3 teens, 2 days, 1 city...(Part 1 of 3)

This past weekend, Luis, Juanmi (Juan Miguel, Luis's sailing partner), and I went to London. It was a Christmas gift from my host parents. We were going to stay with a friend of my host parents who lives in London.

We flew out of Alicante late Thursday night and met the taxi driver at the airport who drove us to Lewisham, the neighborhood where Masiel (the friend) lives.

The next morning, Friday, began the madness.

We got up and walked to Greenwich, the neighboring neighborhood, to see the Old Royal Observatory, from which time all over the world is measured. We visited the "museums" they had there, dealing with the history of the observatory, time and clocks, longitude/latitude, and astronomy. After that, we went down to the National Maritime Museum.

Us standing on the Prime Meridian.

Us in front of Big Ben.

The next part of our trip was a boat ride down the Thames river to central London. We saw a lot of things from the boat, including Shakespeare's Globe Theater and several sights we went to see later. Once we got downtown, we went to see Big Ben, the London Eye, and Westminster Abbey. We didn't go into Westminster Abbey because it cost 12 pounds a person, nor did we go up in the London Eye because the lines were long and it cost 15.50 pounds per person. So instead of going up in the Eye, we went to the aquarium next door, which we though was reasonably priced at 6 pounds each. However, the aquarium was undergoing construction, meaning half the exhibits were closed, a fact they didn't advertise (until after you'd entered and paid). After the aquarium, we went up to Trafalgar Square, where we saw the 167-foot monument honoring Admiral Nelson's naval victory in 1805. We went there to visit the National Gallery, with it's very esteemed art collection. However, due to the hours, we decided to go to the Museum of Natural History and then return to the gallery.
At the Museum of Natural History, we thought we'd been through all the galleries, which was fortunate since they were closing, when we discovered we'd only seen one of the three zones. And unfortunately, we never got back to see the rest. Down the street from the museum, we visited the famous Harrod's. Wow. That store sells just about everything. They even have a "Toy Kingdom" that is a veritable kingdom, solely due to its size. We also found an 108-inch TV that cost 100,000 pounds (~$140,000) and a Swarovski crystal encrusted foozball table that cost 80,000 pounds (~$110,000)!!! It even has its own bank!

The 108-inch TV...

After giving ourselves sticker shock in Harrod's, we returned to Masiel's house for dinner and went out to a pub to enjoy some live music to end the night. And thus began the saga of the old 20-pound note. I really enjoyed the band and wanted to buy the CD they had with them. So Luis gave me the old 20-pound note Pep had given him before we left. After the guy scrounged up the change, he came back to say he and the rest of the band didn't think they could take the note because they didn't think anyone would accept it because it was so old, but we told him it was valid tender, he left and came about about 5 minutes later, saying the bartenders had said they wouldn't accept the note. So I borrowed 5 pounds from Masiel and we held onto the old 20-pound note.

More in PARTS 2 & 3!!!

Part 2: http://erikinalicante.blogspot.com/2009/03/3-teens-2-days-1-citypart-2-of-3.html
Part 3: http://erikinalicante.blogspot.com/2009/03/3-teens-2-days-1-citypart-2.html

Currently listening to:
Song: Back Home
Artist: Yellowcard
Album: Ocean Avenue