have single addresses, but ranges of addresses: 4-6 Old Queen St., 77-79 Horse Guards Rd., etc. Everything is old, history is everywhere. The street and town names are different. But, not just different names, they belong to a whole different category. So many things were named so long ago, in old or middle English, that they have ceased to become words. They have now fully become names, as Edwin used to mean "rich friend", but now means only "Edwin".

Some British place names:
  Bradninch
  Dagenham
  Dunnington
  Morpeth
  London

Some American place names:
  Oakland
  Beverly Hills
  King's Point
  Laurel Hollow
  Bullhead City

When British people come to the US, the names sound like they belong to the towns and roads of Disneyland.

The flight to London wasn't bad at all. I didn't check any luggage, so I was able to get out of the airport quickly.

Leaving Heathrow:


I loved the tube. Unlike the raised, set apart, and distant BART of the Bay Area, it really seemed to be a part of the city.


There were buskers in the underground paths between platforms, which gave them the feeling of lively subterranean cities.


I especially enjoyed paying for things in pounds, even though everything was terrifically expensive. My first purchase was a 500ml bottle of current juice. Amusingly, the clerk asked me if I would like a glass with it. Ha! Little did she know that we Americans are quite used to consuming *huge* amounts of sugared liquid directly from grotesquely sized bottles. I drank the whole thing in about 20 seconds, and was enthused by the authenticity of the experience, and the confirmation of a negative stereotype about my culture.

Soon afterwards I got some fish and chips at a pub. It was heavenly.


I passed out pretty at the hostel pretty early that night. The next day I took a big bus tour of the city.


There were cranes, which I quite enjoyed.


Big Ben happened to be backlit that day, which was a pity.


Part of the tour was by boat.


On the bus, you could see into offices. The guys in one office were all smiling and talking together.


And that was that! I was only there for ~30 hours, but it was a great. I left as I came, on a mechanized conveyance. This one is taking me to St. Pancras Station, where the Eurostar leaves for Paris.

Going Away Party

I would really like to just pick up with the present, with right now. But I don't think that's possible. If we started now, I would be in Sweden. Living in my nice room in Delphi, surrounded by Swedes, slowly and painfully picking up Swedish, and generally having a pretty great time. But, that would mean skipping a lot of stuff: I had an awesome going away party, packed up all my junk, flew to London, and traveled across Europe. I've also had some small adventures, both along the way and in Sweden.

So, let's go in chronological order and start at the start. Which I guess means that we need to begin with my going away party. There isn't much to say, except that it was awesome. Lots of my favorite people came. Meat was grilled, basketball and ping-pong were played, I took some photos, and the weather was beautiful.



Thanks so much to everybody who came! (And even to people like Eugene, who didn't come, and is a jerk.) I've had a great time at Cal these last two years, and the party was the perfect exclamation point.

(I put all the pictures up on flickr.)

PS Just kidding Eugene!

Full english in London

Man, doesn't that look good? It was my first full english, and I had it a few weeks ago in London. I also present to you, recorded right in the greasy spoon where said breakfast was consumed, this audio clip of my thoughts.