Lunch is for wimps and maps are for losers

Well people out there, I'm sure you are wondered what has become of this less an intriped explorer. When we left off, I had arrived in London after much delay and much cursing of the evil white stuff. Oddly having never lived there and only been there once before arriving in London feels to me like arriving home. I don't know if it is that I have wanted to live there since I was 5 or that I watched too many British TV shows growing up or that I just have a listened to "London Calling" by the Clash one too many times, but London feels home-y.

St Paul's

There was a nice familar feeling as I boarded the tube at Kings Cross and an even more familar feeling when I got off at High St Kensington to stroll down to Holland Park Youth Hostel. Holland House which has been converted into a hostel is a fascinating place but the hostel itself is in the newer side so is less interesting. The hostel is often unseasonably warm inside so you can stroll round in a long sleeved t-shirt instead of the myriad layers needed outside. The room which aren't the largest have 12 beds in the form of four triple bunks in them and if, like me on both my stays there, you find you find yourself in the top bunk be prepared for fun as there are no ladders and you'll have to jump/ awkwardly climb in and out of bed. The breakfasts, like all UK hostel breakfasts, are amazingly huge which leads me to why lunch for wimps. If you stay at a UK youth hostel, you can chow down on a massive breakfast of cheese, yoghurt, "fruit" (read apple there wasn't much else in it) salad, eggs, hash brown, fried bread, fried tomato, toast, rolls, jam, butter, cereal, juice, coffee (actually best avoid the coffee, it's horrid), and tea- for those of a carnivorous bend, there is also cold ham, sausage, bacon, and on occasion black pudding.  Once you eat this, you can safely go through the rest of your days largely without food and then have a medium to small dinner early in evening. Trust me, I walked a couple of miles around the city and even with the exercise did not feel the need for more food than this. Yes most of it's fried and that is somewhat gross but more importantly you just saved yourself about five or so pounds on lunch and even with the exchange getting better it still ain't brilliant and five pound saved is a good thing.

The bad sides of the hostel this time were the annoying old lady in my dorm (a blog devoted to her and other odd dorm mates to come at the end of my trip), the less annoying but a little loud Eastern European girls also in my dorm, the snow on the paths outside which all melted and refroze as ice for slip and slide fun, and the broken dryer (I had to transport wet clothes to Dublin and rewash and dry them- not good).

Other news from London, unlike other tourists, I can now navigate myself from High St Kensington down to the Tate Modern past numerous tourist attractions without the use of a MAP! Map are for losers clearly and they single you out as a tourist- I got mistaken by another tourist for a Londoner and asked where Charring Cross Tube Station was (good thing I fessed up though as I realised had I faked knowing where it was I would have sent him in completely the wrong direction). I claimed the next day when in the presence of someone who lives in London that I found every grave we went hunting for in Highgate and that I could find my way around the tube without difficulty but he claimed it was just because I was with him and he was a boy and a London dweller (all lies I say to that).

Highgate Cemetary- the east part

So aside from the above pearls of wisdom about lunch and maps, what can I share from my time in London? My previous visit to the city told me that every tourist MUST visit the V&A Museum, the Churchill Museum & Cabinet War Rooms, and the Tower of London. I now add to my recommendations list St Paul's cathedral (regardless of your religious beliefs, it is a profoundly brilliant work of art and architecture- I hate paying to visit churches but I'll admit the cost of admission was worth it especially as I saw in the crypt the burial plaques for two pre-Raphelite painters- William Holman Hunt and John Millias- and one Romantic poet- William Blake) and British Library (currently it has a great exhibit on the history of the English language but unless you're planning a trip soon you'll miss that HOWEVER it also has some beautiful illuminated manuscripts, Jane Austen's writing table, Lewis Carroll's hand written notes of Alice in Wonderland, hand written Beatles's lyrics, some brilliant old maps, a 3rd century papyrus copy of John's Gospel and.....a copy of the Magna Carta). I'll cautiously add Highgate to this list but I only saw the East cemetary (thanks to the cursed white stuff closing the west for tours) and the west is the more spectacular. I also highly recommend a stroll through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. 

If you are there at Christmas time, also drop by Hyde Park Christmas markets for a visit with the Christmas skeleton and some "Hot Ribenia..with a shot?"

The Christmas skeleton at Hyde Park Christmas Markets

Next post will be more timely that this was....probably to be written on the train to Cork tomorrow.