London

I'm in London!
The travel here was seamless. Flights were fine and on-time. Actually we landed an hour early in London. It was easy to figure out how to take the tube from Heathrow to downtown London. Right before my stop (Gloucester Road) it started to rain, but it was still a pleasant walk to my hostel. Although my feet were barking. I bought these boots specifically for this trip - great support, waterproof, and warm. Even though I had preventative moleskin on my heels, my skin still is a bit irritated. Am hoping it will get better, but if it doesn't I will power through! The book I'm reading is Bill Bryson's "Notes from a Small Island" about his time living in and exploring England. Several passages have struck me, but this I wrote down as a reminder to myself - "the trick of successful walking, I always say, is knowing when to stop".

So...I think I'm in for the night. As much as I want to go walk around, I think it best to rest my feet and go to bed early (I barely slept on the flights). But first I'll tell you what I did and saw earlier today.

I walked to the hostel (on Queen's Gate in South Kensington) to drop off my bag, and headed right back out since check-in is after 2pm. It had stopped raining. I walked up to the edge of Hyde Park and walked east on Kensington Road. Soaked in some sights as I dried off, people watched as I walked slowly, peaking into buildings in a non-creepy sort of way. Saw a small sign where JFK lived for two years. Snapped a few photos of beautiful buildings and architecture. I wasn't really ready to pull out my map and guidebook to read about where I was, I just wanted to walk and enjoy what I saw. Think it was fatigue based.
I walked basically to the edge of Hyde Park and decided to turn around (feet inspired). I then spotted Harrods, which is hard to miss (it's 5 acres and 5 stories tall). Since I had heard of it and probably seen it in movies, I thought a quick walk through would be good. It is massive. I walked in one of the five entrances and was completely overwhelmed. It's a lot of little rooms leading to other rooms. I took the escalator up to the top floor, and then back down, soaking in the various designs and Egyptian-esque decor. Someone told me to get pizza or ice cream in Harrods. I could not find either, but I did find a really amazing market downstairs. I had no idea all that it had in there. I thought it was a glorified Nordstrom. Now I know. When I finally found a way out, I had come to the entrance with a concierge and map - that was helpful. I then went and found where the pizza and ice cream was, but wanted something a bit more quaint. So I wandered around and saw several Parisian cafes. Since I'll be there soon I skipped those and settled into Richoux across from one of the Harrods entrances. There were several tables of tourists - at one of them all 6 people ordered the fish & chips. I feel a bit like I'm missing out experiencing that tradition, but I also felt better seeing the locals next to me all ordered Italian fare (as did I).

After a pleasant lunch, it still wasn't time to check in yet, so I wandered into a pub for a pint. Naturally. It took me a minute to get used to the room temperature of the cask beer, but it was quite good. As I was reading my book enjoying my beer, I could feel my 500-pound eyelids. I thought about going to the hostel earlier and taking a nap in their lounge room, but I managed to wait. As soon as it was close to 2pm I headed out. And of course it started raining, but all I could think of was a hot shower and a nap. Both were amazing and much needed. And that's today.

Anecdotes/Side-notes:
1. On my first flight to Dallas the man with his family to my left were headed to Florida to celebrate his father's 100th birthday. Once we landed I overheard the group of 6 traveling to my right that they were heading to their father's second memorial service. His widow was with them. I took a deep breath and reflected at the two opposite worlds I was between for three hours.
2. Poppy - I saw several people wearing a red poppy on their lapel for Remembrance Day. Imagine I'll see that a lot the next few days.
3. Left side. Right side. I definitely felt like I was going to get hit several times today. But it wasn't because I was looking the wrong way (the big painted 'look left' and 'look right' are super helpful). It was more because pedestrians don't seem to have the right of way here. Something Bryson mentioned in his book too. So I started to slow down more at crosswalks and follow the locals lead, or join in on the other gutsy tourists trying to simply cross the street!
4. It is definitely interesting to see the opposite-side-of-the-road driving, but what trips me out more is seeing the steering wheel on the right side.