We.Tour.Hard.

Well, the whirlwind has begun. We took off last night from DC at 6:00 PM, on a 6 hour flight arriving in London at 6:00 AM. With little sleep on the plane, we whirled through customs, got on the London Underground, and arrived at our Russell Square Hostel by around 8:30. We couldn't really check in until 11, but dropped off our bags and charged off into the city, with little more than a map and a camera. With only a short 45 minute nap around 1:00PM, we managed to walk a huge portion of the city. This is a day that only an insane person would take on. I blame it on my Dad's habit for the same breakneck pace. Anyway, here is what we did:

For those of you familiar with London, we walked the following: Russell Square to Thames, down Fleet Street, all the way to London Bridge, across to the Globe Theater (where we took a tour), back across Millennium Bridge to "The Monument" (which depicts the fire that burned most of the city to the ground in 1600s), and then headed back via the tube to officially check in.

We were shown to our room, where there are 24 beds stacked as 3 high bunks- people in the room ranging from probably around 15 years old to around 60. It's a very strange experience, as our first in a hostel. It is sort of like camping- luckily we are so exhausted sleep won't be a problem.

After our quick nap, we grabbed some "traditional" British pub fare including fish and chips for me and a beef roast with potatoes and gravy for Matt...I will say, the food today lived up to its underwhelming reputation. In addition to these two mediocre plates, we ended up having a "Jacket Potato and Beans and Cheese" for lunch, which is apparently very popular here, for no known reason (think baked potato + baked beans +cheese....)

Ready to tackle one last section of the city, we headed out to Westminster Abby, where we saw Big Ben ring, and then walked to Buckingham Palace (which  was really beautiful, especially the surrounding park). From there, we headed to Hyde Park Corner, where we jumped back on the tube and stumbled exhausted in the door to our hostel, from which I send this update.

I apologize for the bland run down, but with only a couple hours of sleep in the last 1 (2?) days, it's all I can manage for now. It was very interesting and strange walking around all day though, as the city seemed "familiar" in a way I wasn't expecting. Between the enormous buildings made of similar looking rock as those all over downtown DC and the wide green spaces, there were many times I felt like I could have been a tourist downtown DC. On the other hand, when you catch a glimpse of Tower Bridge, Millennium Bridge, and hear the chimes of Big Ben, you couldn't be anywhere else in the world. :)

Tomorrow we will have a few more hours to run around, and then in the afternoon head to Dublin. Hopefully we will slow down somewhat- cannot keep up this pace for long!!!

Edit: One funny thing that did happen today when we were trying to get back to the hostel mid-afternoon, we somehow got on what appeared to be a local commuter train instead of the underground. As it turned out, it worked perfectly and apparently was still an acceptable use of our day pass for the tube, but have no idea how that happened. Blind luck during blind exhaustion trumps skill and competency, once again :)