Update Number 1
We’re doing very well overseas! The first leg of our trip was in London and is already over. Although very expensive (about twice as much as living at home!) we’re glad we went.
The first day we got there, the very first minute we stepped off the tube in London we were bombarded with hostel picketers trying to get our business. Since we had already booked a room for cheap over the Internet, we decided to give one of the pedalers a chance to show us their place. We talked him down to a cheap rate and decided to stay there following our first night.
London is a great city. It’s very reminiscent of New York except even more trendy and fashionable and even more expensive. Luckily if you know the right places, you can hang around for little money. Tesco and hostels are your friends if you’re trying to go on the cheap. For a nice culture shock we walked into The Ritz. It wasn’t as easy as just walking in though! The doorman questioned us on the way in and mentioned we were only allowed in the lobby since we were wearing jeans. Dress slacks, a tie, and a dress coat are required attire for seeing their dinner club and attending Tea Time. One evening in their cheapest room is 350 pounds! The suite costing 2,500 pounds for one evening! Wow.
The museums are now free. I’m not sure if they always were, but you can get into some very nice exhibits! One of which was a large collection of Assyrian artifacts. I’m going to have to stop there again on the way home since the museum was closing by the time we made it to that part.
We also attended the Russian Winter Festival over the weekend in Trafalgar Square. A mini teaser to our coming visit to Russia. They put on a fashion show, a rock show, and a traditional Russian song and dance show. All were equally entertaining. My favorite was the rock show. A band completely stuck in the 80’s - I’m not talking retro 80’s here, I’m talking 100% stuck in the 80’s! Jackson guitars, long curly hair, slow rock balads, long guitar solos. It was awesome. I’m sure London was cringing at the display of non-popular pop culture.
Other highlights included the Underground for transportation, Circe De Solei (sp?), Hyde Park, Oxford Street, Chinatown, London Bridge, London Tower Bridge, mass at St. Paul’s Cathedral, and Big Ben. I’m sure there are more places to speak of, but this is already getting pretty long!
We’re currently driving in France in a rental car. We hopped on a small flight from London to Frankfurt, picked up the car, and started driving. The hotel we stayed in last night had an auto-reception kiosk where we just punched in, got a code for a room, and that was it. It had a double bed with a single bed hung from the ceiling, a TV, and a shower. Very quaint, very affordable, and very nice to have our own room after sleeping in a 6 person hostel dorm for 4 nights!
Today we ran around the town of Strasbourg today. A very cute French town with a lot of character, lots of cute shops, an amazing old cathedral! The cathedral dates back to the 1600’s! The other most noteable experience of the town was the food! After trying to pinch on the pounds (no pun intended) in London, we had a feast here. French bread, cheese, bread w/chocolate in it, wine, apple pastries, baguette sandwiches, and coconut treats handed out by a local vendor. You could easily gain 10 pounds in a few days here if you were to indulge in every yummy shop you came across.
That’s all I have time for right now!
Travel has been an incredibly different experience having all this technology at our finger tips. We haven’t had to pay for internet once while on the trip! All we have to do is open the laptop up, walk (or drive) a few blocks, and we’re in business. We’ve booked our rental car, flights, and accomodation using people’s free wi-fi!
I hope you all are doing well! Keep me posted on what you’re all up to, and let me know if you ever want to come visit. There’s plenty of room for more travellers with us, and especially when we’re finally in China, we’ll probably have our own apartment.
Peace,
Jacob
Oh yeah! I suppose you might be wanting some photos!
