A Sunday in London

Regent's Park

Kite Flying and Scooter Riding

Gorilla Kingdom at the London Zoo

This camel looked hilarious

Ice Glasses and Good Times

Thuan: Are these made of ICE???

Popped collar. You know what that means...

Sloppily dancing with my new friend Janette from Amsterdam/South Africa

London Day and Night

Picadilly Circus just a few blocks from my hotel

Ice Bar: A map of the Underground in Ice

Good Morning, London

I love it when I get into the office at 10:10 AM after a night of heavy drinking and I'm the first one in the office. Gotta love PwC. :)

Look RIGHT!

I almost got hit by a car when coming back from lunch today because I instinctively looked LEFT before crossing the street. My British coworker said, "Stop!" right before it whizzed by. Damn! I HATE crossing the streets here!

Otherwise, things are great. :)

Mind The Gap

I arrived in London yesterday morning. All I can say is, what an amazing city! Way cooler than Prague!

As we were landing into Heathrow Airport, I had a great view of the city as the sun was rising. I could see the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Big Ben, Tower Bridge, and Millennium Bridge crossing the Thames.

I don't know if it is the jet lag or what, but I am having trouble understanding people here. From the passport control woman to the taxi driver, to the concierge and the guy at the front desk. I kept saying, "Sorry, what?" For the most part I'd understand it the second time around. If not, I'd just smile and nod politely. I'm sure they're thinking, "Stupid American."

It's only my second time in London, so pardon my dorky tourist spirit cause I'm sure these are newbie things to notice, but I like them:

- I take the "Tube" to the office everyday day from Green Park to Holborn Station on the Picadilly Line using my Oyster card, making sure to "Mind the Gap" and find my "Way Out".

- In the Taxi yesterday, the cabbie said, "It might take longer than usual, traffic's bloody murder right now." It took me a second to absorb what he actually said. I thought, "bloody murder? That's AWESOME!" In the States we'd probably say something like, "traffic freaking sucks." How crass. Ha!

- My first time to the office, I took a taxi. Here's a play-by-play of the ride: Left the hotel and drove by Hyde Park and then passed Buckingham Palace during the changing of the guards, went by Westminster Abbey, Parliament, and Big Ben to cruise along the Thames with a view of the London Eye, all the different museums along the water, then ducked back in to the city to eventually arrive at the PwC building at Plumtree Court. (The fact that I was excited to see all of those things after 1 hour of sleep on a 9+ hour flight must say SOMETHING!)

- The cars driving on the left side of the road is still totally weird. I'm scared everytime I cross the street, even when the words "Look Right" and "Look Left" are printed on the sidewalk.

- I stare at all the posters in the Underground that advertise all the different plays and musicals currently playing. Phantom and Les Mis are STILL running. Wicked is a "New Musical" supposedly although it's been out for a while in the States, and Lion King, Mama Mia, Avenue Q, and The Lord Of The Rings are others playing. I want to go!

- Multiply the price of everything by 2. Holy S*#@!

Damn it's good to be on expense in London. :) I just gotta get over this jet lag.

A Fine Saturday with Alba

What a weekend! My friend Alba (third from the right) came to visit Prague with 4 of her friends. They are studying German in Berlin, but are students at the University of Barcelona. It was refreshing to hang out with students again. It reminded me of what it was like to be in college—being semi-naïve to the "real world," willing to meet anyone and everyone, and being as adventurous as possible on a tight budget. It's amazing how much you can do with so little money. I remember having that sense of, "What have I got to lose? I'm invincible." :) Ok, I admit, maybe I still feel that way today.

The answer to the question, "What have I got to lose?" came on Saturday and was in the amount of 25 bucks. We weren't so invincible when we had our run-in with the Czech police.

I met the Spaniards at their youth hostel and we were recommended to take the tram into the old city center. My new Spanish friends supposedly had some sort of student ticket they thought would be valid on the tram. I was naïve and figured I could just hop on and pay when I got on the tram, or even just get by without paying since it was a relatively short ride. Damn, was I wrong!

When we were about to get off, these two 40 year old guys wearing plain clothes came over to us and flashed some silly looking ring at us. Initially, we thought they were trying to sell us something, but they then said, "Your tickets, please."

I'm thinking, "Ok, I'll just pay for my ticket now."

When they all showed their student tickets and I said I didn't have one, they said, "500 koruna [25 dollars]. Each of you."

"Whaaaaaaat? No way!" We all figured they were kidding. My friend's "tickets" apparently were no good and they wanted to charge us a fine for just hopping on. Our first reaction was that they were phonies--trying to take innocent tourists' money. These guys look like chumps! At least they could have been dressed in a uniform or something!

I was calm and just asked, "Can we just pay the regular price? We are just tourists and we didn't know any better. We are not trying to cheat you."

"You can pay 500 each. [While pointing at each of us] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 of you…3,000 total."

"Come on. We are just poor students!"

This went on for awhile. They wouldn't let us off where we wanted, but they eventually had us get off when they saw two cops near a stop. Neither my new friends nor I had that much cash. They're all poor students, and I've had so many cash expenditures while working here, I literally had zero left in my checking account. So, going to the ATM was NOT an option.

The cops sucked. They barely said anything, but they took our ID's (It seems to be the only thing cops do, but I won't get into that discussion now). By now Alba was furious cause she was positive they were just taking advantage of us, WHICH THEY WERE.

After about 10 minutes, the cops confirmed, "Yes. 3,000 koruna. Or, we take you to jail." Other than that they said nothing. It was so aggravating cause I wanted someone ELSE to validate the fine, but everyone around us was acting like nothing was happening--completely ignoring the 6 random tourists trying to negotiate in broken English.

We felt like we were getting screwed over, so I eventually called the hotel and told the front desk our situation. Unfortunately, they confirmed that it WAS legitimate and that this fine is the penalty when you board a tram without paying.

Fine. We've already wasted an hour. I just want to forget about this. I'll pay. There's no point in drawing this out any longer. I called my buddy, Nausher, and told him the mess we had gotten into. Like a savior, he took a taxi to where we were and brought 3,000 koruna. We paid and just like that we were free to go.

Damn. At the end of the day none of us were really angry about the amount of the fine--25 dollars wasn't going to break anyone's bank--it was the fact that they weren't understanding at all. I know they're just doing their job, but it sucked being so vulnerable…such easy targets. My only consolation is that those two chumps' jobs must suck, and I hope every honest tourist they fine gives them as much hell as possible. And seriously, aren't there bigger fish to fry? Aren't there more serious crimes being committed? Bah.

Needless to say, we soon forgot and got drunk off of beer and tequila shots. Alba and her friends would try to pay me back today, but that's another story in itself!

Random thoughts:
1. I realize that story doesn't compare to the time I was in Greece, "Is BIG, no?" but I don't think anything will ever top that.
2. Drunken McFlurries are still as delicious as I remember.
3. Maybe something is lost in the translation, but for a city full of tourists, Czech waiters are typically NOT very friendly.
4. I'm getting excited to go home for a weekend. I hope it doesn't totally tire me out.