June 12, 2000
MondayI just saw the most incredible sunrise of my life this morning. I've seen sunsets and have painted sunsets which could rival the beauty of this one. But I still can't believe how I saw an ocean of red appear eastward over the Atlantic, followed by ever lightening but equally as vibrant shades of orange, yellow and blue. Of course, with the majority of the sky still being deep blue or black.
There is a little frost on my window from the night air. I guess we've been in the plane for two hours or so. I've slept, but I put my watch in my bag and was barely able to reach down and feel out this notebook.
This flight really has been incredible from point "A" where I boarded to find a little care kit complete with toothbrush, eye covers for sleeping, and a blanket. All of which I get to take with me. Given, the hour wait inside the plane, sweltering, I could have done without. We had to wait for the storm and lightening to let up and the airplane's A/C can't work while we're setting still. I'm really going to need a shower when I get to London.
I so wanted to take a picture of that sunrise from the window here, but I couldn't figure out how to stop the flash - and that would have been incredibly rude to the other passengers if I'd done it.
I just ate "dinner," which was fisherman's pie. It really was wonderful - fish, potato, carrots, etc. A bit like a pot pie, but without the breading. They kept offering wine & other alcoholic drinks, but I really don't feel like drinking anything after Saturday night's wine tasting.
They keep asking me to put down my window completely, so I suppose I must now. It doesn't take but a crack to let in a flood of light. I still need to get some more sleep, myself.
Turns out I'm not the only one with my window open, but I am on the bright side of the plane. Oh! You should have seen New York City when we took off! So many lights! I even saw the statue of Liberty's torch lit up. How amazing it all was!
* * * * *
Managed to get a fair amount of sleep on the flight, but my eyes sure stung when I put drops in them just now. I hope that's just from the lack of sleep the last day or so, because I'd hate to have to spend the whole trip without my contacts.
The Englishman sitting beside me says that Americans are obsessed with cleanliness. this is really news to me. I know some Americans who do have this obsession, but not many. Particularly not in my generation.
They just passed out Boarding Passes to all american passport holders. I guess we must do something weird with ours that Europeans do differently. Landing soon, have to put all this away.
When I converted money from dollars to pounds, I had to ask if they used base-100 for their currency. I over-thought the thing, yes, but I didn't know if all countries devided their base unit of cash into 100s! It could have been 75s or 10s or 1000s for all I knew.
A second point that must be considered - coming to June at this time of year meant that I was near the Spring Solstice. England is on a high latitude and I had not connected before getting there that the solar day would be similar to a polar solstice -- no dark. Since England is not in the arctic circle there is a dimming at 'night' but the whole night concept is purely based on your clock. I would have benefited greatly by a nice thick sleep mask.
June 12, 2000 (cont.)
Well, I don't know what made me wake up three hours after going to bed. However, it's dinner time, so I went wandering through my surroundings here. There's the Burger King on the corner, which would just be too easy. There are several fast-food "Fish & Chips" hanging about. A number of nice pubs - British, Greek, and other.
I settled on a basic deli sandwich - which was actually difficult enough in a greek store where I not only have a communication & access barrier between myself & the chef, but also don't recognize the names of half the meats listed on their menu. I chose the meat, told him that I trusted him with the rest. I picked up this banana yogurt drink & some water (in case liquid yogurt was a foul thing). It's not bad, but certainly different. The huge display of cookies in the deli leads me to believe that the English have a definite bent on a sweet tooth.
Norfolk square is "very lovely," just as the two older women at the news stand indicated when they gave me directions earlier. The temperature has dropped significantly, but I don't have a change of clothes, nor do I know where the nearest department store would be to get some. There was a vendor on the corner, sitting several long dresses, but I really don't think I want to do that.
They rang up my food & I felt almost like I was back home with dollars and cents, etc. I've got to keep in mind that a pound is worth more than a dollar.
It's 8 o'clock & still light outside. Feels like it will remain so for a while yet. Oh, I wish I had my clothes! Am still wearing my glasses because of my eyeball being scratched slightly.
To do
-------
Thames River Boat tour
St. Paul's Cathedral
Westminster Abbey
Mme. Tussaud's Wax Museum
Hyde Park
Richmond Park
Globe Theater
Tower of London
Big Ben
Buckingham Palace
The Englishman sitting beside me says that Americans are obsessed with cleanliness. this is really news to me. I know some Americans who do have this obsession, but not many. Particularly not in my generation.
They just passed out Boarding Passes to all american passport holders. I guess we must do something weird with ours that Europeans do differently. Landing soon, have to put all this away.
* * * * *
I'm already having great fun! I've had my luggage lost by the airlines, so they gave me 75L to help out. I took "The Tube" and a guy came on with his guitar, playing Beatles songs for spare change. Then I got on the wrong train (a couple of times) & met a guy named Richard who is from northern Africa. He offered to help me find my way. Right now we're visiting a friend of his in a very plush bar, where they play blues music like "Blue Moon" over the speakers. I'm drinking a beer called "Stella Artois" off tap.
* * * * *
Yay@ You'll all be so proud of me, I finally found my hotel. It's called the Ty-Melyn instead of just the Melyn. It only took me a half hour of walking aimlessly up and down streets. Ah well, c'est la vie!
Turns out that I left my new camera in the airplane, but they'll put it with my other bags to be returned to me tomorrow morning.
Richard started professing his love to me after the beer, so I had to set him straight on my views of long-distance relationships. Not interested. Holy cow, I'm in another country twenty minutes and already I'm breaking hearts. It must be like what Monty told me about the American accent sounding so seductive to Europeans. Gotta love 'em.
Richard is going to visit a friend in Miami Beach anyway, so everything is good. I may meet up with him for a friendly dinner next Friday.
However, back to the light side of things. He took me over to Hyde Park to show me Kennsington Palace. We sat & chatted in a bit of Franglaise. It's really a beautiful day here. Temperature is 70s-ish, humidity is high, but the sky is clear as anything. Apart from the architecture, vehicles, and knocking into everyone walking on the left side of the sidewalk, I could almost be back in Virginia.
Given, the hotel room is small, as is the bathroom, but it's not like I have to entertain guests or anything, so who cares? There is a TV, but I'm too tired to hunt down Baywatch.
I've got post cards, but right now I'm beat. So I'm going to sleep for a millennium & write them when I wake up in the middle of darkness.
Damnit. Feather pillows. I can't sleep on those. No problem - just try without pillows.
* * * * *
Author's notes from 2013:
When I converted money from dollars to pounds, I had to ask if they used base-100 for their currency. I over-thought the thing, yes, but I didn't know if all countries devided their base unit of cash into 100s! It could have been 75s or 10s or 1000s for all I knew.
A second point that must be considered - coming to June at this time of year meant that I was near the Spring Solstice. England is on a high latitude and I had not connected before getting there that the solar day would be similar to a polar solstice -- no dark. Since England is not in the arctic circle there is a dimming at 'night' but the whole night concept is purely based on your clock. I would have benefited greatly by a nice thick sleep mask.
* * * * *
Well, I don't know what made me wake up three hours after going to bed. However, it's dinner time, so I went wandering through my surroundings here. There's the Burger King on the corner, which would just be too easy. There are several fast-food "Fish & Chips" hanging about. A number of nice pubs - British, Greek, and other.
I settled on a basic deli sandwich - which was actually difficult enough in a greek store where I not only have a communication & access barrier between myself & the chef, but also don't recognize the names of half the meats listed on their menu. I chose the meat, told him that I trusted him with the rest. I picked up this banana yogurt drink & some water (in case liquid yogurt was a foul thing). It's not bad, but certainly different. The huge display of cookies in the deli leads me to believe that the English have a definite bent on a sweet tooth.
Norfolk square is "very lovely," just as the two older women at the news stand indicated when they gave me directions earlier. The temperature has dropped significantly, but I don't have a change of clothes, nor do I know where the nearest department store would be to get some. There was a vendor on the corner, sitting several long dresses, but I really don't think I want to do that.
They rang up my food & I felt almost like I was back home with dollars and cents, etc. I've got to keep in mind that a pound is worth more than a dollar.
It's 8 o'clock & still light outside. Feels like it will remain so for a while yet. Oh, I wish I had my clothes! Am still wearing my glasses because of my eyeball being scratched slightly.
To do
-------
Thames River Boat tour
St. Paul's Cathedral
Westminster Abbey
Mme. Tussaud's Wax Museum
Hyde Park
Richmond Park
Globe Theater
Tower of London
Big Ben
Buckingham Palace
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