The Week #227

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  • 🇬🇧 I flew to London. As with last time a couple of years ago the flight went over Canada. The flight itself was the best kind, uneventful. Arriving in London I'm always amazed at how you can just walk-in. After the e-gate to show your passport, there's no filling out customs forms or anything. Don't even need to talk to anybody. Having been once before everything is a bit easier. I know more what to expect and how things work, which is nice.
  • 🏃 Last time I stayed in London, my hotel was next to the British Museum, which isn't super near any parks. This time I'm staying closer to Hyde Park, which makes it easy to run about. I must say I'm a huge fan of these big public parks. I reckon similar things exist in Japan (Yoyogi park in Tokyo, Yamashita park in Yokohama), but they're not quite the scale.

    The weather is perfect autumn weather (which is apparently a bit warmer than usual, a common theme as of late). Heaps of people are out running and walking on the paths. But as good as the running is, my favorite thing about the parks are all of the dogs running about, not on a leash, with their owners. They find big sticks, sometimes bigger than themselves, and carry them. I wish I could do the same with Sophie, I know she'd love it.
  • 🐑 I met up with my long time friend Jacob. We hadn't seen each other since I lived in Houston probably 8 years ago. So good to meet old friends.
    Looking down Regent Street at Piccadilly Circus

    Classic London

    Buckingham Palace

    We met up in Piccadilly Circus and walked (most of the way) to Borough Market. Borough Market was really good (tootling about last visit, I missed it by a block). All of the food looked so good. We ended up settling on a nice piece of fish & chips...which must have been at least 1500 calories. Which was good was it then proceeded to walk back across London to Hyde Park. 

    I was quite happy I could see Buckingham Palace this time around. Last time I came it was blocked off in preparation for the Jubilee. Getting up close to these buildings and walking through the parks (that were private at some point in history) gives you a real sense of the power and absolute wealth the family had/has. While big modern glass skyscrapers are impressive in their own right, they don't project the same sense of power that these big stone buildings do.

    In total I made just above 33,000 steps that day. Perhaps a record?
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